Who Started It? Notting Hill Carnival

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Notting Hill Carnival - Europe's largest street festival.

It's a huge-scale cultural juggernaut,

reflecting Caribbean tradition, shaped by black British culture.

Over a million people from all over the world

invade this small corner of west London at the end of the summer

for a teeming two-day party

on some of the most expensive streets in Britain.

So, where did this event come from?

Who started Carnival, and when?

In this film, I'm on a mission to find out.

My name is when Wyn Baptiste and I have a special interest,

because I always thought my dad started Carnival.

Carnival Development Committee...

'My father was Selwyn Baptiste,

'a steel pan player from Trinidad who came to Britain in 1960.

'As a kid in the 1970s,

'I remember him running Carnival from his front room.

'And it was always my dad who was spokesperson

'when Carnival was on TV.'

And here, with the carnival committee's point of view,

is Selwyn Baptiste.

The Notting Hill Carnival began in the mid-'60s

and arose out of adventure playgrounds

in the Tavistock and Golborne areas.

Its purpose is to bring a little bit of heaven

to the desolate streets of North Kensington

and to enable the West Indian community to feel at home

in a country to which they are historically and spiritually tied.

'Arguments over the origin of Carnival have been

'rumbling in Notting Hill for some time.

'I've heard about a woman called Claudia Jones,

'a political activist and civil rights campaigner

'who staged indoor carnivals elsewhere in London as early as 1959.

'Then there was Rhaune Laslett, a community worker

'in Notting Hill who had the vision of bringing people together

'with a street festival in the mid-1960s.

'And Russell Henderson, who is said to have led the first

'procession in the streets with a steel pan hung around his neck.

'So, where does my dad fit into all this?

'Not only are there rival versions of who started Carnival,

'no-one can even agree when it started.'

- It was 1965. - 1966.

Whether it's '65 or '66 is neither here nor there.

'59 or '64 or '65,

everybody needs to be recognised.

- Claudia Jones. - Mr Russell Henderson.

- Rhaune Laslett. - You see the man

that woman just mentioned? Right?

It was started by Selwyn Baptiste.

This community has created Carnival,

and rather than be like crabs in a barrel

and pull each other down,

it's about time the community starts working together,

document its history, be proud of that history

and let the world know what Notting Hill's taught the nation.

Thank you very much indeed.

Ishmahil Blagrove is a photographer, a researcher, a film-maker

and has spent a long time looking into the origins of Carnival,

and collecting the most amazing array of photographs

charting its history, and I'm hoping that he'll be able to tell us

a little bit about the characters and controversies of this story.

I recognise one of the pictures over here.

You should, it's your dad.

- I recognise that man. - Yeah, yeah.

I mean, Selwyn was a very, very important player.

I mean, an instrumental player in the history of Carnival.

I mean, in fact, he took over the carnival from Rhaune Laslett.

He was also training a lot of kids in the area to play steel pan,

and so he was he was working out of the Wornington Road Adventure Centre

whilst Rhaune Laslett obviously had Shanty Town -

two of the sort of key youth adventure playgrounds in the area.

'So, my dad took over Carnival from Rhaune Laslett,

'and they were both involved in playgrounds in the neighbourhood,

'but what about the date?'

There was no event in 1964. Nothing happened in '64.

There is absolutely no documentary evidence whatsoever.

However, Rhaune Laslett herself

says that the carnival first started in 1965.

You have others now who will corroborate that.

It might be fair to say that, prior to the 1966 event,

which was a larger, better-organised event, there was a precursor event.

Have you got a sense of why history of Carnival

has been so controversial, if you like,

and has stirred up such kind of fervent passion amongst people?

Claudia Jones is one of my heroes, without doubt.

What she contributed to the black political struggles

in this country is amazing.

However, she did not start the Notting Hill Carnival.

But then we have the situation of Rhaune Laslett, a white woman.

What does she know about Carnival?

The reality was that you had these people from Trinidad,

who weren't just small-time carnivalists is from Trinidad,

they were big players.

