Alex Pascall travelled to Britain as a 22-year-old in 1959, 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.
16 Facts About Alex Pascall
1.
2.
Alex Pascall had originally intended to return home after five years but has remained in the UK for more than five decades.
3.
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.
4.
Alex Pascall has paid tribute to the role of his late colleague Barry Clayton in the programme's genesis:.
5.
In 1994, Alex Pascall presented A Different Rhythm, an eight-part BBC Radio 3 series produced by Clayton and Nick Hughes, on the impact of the black presence on British music and musicians.
6.
Alex Pascall is well known for his compositions for the Early Years landmark children's TV series Teletubbies and BBC Schools.
7.
In 1982 Alex Pascall co-founded with Val McCalla Britain's first national weekly Black British newspaper The Voice, utilising Alex 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.
8.
From 1984 to 1989 Alex Pascall was chairman of the Carnival and Arts Committee of the Notting Hill Carnival.
9.
In 1986, Alex Pascall was appointed the National Coordinator for "Caribbean Focus 86", a festival of arts and culture, in association with the Commonwealth Institute in London and CARICOM governments.
10.
Alex Pascall worked on "Caribbean Express '86", a cultural exhibition train that travelled to 18 cities in Britain in 21 days, running educational workshops.
11.
Alex Pascall has frequently spoken out on issues particularly affecting the black community.
12.
Alex Pascall has been chair of the Black Members' Council of the National Union of Journalists, a member of the Commonwealth Institute Education Advisory Committee, and a Trustee of the Tabernacle Arts and Community Centre in Notting Hill.
13.
Alex Pascall is 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.
14.
Alex Pascall 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.
15.
Alex Pascall was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1996 for services to community relations.
16.
At a civic reception given by Islington Council on the day Alex Pascall received his OBE, Sir Shridath Ramphal paid tribute to him as a "cultural 'guru' for Caribbean people in Britain who has spent 35 years as a commentator par excellence, teaching, performing and promoting Caribbean music and history".