0:00:03 > 0:00:06# Get up, get up, get up, stand up
0:00:06 > 0:00:07# Get up, get up
0:00:07 > 0:00:08# Stand up for your rights... #
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Notting Hill Carnival - Europe's largest street festival.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16It's a huge-scale cultural juggernaut,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20reflecting Caribbean tradition, shaped by black British culture.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Over a million people from all over the world
0:00:23 > 0:00:26invade this small corner of west London at the end of the summer
0:00:26 > 0:00:29for a teeming two-day party
0:00:29 > 0:00:32on some of the most expensive streets in Britain.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34So, where did this event come from?
0:00:34 > 0:00:37Who started Carnival, and when?
0:00:37 > 0:00:40In this film, I'm on a mission to find out.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44My name is when Wyn Baptiste and I have a special interest,
0:00:44 > 0:00:46because I always thought my dad started Carnival.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Carnival Development Committee...
0:00:48 > 0:00:50'My father was Selwyn Baptiste,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54'a steel pan player from Trinidad who came to Britain in 1960.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56'As a kid in the 1970s,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59'I remember him running Carnival from his front room.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02'And it was always my dad who was spokesperson
0:01:02 > 0:01:04'when Carnival was on TV.'
0:01:04 > 0:01:07And here, with the carnival committee's point of view,
0:01:07 > 0:01:08is Selwyn Baptiste.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12The Notting Hill Carnival began in the mid-'60s
0:01:12 > 0:01:14and arose out of adventure playgrounds
0:01:14 > 0:01:17in the Tavistock and Golborne areas.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Its purpose is to bring a little bit of heaven
0:01:19 > 0:01:22to the desolate streets of North Kensington
0:01:22 > 0:01:25and to enable the West Indian community to feel at home
0:01:25 > 0:01:29in a country to which they are historically and spiritually tied.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32'Arguments over the origin of Carnival have been
0:01:32 > 0:01:35'rumbling in Notting Hill for some time.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37'I've heard about a woman called Claudia Jones,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41'a political activist and civil rights campaigner
0:01:41 > 0:01:45'who staged indoor carnivals elsewhere in London as early as 1959.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48'Then there was Rhaune Laslett, a community worker
0:01:48 > 0:01:51'in Notting Hill who had the vision of bringing people together
0:01:51 > 0:01:54'with a street festival in the mid-1960s.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57'And Russell Henderson, who is said to have led the first
0:01:57 > 0:02:00'procession in the streets with a steel pan hung around his neck.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03'So, where does my dad fit into all this?
0:02:03 > 0:02:06'Not only are there rival versions of who started Carnival,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08'no-one can even agree when it started.'
0:02:08 > 0:02:10- It was 1965. - 1966.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Whether it's '65 or '66 is neither here nor there.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18'59 or '64 or '65,
0:02:18 > 0:02:20everybody needs to be recognised.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22- Claudia Jones. - Mr Russell Henderson.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25- Rhaune Laslett. - You see the man
0:02:25 > 0:02:27that woman just mentioned? Right?
0:02:27 > 0:02:29It was started by Selwyn Baptiste.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31This community has created Carnival,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34and rather than be like crabs in a barrel
0:02:34 > 0:02:35and pull each other down,
0:02:35 > 0:02:37it's about time the community starts working together,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39document its history, be proud of that history
0:02:39 > 0:02:42and let the world know what Notting Hill's taught the nation.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Thank you very much indeed.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Ishmahil Blagrove is a photographer, a researcher, a film-maker
0:02:47 > 0:02:51and has spent a long time looking into the origins of Carnival,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and collecting the most amazing array of photographs
0:02:54 > 0:02:58charting its history, and I'm hoping that he'll be able to tell us
0:02:58 > 0:03:02a little bit about the characters and controversies of this story.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04I recognise one of the pictures over here.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06You should, it's your dad.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09- I recognise that man. - Yeah, yeah.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12I mean, Selwyn was a very, very important player.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15I mean, an instrumental player in the history of Carnival.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19I mean, in fact, he took over the carnival from Rhaune Laslett.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22He was also training a lot of kids in the area to play steel pan,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25and so he was he was working out of the Wornington Road Adventure Centre
0:03:25 > 0:03:28whilst Rhaune Laslett obviously had Shanty Town -
0:03:28 > 0:03:32two of the sort of key youth adventure playgrounds in the area.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35'So, my dad took over Carnival from Rhaune Laslett,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38'and they were both involved in playgrounds in the neighbourhood,
0:03:38 > 0:03:39'but what about the date?'
