Alex Pascall, OBE (born November 1936), is a British broadcaster, journalist, musician, composer,

oral historian Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

and educator. Based in Britain for more than 50 years, he was one of the developers of the

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966

, is a political campaigner and was part of the team behind the birth of Britain's first national black newspaper ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

''. Credited with having "established a black presence in the British media", Yinka Sunmonu, "Pascall, Alex", in Alison Donnell (ed.), ''Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture'', Routledge, 2002, p. 323. Pascall is most notable as having been one of the first regular Black radio voices in the UK, presenting the programme ''Black Londoners'' on

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...

for 14 years from 1974. Initially planned as a test series of six programmes, ''Black Londoners'' became, in 1978, the first black daily radio show in British history, with prominent guests from the worlds of politics, sport, literature and the arts, including

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, Althea McNish, Mustapha Matura,

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

MP,

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MP,

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and the

Mighty Sparrow Slinger Francisco ORTT CM OBE (born July 9, 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Trinidadian calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. Known as the "Calypso King of the World", he is one of the best-known and most successful calyp ...

Biography

Early years

Born on the island of Grenada in the

Eastern Caribbean The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...

, Pascall was the eldest son in a family of 10. He travelled to Britain as a 22-year-old in 1959,Alex Pascall biography, in Sarah White, Roxy Harris & Sharmilla Beezmohun (eds), ''A Meeting of the Continents: The International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books – Revisited'', London: New Beacon Books/George Padmore Institute, 2005, p. 451. having represented his country as a musician the previous year in the Bee Wee Ballet Dance Troupe at the inauguration of the

Federation of the West Indies A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing ...

. He had originally intended to return home after five years but has remained in the UK for more than five decades."Alex Pascall OBE Showreel 3"
(video). Early on he involved himself with music and his group The Alex Pascall Singers, founded in the 1960s, is reportedly the first known multi-cultural choir in London. A former member of the group, Jacques Compton, recalls about Pascall that "in addition to being a very excellent drummer and singer, he was also a composer of some excellent songs."

Broadcasting career

Pascall gained national prominence as a broadcaster through his work with the groundbreaking BBC Radio London programme ''Black Londoners'', first aired on 22 November 1974, which he fronted for 14 years: "It began once a month, then once a week and within a couple of years we were broadcasting every day."
''

Camden New Journal The ''Camden New Journal'' is a British independent newspaper published in the London Borough of Camden. It was launched by editor Eric Gordon (who died on 5 April 2021, aged 89) in 1982 following a two-year strike at its predecessor, the ''Ca ...

'', 3 September 2009. Britain's first daily Black radio magazine programme,“Cultural Strategist – Alex Pascall O.B.E.”
, Black Heritage Today. the hour-long ''Black Londoners'' – "half phone-in and half news content each day" – was an important vehicle for the discussion of issues affecting the black community, in particular the

New Cross Fire The New Cross house fire was a conflagration, fire that occurred during a party at a house in New Cross, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday, 18 January 1981. The blaze killed 13 young black people aged between 14 and 22, and one su ...

in 1981, and provided a mouthpiece for many black musicians, artists and politicians who either lived in or passed through the capital. Pascall has paid tribute to the role of his late colleague Barry Clayton in the programme's genesis:

:"In 1973, a contingent of people in the field of race and community relations, recognising the lack of black representation in the British media, approached BBC local radio and succeeded in obtaining a slot for black programming. :The responsibility for its development was placed in the hands of Barry Clayton as producer and Alex as presenter. We devised a magazine-style format programme for broadcast in November 1974. :Black Londoners was aired by BBC Radio London for 14 years, going on to become the first black daily radio programme broadcast in Britain from 1978 till 1988, when the station changed its name and the general format.... :Barry and I also went off to the Caribbean to arrange a Christmas link-up of three of the islands (
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
,
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
and
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
) for a special
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
Christmas broadcast and developed links that later saw the return of
Louise Bennett Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley or Miss Lou (7 September 1919 – 26 July 2006), was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator. Writing and performing her poems in Jamaican Patois or Creole, Bennett worked to preserve the practice of p ...
of Jamaica as one of the featured personalities for a Channel 4 series produced by
Trevor Phillips Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunday ...
.""Feature: Broadcaster Alex Pascall pays tribute to the extraordinary and unique Barry Clayton"
, ''Camden New Journal'', 5 January 2012.