They would have turned any little street jump-up into a carnival.

So, that's why people try and push Rhaune Laslett out, by saying

that, well, Rhaune staged the event but we were the ones that made it.

'Rhaune Laslett worked tirelessly to improve social conditions

'in an area which, back then, was severely deprived.

'But did she actually create the first carnival?

'Rhaune passed away in 2002,

'so I've come to see her son Mike Laslett to ask him.'

When your mother had a vision of bringing together this community,

was there any feeling at that point that Caribbean culture

- should be at the centre of this? - No. No.

My mother's thing was, pretty much, she was going to be just here,

spilling out of the house into the street, just like a party

for the Queen's Jubilee, or something.

What year was that?

'65.

The reason there is this controversy is that all historians

rely on documentary evidence.

They want something written down somewhere.

When my mother did this thing, it wasn't...

There was no sense of it being an historic moment,

there was no sense of, "We've got to write this down,

"we've got to record this," it just happened.

Your mum's flat is just over here.

Yeah.

The mere fact that it's there

must give you some form of satisfaction.

It's good, yeah, only because that one's there. It's balanced.

There should be one for your father up here somewhere, probably.

'So, talking to Mike Laslett, you really got a sense'

there was no real plan for making a huge event

on that first little fete or fair, as it was,

and Mike Laslett, son of Rhaune Laslett,

thinks there might even be space for a blue plaque for my dad

somewhere on the wall not far from his mum's blue plaque.

That's quite nice.

'A blue plaque on a wall in Notting Hill?

'Maybe Dad would have liked that.'

And then there's a section in this book, Pioneers In Great Britain,

and at the beginning of the chapter,

here's Sterling Betancourt and Russell Henderson,

And then the next entry is Selwyn Baptiste.

"His greatest contribution was that he played a major role

'by the mid-'60s by actually teaching the steel pan

"to deprived children, English and Caribbean,

"from the Notting Hill adventure playground area.

"In the process,

"Baptiste literally turned many young lives away from violence and crime

"to become a hard-working, upright citizens of Great Britain.

"He was also the first chairman of the Notting Hill Carnival."

And my dad used to carry this book around

and he used it as a bit of a calling card.

If he went to see someone official,

like a doctor or somebody where he needed to prove his credentials,

he'd often pull this book out and get them to read that entry,

and there's something makes me feel a little bit sad about that,

because I think part of my dad's story is that he felt he didn't have

the standing or the recognition that his work had deserved.

'The adventure playgrounds were really important in the mid-'60s

'because Notting Hill was a community

'still scarred by the race riots of 1958.

'To understand how that relates to the beginning of Carnival,

'I've come to meet Peter Joseph,

'a man who experienced those riots first hand.'

The teddy boys were a little bit, um...

They kept away from us in the grove

until they were wound up by Oswald Mosley.

And it spilled over on September 1st.

There was only about 60, 70 of us, but we held the grove.

'Peter was on the front line in Notting Hill,

'defending against racist attacks back in '58,

'but what does he know of the start of Carnival?'

My recollection...is quite simple.

1965, I can't remember the month,

but a friend of mine called me and said,

"Pan on the road!" Russell and Sterling and them, "Pan on the road!"

He just took the kids and all of that from around us.

We are in a position where we have human archaeologists right here,

men like Russell and Sterling,

who can tell you exactly what has happened

and make sure that the actual truth comes from that,

because they did it. Nobody else.

'The cry "pan on the road",

'meaning that a steel band was on the move on the streets, is key.

'That was the moment a street party became a procession.

'Peter is clear that his fellow Trinidadian pan players,

'Russell Henderson and Sterling Betancourt, were crucial characters,

'but what about my dad's involvement in Carnival?'

He was an aspiring pseudo-intellect...

..whose self-delusion and...

..ambitions, whatever...

..put him to the front...

..in order for him to...

..to feed.

Is it safe to say that you and my dad didn't really get on?