0:03:39 > 0:03:42There was no event in 1964. Nothing happened in '64.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45There is absolutely no documentary evidence whatsoever.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49However, Rhaune Laslett herself
0:03:49 > 0:03:52says that the carnival first started in 1965.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54You have others now who will corroborate that.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57It might be fair to say that, prior to the 1966 event,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01which was a larger, better-organised event, there was a precursor event.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06Have you got a sense of why history of Carnival
0:04:06 > 0:04:09has been so controversial, if you like,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13and has stirred up such kind of fervent passion amongst people?
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Claudia Jones is one of my heroes, without doubt.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20What she contributed to the black political struggles
0:04:20 > 0:04:22in this country is amazing.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25However, she did not start the Notting Hill Carnival.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29But then we have the situation of Rhaune Laslett, a white woman.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31What does she know about Carnival?
0:04:31 > 0:04:34The reality was that you had these people from Trinidad,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37who weren't just small-time carnivalists is from Trinidad,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39they were big players.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42They would have turned any little street jump-up into a carnival.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45So, that's why people try and push Rhaune Laslett out, by saying
0:04:45 > 0:04:49that, well, Rhaune staged the event but we were the ones that made it.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53'Rhaune Laslett worked tirelessly to improve social conditions
0:04:53 > 0:04:57'in an area which, back then, was severely deprived.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59'But did she actually create the first carnival?
0:04:59 > 0:05:01'Rhaune passed away in 2002,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05'so I've come to see her son Mike Laslett to ask him.'
0:05:05 > 0:05:11When your mother had a vision of bringing together this community,
0:05:11 > 0:05:16was there any feeling at that point that Caribbean culture
0:05:16 > 0:05:19- should be at the centre of this? - No. No.
0:05:19 > 0:05:25My mother's thing was, pretty much, she was going to be just here,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29spilling out of the house into the street, just like a party
0:05:29 > 0:05:33for the Queen's Jubilee, or something.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35What year was that?
0:05:35 > 0:05:36'65.
0:05:36 > 0:05:42The reason there is this controversy is that all historians
0:05:42 > 0:05:44rely on documentary evidence.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46They want something written down somewhere.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49When my mother did this thing, it wasn't...
0:05:49 > 0:05:53There was no sense of it being an historic moment,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56there was no sense of, "We've got to write this down,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59"we've got to record this," it just happened.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Your mum's flat is just over here.
0:06:03 > 0:06:04Yeah.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06The mere fact that it's there
0:06:06 > 0:06:09must give you some form of satisfaction.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13It's good, yeah, only because that one's there. It's balanced.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19There should be one for your father up here somewhere, probably.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22'So, talking to Mike Laslett, you really got a sense'
0:06:22 > 0:06:26there was no real plan for making a huge event
0:06:26 > 0:06:30on that first little fete or fair, as it was,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and Mike Laslett, son of Rhaune Laslett,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37thinks there might even be space for a blue plaque for my dad
0:06:37 > 0:06:40somewhere on the wall not far from his mum's blue plaque.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42That's quite nice.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46'A blue plaque on a wall in Notting Hill?
0:06:46 > 0:06:47'Maybe Dad would have liked that.'
0:06:47 > 0:06:52And then there's a section in this book, Pioneers In Great Britain,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55and at the beginning of the chapter,
0:06:55 > 0:06:58here's Sterling Betancourt and Russell Henderson,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02And then the next entry is Selwyn Baptiste.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06"His greatest contribution was that he played a major role
0:07:06 > 0:07:09'by the mid-'60s by actually teaching the steel pan
0:07:09 > 0:07:11"to deprived children, English and Caribbean,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14"from the Notting Hill adventure playground area.
0:07:14 > 0:07:15"In the process,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19"Baptiste literally turned many young lives away from violence and crime
0:07:19 > 0:07:23"to become a hard-working, upright citizens of Great Britain.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27"He was also the first chairman of the Notting Hill Carnival."
