CaribCommx - the Caribbean and Commonwealth heritage communities in the United Kingdom - and beyond
NAMES IN THE NEWS - and OUR VIEWS TO YOU
Karola Rajoo - 21st Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth
Miss India Worldwide
Karola’s quest is to win A World Cup in South Africa
Karola Rajoo, 21st Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth, sets to win a World Cup in South Africa some three months before the footballers get around to trying to do the same thing. She will be contesting the 19th Miss India Worldwide title at the International Convention Centre in Durban on 27th March 2010.Supporters who have followed Karola’s successful career to date may be surprised to know that she will be required to sing as well as to look beautiful.
Ms Rajoo, appropriately, will be representing Trinidad & Tobago. It is appropriate because she came to notice first in this country as Deputy (then Acting) Miss Trinidad & Tobago UK. By being in South Africa she will miss the Launch of that title’s 2010 contest. The promoters of Miss Trinidad & Tobago UK, Carivog International, were so impressed by Karola’s potential that they recommended her to the Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth promotion. She was initially placed second in that competition held at the Polish Centre in Hammersmith just under a year ago, but all that changed when the winner then was unable to be confirmed in that position.
Karola Rajoo was appointed to the full Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth title on 2nd June 2009. She is the third champion from the twin-island state – following Anita St Rose and Shaherah Williams. Karola continues to spend much of her time in Trinidad, but is generally based at New Cross in South-east London. Last summer she was received by Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, who wished her well in her career. It has obviously worked as Karola contends with some thirty contestants of Indian heritage from throughout the world.
CaribCommx, who thoroughly support Karola in her quest, will be first with the news of her progress. Meanwhile readers might like to find out more about the title on www.worldwidepageants.com When she returns Ms Rajoo will lead the promotion to find her successor as Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth at contest in October. She has already been invited to take up an important new position in that promotion which will be announced soon. Karola hopes that success for her in South Africa will provide a platform for the build-up to her country’s celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of Independence in two years time.
It will be a big year for South Africa, and it a big year for the Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth to be represented in this major competition. This year is the centenary of South Africa gaining independence from British rule and now a young lady from this country sets out to conquer them all over again. Good looks, pleasant personality and knowing how to behave – that is the maxim of Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth – and there is no better way of behaving than bringing credit to your homeland on the international stage.
Clayton Goodwin 5th March 2010
Congratulations Grandad
Eric Clarke, 81 year-old trumpeter and bandleader has become a grandfather for the first time. Grand-daughter Shenneice Diane Clarke, who weighed in at seven-and-half pounds, was born to his son Horace and will be baptised soon at All Saints Church, New Cross, South-east London. Eric is known well to CaribCommx readers through leading the Cool Savanna, who, among other engagements, have played for several years at the Independence Celebrations at the Jamaican High Commission in London. Earlier he led the Debonairs and the E.G. Embarkers. At least this is one proud grandfather who can be excused if he feels like blowing his own trumpet. 8th March 2010
Audley Harrison
Prostate Cancer
CaribCommx welcomes receiving the following Press Releases from Matchroom and from the management/promoters of Vitali Klitschko
AUDLEY FIGHT ON APRIL 9 IS STILL ON Hearn tips Sosnowski to stun Klitschko
BARRY Hearn has tipped Poland’s Albert Sosnowski to ‘cause a big upset’ and beat WBC Champion Vitali Klitschko in May.Sosnowski hails from Warsaw but is now based in Brentwood, Essex and is managed by Hearn, who has co-promoted the majority of his fights. Klitschko will be favourite to beat Sosnowski when the pair meet in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on May 29 but Hearn believes current European Champion Sosnowski will stun the boxing world. “Albert has been European Champion for just two months and has already been offered a shot for the World Heavyweight Championship,” said Hearn. “This is a life-changing opportunity for Albert and I feel he has the potential to cause a big upset in Germany.” Sosnowski, 31, propelled himself into the boxing big-time in December when he defeated Italian Paolo Vidoz to become European Champion. Former Olympic Games gold medalist Audley Harrison was scheduled to face Sosnowski at London’s Alexandra Palace on April 9. However, Hearn confirmed that Harrison will still be in action against a European fighter on that date and a new opponent will be named shortly. "The show on April 9th will go ahead as planned and Audley Harrison will now be fighting a new European opponent,” added Hearn. "This opportunity for Albert shows just how close Audley is to realising his dream of fighting for a world title." Sosnowski, who is licensed by the British Boxing Board of Control, has defeated current British Champion Danny Williams and won 45 of 48 professional contests. Harrison, 38, a former Olympic Games gold medalist, kept his professional career alive by winning Matchroom Sport’s Prizefighter Heavyweights 3 tournament in October.