Well, it's not safe.

You can be sure.

Because I didn't find him a nice man.

'I knew my dad could be difficult,

'but it was hard for me to hear what Peter had to say.

'I've arranged to see my dad's old friend Darcus Howe,

'to see how he reacts to the accusation

'that my dad used Carnival for his own ends.'

What?!

He had a basement flat in Powis Square.

What is he talking about?

That is poison.

He may have been -

well, not to me - very harsh, and very vicious,

because he was surrounded by a lot of hustlers,

and that he was not.

I knew him well.

He was an intellectual.

He was an artist.

He was spiritual.

And he was brave.

'And in the mid-'70s, both my dad and Darcus needed to be brave.

'Attendance numbers at Carnival were pushing a quarter of a million.

Between 1973 and '75, a man called Leslie Palmer was in charge,

'and he recruited more steel bands, introduced other live acts,

'and, crucially, attracted sound systems to the event.

'The Caribbean influence now went beyond Trinidadian tradition.

'But as more people came, police numbers rocketed.

'Tensions that were simmering between black youth

'and the police all year round

'boiled over at Carnival in 1976.

'By then, Darcus and Dad were running an event

'facing widespread calls to close it down,

'and they had to stand firm.

'They had a clear message for the police and carnival-goers.'

There were too many policemen around the bands yesterday

and it created a certain amount of nervousness.

We say to the young blacks,

"If you steal in Carnival, it's like stealing

"from the purses of the guests who attended your big brother's wedding."

'But looking back now,

'what's Darcus's take on who started Carnival?'

So, can you put the start of Carnival down to one individual,

or is it a movement thing? What's...

It's a movement thing.

There is no one individual, nothing.

It has to come from your own...

in England.

You know, the only person who had that historical perspective on it?

A fellow called Selwyn Baptiste.

For some reason,

he knew that this thing is going to explode

as a huge cultural statement.

'But it didn't become a huge cultural statement overnight.

'It's time to rewind to where it all started for my dad.

'He's no longer here to tell me

'about the Notting Hill Adventure Playground,

'but I do have recording he made a few years before his death.'

These guys used to fight a lot,

the black and white kids in the playground.

I came in with pans, taught them, it was beneficial,

it was unifying, it was all embracing,

and the boys had a better understanding of one another.

'I've managed to track down some of the original

'members of my dad's band, the Adventurers,

'and they've agreed to meet me at the playground

'where it all began for them

'when they were teenagers in the mid-'60s.'

Do you know, this place has completely changed

to what I remember of it.

Very little now, you know, compares.

- But it brings back memories? - It do, it do.

Every child around come here.

The adventure playground at the time was famous.

Was it here that you guys were introduced to pan?

ALL: Yes, yes, yes.

Right here.

Selwyn knew my family back to front.

So, did it go beyond making and teaching pan?

- Was it more than that? - Of course it was.

We in the band used to call Selwyn Pharaoh,

because he was like the leader.

- He was the leader. - Yeah.

So, when the Adventurers' first took to the streets in Carnival,

would you be able to put a year to that?

- We were the kids' band. - Around '66, we would say.

The only thing is, I think

Selwyn in his lifetime, he deserved a bit more recognition.

He did not get the recognition he rightfully deserved.

When the carnival was in proper problem,

Selwyn was the one who took the mantra.

That's when the thing moved to his house.

Because that's after the police problem with the riots.

The whole thing, he couldn't get away from it.

He had sleep deprivation

because of the fact his house is the office 24 hours a day.

What I always remember about Selwyn,

he's on television and when you look at him,

he looked like a black leader, a militant leader, with his Afro.

We were his boys then. We were Selwyn's boys.

The Adventurers steel band became the Metronomes,

who are still going strong today.

CHATTER

All right! One, two, three, four...

'They practise all year round

'for the annual steel band competition, Panorama.

'Founder member Irvin Corridan is still involved.

'They still use my dad's pan in the band.