0:07:27 > 0:07:30And my dad used to carry this book around
0:07:30 > 0:07:33and he used it as a bit of a calling card.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35If he went to see someone official,
0:07:35 > 0:07:40like a doctor or somebody where he needed to prove his credentials,
0:07:40 > 0:07:44he'd often pull this book out and get them to read that entry,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48and there's something makes me feel a little bit sad about that,
0:07:48 > 0:07:53because I think part of my dad's story is that he felt he didn't have
0:07:53 > 0:07:57the standing or the recognition that his work had deserved.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02'The adventure playgrounds were really important in the mid-'60s
0:08:02 > 0:08:03'because Notting Hill was a community
0:08:03 > 0:08:06'still scarred by the race riots of 1958.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09'To understand how that relates to the beginning of Carnival,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12'I've come to meet Peter Joseph,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15'a man who experienced those riots first hand.'
0:08:15 > 0:08:19The teddy boys were a little bit, um...
0:08:20 > 0:08:24They kept away from us in the grove
0:08:24 > 0:08:28until they were wound up by Oswald Mosley.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33And it spilled over on September 1st.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39There was only about 60, 70 of us, but we held the grove.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42'Peter was on the front line in Notting Hill,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45'defending against racist attacks back in '58,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47'but what does he know of the start of Carnival?'
0:08:47 > 0:08:52My recollection...is quite simple.
0:08:54 > 0:08:571965, I can't remember the month,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00but a friend of mine called me and said,
0:09:00 > 0:09:05"Pan on the road!" Russell and Sterling and them, "Pan on the road!"
0:09:05 > 0:09:08He just took the kids and all of that from around us.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14We are in a position where we have human archaeologists right here,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17men like Russell and Sterling,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20who can tell you exactly what has happened
0:09:20 > 0:09:26and make sure that the actual truth comes from that,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29because they did it. Nobody else.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31'The cry "pan on the road",
0:09:31 > 0:09:35'meaning that a steel band was on the move on the streets, is key.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38'That was the moment a street party became a procession.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41'Peter is clear that his fellow Trinidadian pan players,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44'Russell Henderson and Sterling Betancourt, were crucial characters,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47'but what about my dad's involvement in Carnival?'
0:09:47 > 0:09:52He was an aspiring pseudo-intellect...
0:09:53 > 0:09:57..whose self-delusion and...
0:09:58 > 0:10:01..ambitions, whatever...
0:10:02 > 0:10:03..put him to the front...
0:10:05 > 0:10:08..in order for him to...
0:10:09 > 0:10:11..to feed.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15Is it safe to say that you and my dad didn't really get on?
0:10:16 > 0:10:17Well, it's not safe.
0:10:19 > 0:10:20You can be sure.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Because I didn't find him a nice man.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27'I knew my dad could be difficult,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30'but it was hard for me to hear what Peter had to say.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33'I've arranged to see my dad's old friend Darcus Howe,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35'to see how he reacts to the accusation
0:10:35 > 0:10:37'that my dad used Carnival for his own ends.'
0:10:37 > 0:10:39What?!
0:10:39 > 0:10:42He had a basement flat in Powis Square.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44What is he talking about?
0:10:44 > 0:10:46That is poison.
0:10:46 > 0:10:47He may have been -
0:10:47 > 0:10:51well, not to me - very harsh, and very vicious,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55because he was surrounded by a lot of hustlers,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57and that he was not.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59I knew him well.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02He was an intellectual.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05He was an artist.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07He was spiritual.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09And he was brave.
0:11:09 > 0:11:14'And in the mid-'70s, both my dad and Darcus needed to be brave.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18'Attendance numbers at Carnival were pushing a quarter of a million.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Between 1973 and '75, a man called Leslie Palmer was in charge,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26'and he recruited more steel bands, introduced other live acts,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29'and, crucially, attracted sound systems to the event.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34'The Caribbean influence now went beyond Trinidadian tradition.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37'But as more people came, police numbers rocketed.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39'Tensions that were simmering between black youth
0:11:39 > 0:11:41'and the police all year round
0:11:41 > 0:11:44'boiled over at Carnival in 1976.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47'By then, Darcus and Dad were running an event
0:11:47 > 0:11:49'facing widespread calls to close it down,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52'and they had to stand firm.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55'They had a clear message for the police and carnival-goers.'
0:11:55 > 0:11:58There were too many policemen around the bands yesterday
0:11:58 > 0:12:01and it created a certain amount of nervousness.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03We say to the young blacks,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06"If you steal in Carnival, it's like stealing
0:12:06 > 0:12:09"from the purses of the guests who attended your big brother's wedding."