Vitali Klitschko to face European Champion Albert Sosnowski in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on May 29
WBC World Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko defends his title against European Champion Albert Sosnowski from Poland at Veltins-Arena Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on May 29. The arena is the home field of the famous soccer club Schalke 04. Vitali Klitschko: „I am very happy to have my next fight in Germany again. The arena in Gelsenkirchen and the fans there are very special. I experienced that last year when my brother Wladimir had his fight there in front of 61,000 spectators. The atmosphere was simply electrifying. I saw Sosnowski’s fights on DVD and must admit that he is a very experienced, quick and tough opponent. He will do anything to get my belt but I promise that this is not going to happen.” 31-year-old Albert Sosnowski, who was born in Warsaw (Poland), lives in Brentwood, England. „The Dragon“ Sosnowski turned professional in 1998 and since then the 6'2½'' tall has an outstanding fight record of 45 wins (27 KOs), two defeats and one draw.
Last December, Sosnowski won the European Heavyweight Championship against former champion Paolo Vidoz from Italy. 2008 he knocked out former world title challenger and Tyson conqueror Danny Williams. Sosnowski was scheduled to defend his European title against Olympic champion Audley Harrison in London on April, 9, but cancelled it for the chance to fight Vitali Klitschko instead. Albert Sosnowski said: “A dream comes true. Because of the Harrison fight I am already in training and suddenly comes the once-in-a-lifetime chance to fight Klitschko. I want to thank him and his team to give me that opportunity which I will definitely take. For me, Klitschko is already over the hill. I know that I am the underdog for everybody, but I tell you, Klitschko will regret that he picked me. Many Polish and Germans with Polish roots live in the Gelsenkirchen area and I hope that they will support me. I will be the first Polish Heavyweight Champion of the World!” It is Klitschko’s 12th World Championship fight. His impressive record is 39 wins (37 KOs) and two defeats due to injury. In Germany, the fight between World Champion Vitali Klitschko and European Champion Albert Sosnowski will be broadcasted live and exclusively on RTL.
10th March 2010
CaribCommx is pleased to publish the enclosed communication from the Prostate Cancer Charity – it is a good cause and Suresh Rambaran has long supported our online journal 9th March 2010
Mission Un-Impossible Suresh sets off to raise awareness
The Prostate Cancer Charity has set a mission this Prostate Cancer Awareness Month - to leave the disease nowhere to hide . It is a mission which one man has chosen to accept. Specialist Support and Information Nurse, Suresh Rambaran, will set off on a solo expedition across the UK with one goal in mind, to raise awareness of prostate cancer in African Caribbean communities. African Caribbean men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men and in recognition of this, Suresh will be giving a series of talks in ethnic communities across the UK throughout March. He will be aiming to get people talking about the disease and help to address the taboos and myths about prostate cancer that are often held in the African Caribbean community. The talks will help the Charity's goal of bringing the hidden cancer out of the shadows this Awareness Month. Suresh Rambaran has been working in the field of cancer nursing for more that 30 years. He joined The Prostate Cancer Charity in 2004 as a Support and Specialist Information Nurse. He has also been actively involved in many community activities such as the Trinidad and Tobago Nurses Association and a number of Caribbean community groups as well as health care professional organisations. He will be visiting Dudley's The Claughton Centre on Wednesday 24 March and Warwick Street in Wolverhampton on Thursday 18 March. Further dates are due to be announced. For further information on Suresh's talks, please contact him at suresh.rambaran@prostate-cancer.org.uk
Claire Blackburn Media and Public Relations Officer The Prostate Cancer Charity First Floor, Cambridge House 100 Cambridge Grove London W6 0LE
Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has become the Mr Grainger of the Cloth. Like the veteran salesman of Grace Brothers in the television comedy series Are You Being Served? he comes over grumpy and bemoaning – without too much of the grace – that things are not what they once were. His latest grouse is that Christians are “bullied” out of public life in Britain while politicians fail to stand up for their beliefs and that “politically” correct councils go to “absurd” lengths to avoid causing events to avoid causing offence to followers of other faiths by honouring the country’s Christian heritage.