In 1994, Pascall presented ''A Different Rhythm'', an eight-part

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

series produced by Clayton and Nick Hughes, on the impact of the black presence on British music and musicians. Other notable documentary features that Pascall has researched and presented include ''Caribbean Cocktail'' on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

(1994),''They Came Before the Windrush'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, produced by

Marina Salandy-Brown Marina Salandy-Brown FRSA, Hon. FRSL, is a Trinidadian journalist, broadcaster and cultural activist. She was formerly an editor and Senior Manager in Radio and News and Current Affairs programmes with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) i ...

, ''Alex Pascall's Caribbean Folk Music'' (1995), ''Let the Music Talk'' (24 June 1981) on Radio 2, produced by David Corser, ''Sophisticated Ladies'' (1997, Radio 4), a celebration of Black female stars of British musical theatre since the 1850s, ''Cricket Calypsos'' (25 July 1991 on Radio 3) and ''World War Calypso''. Pascall is also well known for his compositions for the Early Years landmark children's TV series ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on th ...

'' and

BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based o ...

.Good Vibes Online.
On Boxing Day 2015, Pascall launched an online radio show called ''Alex Pascall's Londoners'' on Good Vibes Radio.

Community and cultural activism

In 1982 Pascall co-founded with

Val McCalla Val Irvine McCalla (3 October 1943 – 22 August 2002) was a Jamaican accountant and media entrepreneur who settled in Britain in 1959. He is best known as the founder of ''The Voice'', a British weekly newspaper aimed at the Britain's black com ...

Britain's first national weekly Black British newspaper ''

'', utilising Pascall's media connections as presenter of the BBC programme ''Black Londoners''; the first issue of ''The Voice'' coincided with the Notting Hill Carnival that year. From 1984 to 1989 Pascall was chairman of the Carnival and Arts Committee of the

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966

. Committed to internationalising Caribbean cultural developments in Britain, he also served as the founding vice-president and national representative of the Foundation for European Carnival Cities (FECC) – a federation of European carnivals. In 1986, Pascall was appointed the National Coordinator for "Caribbean Focus 86", a festival of arts and culture, in association with the

Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust is a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pro ...

in London and CARICOM governments. It was the first national festival to showcase Caribbean peoples' contributions in British lifestyle. Pascall worked on "Caribbean Express '86", a cultural exhibition train that travelled to 18 cities in Britain in 21 days, running educational workshops. Pascall has frequently spoken out on issues particularly affecting the black community. He has been chair of the Black Members' Council of the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Structure There is ...

(NUJ), a member of the Commonwealth Institute Education Advisory Committee, and a Trustee of

The Tabernacle The Tabernacle is a mid-size concert hall located in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Opening in 1911 as a church, the building was converted into a music venue in 1996. It is owned and managed by concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment and has a c ...

Arts and Community Centre in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

. Pascall is a Member of Honour of the NUJ. As an inspirational key note speaker and educator, he makes frequent appearances for university lectures, live events internationally, community engagement projects and appearances for schools. On occasion he still performs as a singer songwriter. Pascall is also a playwright, oral historian and cultural strategist, teaching, performing and promoting Caribbean music and history to people of all ages in schools, universities, libraries and communities. He has written and documented material to respond to the need to make Caribbean folk arts widely accessible and holds a large historical archive spanning over five decades of Black presence in Britain.""Alex Pascall"
Theatre in Wales. His play ''Common Threads'', set within a plantation on the island of Grenada and Big Pit Colliery in

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, revolves around the history of the sugar and coal industries and was first presented in 2001 by Gwent Theatre. Pascall was also involved in pioneering the "Roots to

Torfaen Torfaen (; cy, Torfaen ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south ...

" local history project, "to encourage pupils, parents and community members to explore their roots, celebrate cultural diversity in their area and discover global links."

Personal life

Alex Pascall and his wife Joyce have lived in

Crouch Hill Crouch Hill is a street in north London, England, running between Crouch End and Stroud Green in the boroughs of Haringey and Islington. It is not to be confused with Crouch End Hill which runs between Crouch End and Hornsey Rise. (The two road ...

, London, since 1959. Their daughter Deirdre is an arts educator, composer for film, professional cellist and pianist. Their son Ayandele is a film editor.

Awards

Alex Pascall was made an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in 1996 for services to community relations. At a civic reception given by

Islington Council Islington London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Islington in Greater London, England. The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced two local authorities: Finsbury Metropolitan Borough C ...