0:12:09 > 0:12:11'But looking back now,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14'what's Darcus's take on who started Carnival?'
0:12:14 > 0:12:20So, can you put the start of Carnival down to one individual,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23or is it a movement thing? What's...
0:12:23 > 0:12:25It's a movement thing.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27There is no one individual, nothing.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29It has to come from your own...
0:12:29 > 0:12:31in England.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35You know, the only person who had that historical perspective on it?
0:12:35 > 0:12:38A fellow called Selwyn Baptiste.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40For some reason,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44he knew that this thing is going to explode
0:12:44 > 0:12:48as a huge cultural statement.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52'But it didn't become a huge cultural statement overnight.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56'It's time to rewind to where it all started for my dad.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59'He's no longer here to tell me
0:12:59 > 0:13:02'about the Notting Hill Adventure Playground,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05'but I do have recording he made a few years before his death.'
0:13:05 > 0:13:07These guys used to fight a lot,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10the black and white kids in the playground.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13I came in with pans, taught them, it was beneficial,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17it was unifying, it was all embracing,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21and the boys had a better understanding of one another.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24'I've managed to track down some of the original
0:13:24 > 0:13:27'members of my dad's band, the Adventurers,
0:13:27 > 0:13:29'and they've agreed to meet me at the playground
0:13:29 > 0:13:31'where it all began for them
0:13:31 > 0:13:33'when they were teenagers in the mid-'60s.'
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Do you know, this place has completely changed
0:13:37 > 0:13:39to what I remember of it.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Very little now, you know, compares.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44- But it brings back memories? - It do, it do.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Every child around come here.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50The adventure playground at the time was famous.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Was it here that you guys were introduced to pan?
0:13:54 > 0:13:57ALL: Yes, yes, yes.
0:13:57 > 0:13:58Right here.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01Selwyn knew my family back to front.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05So, did it go beyond making and teaching pan?
0:14:05 > 0:14:08- Was it more than that? - Of course it was.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10We in the band used to call Selwyn Pharaoh,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13because he was like the leader.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15- He was the leader. - Yeah.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20So, when the Adventurers' first took to the streets in Carnival,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22would you be able to put a year to that?
0:14:22 > 0:14:25- We were the kids' band. - Around '66, we would say.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27The only thing is, I think
0:14:27 > 0:14:32Selwyn in his lifetime, he deserved a bit more recognition.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35He did not get the recognition he rightfully deserved.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39When the carnival was in proper problem,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Selwyn was the one who took the mantra.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46That's when the thing moved to his house.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Because that's after the police problem with the riots.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53The whole thing, he couldn't get away from it.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55He had sleep deprivation
0:14:55 > 0:15:00because of the fact his house is the office 24 hours a day.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03What I always remember about Selwyn,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06he's on television and when you look at him,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10he looked like a black leader, a militant leader, with his Afro.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13We were his boys then. We were Selwyn's boys.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18The Adventurers steel band became the Metronomes,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21who are still going strong today.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23CHATTER
0:15:23 > 0:15:27All right! One, two, three, four...
0:15:27 > 0:15:29'They practise all year round
0:15:29 > 0:15:33'for the annual steel band competition, Panorama.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35'Founder member Irvin Corridan is still involved.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38'They still use my dad's pan in the band.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40'They say it brought them that last year.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44'That luck, combined with skill and hard work, meant they came second,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48'pipped to the first place by the Real Steel Orchestra,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50'a band from Plymouth.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53'Still, it's their best placing in 20 years.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56'Dad would be pleased seeing the celebrations
0:15:56 > 0:15:58'going on long into the night.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02'My dad's band did remember being there in 1966,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06'but can anyone put them, and my dad, at the first one?
0:16:06 > 0:16:09'One man who should know is Sterling Betancourt.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13'A legendary steel pan player, Sterling left Trinidad to come
0:16:13 > 0:16:16'and perform at the Festival of Britain way back in 1951,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20'and visiting him feels like I'm getting close to the source.'
0:16:20 > 0:16:221951, TASPO.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26So, this is the band you came over with to the Festival of Britain?
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Yeah, that's right.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31And only three of us are alive now.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Wow. Are you in that photograph?
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Yeah, look me here.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40They said that we must take a band to Britain for them to see
0:16:40 > 0:16:44the Trinidad culture, because this was something new.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47No-one knew about the steel drum in those days.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51They said, "Well, that is black magic."