At least Mr Grainger was meant to be ridiculous.
Lord Carey, a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, should look around at his media colleagues, a good number of whom write about Islam, for example, with ignorance (whether or not it is deliberate ignorance may be debated) and vindictive vitriol. A comparison with the Jew-baiting vehemence of the Voelkischer Beobachter and other newspapers of Nazi Germany is chilling. As most of these propagandists are Christian, nominally at least, should not His Grace be minded to observe the beam in the eye of his co-religionists before getting to the mote in the eye of his neighbours.
The current tendency of some Christians too shout “victimisation and martyrdom” is not only an insult to those of their faith who have suffered, and in some cases are still suffering, genuine martyrdom and victimisation, but presents a picture of pettiness which does their religion no favours. If the credibility of Christianity suffers accordingly Brother Carey’s chickens may well have come home to roost. For a belief that was once strong enough to defy Nero, the lions and crucifixion to whinge on about such perceived indignities is as unworthy as a once great football team which had competed successfully against the mightiest sides in the world to squabble about off-side infringements when they have been relegated to the Beezer League.
Christ and His Church deserve to have more credible defenders than those in the media who purport to do so. After all, it isn’t as if there isn’t enough in the world that could not benefit from some real spiritual advice. The top men in most national organisations tend to step aside once they have given up their high office – it is a practice which has much to commend it. I would be encourage if this country could get round to judging Christians, and those of other faiths, by the manner of their lives and not by niggling demarcation disputes.
Clayton Goodwin 6th March 2010
Recent title-holders Karola Rajoo and Yolanda Gqomo
Contestants Co-ordinator Magykk Myers
Under all flags - Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth represents the Caribbean and Commonwealth
Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth Now taking applications for contestants
The news is out.
Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth are now taking applications for contestants for the 23rd Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth contest to be held in London later in the summer. Applicants of all races, nationalities, experience and background are welcome. Past winners have come from the communities of Anguilla, Aruba, Ghana, Grenada, India, Jamaica, Nigeria, St Lucia, South Africa and Trinidad & Tobago. Several successful contestants have applied direct to CaribCommx including Patricia Reynolds, Deputy 18th Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth. This year you are invited to contact Magykk Myers, Contestants Co-ordinator, on misscnc@live.co.ukfor details. Further information can be found on www.misscaribbeanncommonwealth.tk and CaribCommx, too, will be carrying news and up-dates throughout the spring and summer. Magykk, herself, is a former contestant and has the experience to answer all your questions.
Clayton Goodwin 2nd March 2010
Michael Foot has left us A good man of principle
Michael Foot, who has died aged 96 years, was an excellent orator and journalist, an inspiring politician and a thoroughly good man. Even his opponents, of whom there were many, gave him that. I remember immediately after the 1983 General Election in which he led the Labour Party to overwhelming defeat lunching with a bank manager, a typical Conservative voter, who told me: “Michael Foot is a good man – that was his problem – the public prefer a nice man to a good man”.