'They say it brought them that last year.

'That luck, combined with skill and hard work, meant they came second,

'pipped to the first place by the Real Steel Orchestra,

'a band from Plymouth.

'Still, it's their best placing in 20 years.

'Dad would be pleased seeing the celebrations

'going on long into the night.

'My dad's band did remember being there in 1966,

'but can anyone put them, and my dad, at the first one?

'One man who should know is Sterling Betancourt.

'A legendary steel pan player, Sterling left Trinidad to come

'and perform at the Festival of Britain way back in 1951,

'and visiting him feels like I'm getting close to the source.'

1951, TASPO.

So, this is the band you came over with to the Festival of Britain?

Yeah, that's right.

And only three of us are alive now.

Wow. Are you in that photograph?

Yeah, look me here.

They said that we must take a band to Britain for them to see

the Trinidad culture, because this was something new.

No-one knew about the steel drum in those days.

They said, "Well, that is black magic."

I met your dad in the early days when we started the Notting Hill Carnival.

He was very involved with Mrs Laslett as well,

and the kids in the adventure playground.

And he was there, but he didn't actually come on the road with us

when we first started, but he was there.

This was not a Trindidad/West Indian thing.

It get like that after.

What year do you think...

what year would you say that first carnival was?

1964.

Sterling, what was my dad like as a man? As a guy?

As a friend of yours? How would you describe him?

Selwyn Baptiste was a very passionate person, you know.

And he used to get very upset

if people tried to do things that he did not agree with.

He was a nice person, I must say. He was a very nice person.

- Am I too old to learn? - No.

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Yes. You want to have a go?

- OK, then. Why not? - OK.

Dad started teaching me when I was a kid at school,

and I was too interested in playing football.

'Sterling clearly had fond memories of my dad,

'but according to him, it was the band HE was in,

'the Russell Henderson Trio, who took to the streets first.

'My dad's band came later.'

- Just one hand or two? - Two here.

And two here.

'In trying to find out who started Carnival,

'and when, I've been looking for definitive answers,

'and all roads have led to this man.'

"Russell Henderson, musician and pioneering pan artist,

"led the first ever Carnival parade

"on the streets of Notting Hill in 1965."

They put '65, but it's '64.

'Russell Henderson is now 90,

'but he remembers how that first mobile procession -

'spontaneous, unplanned, momentous -

'created an immediate buzz as it set off through the streets.'

So, there was no intention for this event to move?

- You just came to play at this spot? - No, it was to play at that spot.

Do you remember which direction you went in?

- Towards Porchester Road. - That way?

Let's go.

Within few hundred yards, people were coming

and following, but it was so impressive, that first one,

that following, it caused it to continue,

and the same way that built up that day,

the carnival built up every year.

And your father came to me and said, "Russ,

"you realise this carnival is getting bigger and getting out of hand.

"I think we should have a committee." I said, "I agree with you."

And your father, Selwyn, formed the first committee

and called it CDC - the Carnival Development Committee.

'So, according to Russell, that's when things got serious.

'My dad's no longer here to give his version of events,

'but Sterling, Russell and some of the other old steel pan warriors are.

'And they still get together to jam and reminisce about how they,

'and others like them, changed the face of Britain.

'When was the first carnival? Well, that one will run and run.

'When you ask who started it,

'the answer is that Carnival has many authors.

'At the forefront, a dynamic white woman working to bring

'an impoverished community together, and a group of pioneering

'West Indian musicians who answered her call,

'a set of conditions including deprivation, immigration

'and racial tension set the stage.

'Hundreds of people have helped develop Carnival,

'and millions have danced to its tune over the years.

'I've learnt a lot about my dad and his Carnival story,

'and over the August bank holiday, I'm sure he'll be here in spirit.'

This is designed for people of the world.

You participate, it's a street theatre, you can be anything

on that day. It's free. It's a freedom thing.

And the carnival is the most dynamic thing that England has ever

seen in its history.

Selwyn Baptiste!