0:16:53 > 0:16:59I met your dad in the early days when we started the Notting Hill Carnival.
0:16:59 > 0:17:05He was very involved with Mrs Laslett as well,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09and the kids in the adventure playground.
0:17:09 > 0:17:15And he was there, but he didn't actually come on the road with us
0:17:15 > 0:17:20when we first started, but he was there.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24This was not a Trindidad/West Indian thing.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27It get like that after.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30What year do you think...
0:17:30 > 0:17:32what year would you say that first carnival was?
0:17:32 > 0:17:341964.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46Sterling, what was my dad like as a man? As a guy?
0:17:46 > 0:17:49As a friend of yours? How would you describe him?
0:17:49 > 0:17:54Selwyn Baptiste was a very passionate person, you know.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58And he used to get very upset
0:17:58 > 0:18:04if people tried to do things that he did not agree with.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09He was a nice person, I must say. He was a very nice person.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11- Am I too old to learn? - No.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13Can you teach an old dog new tricks?
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Yes. You want to have a go?
0:18:15 > 0:18:17- OK, then. Why not? - OK.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Dad started teaching me when I was a kid at school,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24and I was too interested in playing football.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26'Sterling clearly had fond memories of my dad,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29'but according to him, it was the band HE was in,
0:18:29 > 0:18:33'the Russell Henderson Trio, who took to the streets first.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36'My dad's band came later.'
0:18:36 > 0:18:39- Just one hand or two? - Two here.
0:18:39 > 0:18:40And two here.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44'In trying to find out who started Carnival,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47'and when, I've been looking for definitive answers,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50'and all roads have led to this man.'
0:18:50 > 0:18:55"Russell Henderson, musician and pioneering pan artist,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57"led the first ever Carnival parade
0:18:57 > 0:19:01"on the streets of Notting Hill in 1965."
0:19:01 > 0:19:03They put '65, but it's '64.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06'Russell Henderson is now 90,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09'but he remembers how that first mobile procession -
0:19:09 > 0:19:12'spontaneous, unplanned, momentous -
0:19:12 > 0:19:16'created an immediate buzz as it set off through the streets.'
0:19:16 > 0:19:18So, there was no intention for this event to move?
0:19:18 > 0:19:22- You just came to play at this spot? - No, it was to play at that spot.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Do you remember which direction you went in?
0:19:25 > 0:19:27- Towards Porchester Road. - That way?
0:19:27 > 0:19:28Let's go.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Within few hundred yards, people were coming
0:19:31 > 0:19:35and following, but it was so impressive, that first one,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39that following, it caused it to continue,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41and the same way that built up that day,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43the carnival built up every year.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45And your father came to me and said, "Russ,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49"you realise this carnival is getting bigger and getting out of hand.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53"I think we should have a committee." I said, "I agree with you."
0:19:53 > 0:19:58And your father, Selwyn, formed the first committee
0:19:58 > 0:20:03and called it CDC - the Carnival Development Committee.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07'So, according to Russell, that's when things got serious.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11'My dad's no longer here to give his version of events,
0:20:11 > 0:20:17'but Sterling, Russell and some of the other old steel pan warriors are.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20'And they still get together to jam and reminisce about how they,
0:20:20 > 0:20:25'and others like them, changed the face of Britain.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32'When was the first carnival? Well, that one will run and run.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36'When you ask who started it,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39'the answer is that Carnival has many authors.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43'At the forefront, a dynamic white woman working to bring
0:20:43 > 0:20:47'an impoverished community together, and a group of pioneering
0:20:47 > 0:20:49'West Indian musicians who answered her call,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53'a set of conditions including deprivation, immigration
0:20:53 > 0:20:55'and racial tension set the stage.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58'Hundreds of people have helped develop Carnival,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01'and millions have danced to its tune over the years.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04'I've learnt a lot about my dad and his Carnival story,
0:21:04 > 0:21:08'and over the August bank holiday, I'm sure he'll be here in spirit.'
0:21:08 > 0:21:11This is designed for people of the world.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15You participate, it's a street theatre, you can be anything
0:21:15 > 0:21:19on that day. It's free. It's a freedom thing.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23And the carnival is the most dynamic thing that England has ever
0:21:23 > 0:21:25seen in its history.
0:21:29 > 0:21:30Selwyn Baptiste!