I remember Michael first from listening in childhood to his radio appearances, mainly with Any Questions, and then as a student in the early-1960s hearing his speeches at first-hand, usually at rallies of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. At that time when oratory was oratory, and not sound-bites honed by spin doctors and focus groups, radical speakers Michael Foot and Dr Donald Soper provided entertainment as well as information and passion. It was a pity that I – like so many others of my generation – could not go all the way with him on Socialism.
Foot was handed the poisoned chalice of leadership after Labour had been crushed in 1979 and the party was rent apart by internecine strife. The history books will show the loss but not necessarily the man. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. In perhaps the first general election in this country to be determined by modern marketing and propaganda methods he, and his party, appeared to be out-of-date, an impression enhanced by his already advancing age and characteristically dishevelled appearance. Yet his opponents respected him even while they trashed him.
Although they led the same political party Michael Foot was the antithesis of the glib Tony Blair. He came from a family grounded in old Liberalism, being one of those outstanding politicians whose shift to Labour wrecked the Liberals as a major force. Socialism seemed then to be the “new dawn”. Movements of the “future” turn too often and too quickly into relics of the “past”. Foot defines that time in our national life when Labour and Socialism (the terms were not then as incompatible as they have now become) were the expressions of hope, of faith, and of reform.
It is a pity that he was ever elected leader of the Labour Party, or that being elected he accepted the call. His sense of duty forbade him to refuse. Michael defined individuality. He was at home on the back benches, a maverick, a considerable maverick, who personified the conscience of the movement. Leadership required compromise, compromise in policies and presentation of which he was not capable, and that way led to a humiliation he did not deserve. What he did deserve, however, was to be judged as a man – a politician and journalist – of principle. There have not been too many of those in our public life.
Clayton Goodwin 4th March 2010
Lukwesa Burak
Lukwesa looking good All is well with the world
Lukwesa Burak brightens up my morning – from the very first stroke past midnight. It is a pleasure to see her back reading Sky News. Like Cinderella in reverse the pumpkins of the small screen turn into beauty the moment the bewitching hour is with us. It isn’t just that I fall for a pretty face in my late-night living-room (especially as Jeremy Paxman has just been hectoring me on the other side), but I remember with affection an evening at the Zambian High Commission in London a couple of summers back.
The occasion was graced by the presence of some of the leading beauty queens in the country. When it was announced that a noted television newsreader was among us I was struck immediately by two things – a double-whammy as the politicians might say. Firstly, Lukwesa is naturally lovely. It is isn’t just the studio make-up which, it is said, can “do wonders”. She deserved to rank among the title-holders of pulchritude who were present. For the first (and, I hope, only) time I was pleased that Femi Oke was no longer within these shores as I did not have to choose between my two favourite ladies of the “small-screen”. At least I can still say that Femi was the most interesting “television personality” that I have ever interviewed, because I haven’t actually interviewed Lukwesa.
Secondly, she was so modest and likeable. Interviewers can be, and usually are, insufferable. However in my long experience of journalism and politics I have found the smaller the station/channel the bigger the ego. Although my children with similar careers in the media tell me that some of the big names – especially those who have an assumed persona of reasonableness – are monsters. Let us hope that one of them doesn’t get into Parliament and become doubly insufferable.
Many years ago when I was a Parliamentary candidate our local association arranged for medication to be taken to patients, mainly the elderly and disabled, who lived way out on the Kentish Marshes. A young lady interviewer of Radio Kent insisted on referring to the Liberals running drugs to pensioners – and sneeringly affirming that “drugs” and “medication” were really one and the same thing. Oh, how clever she was ! Since then I had tended to view all lady interviewers with suspicion, especially if they were attractive (and knew it).
Lukwesa wasn’t a bit like that. How was she? Well, exactly the opposite to my preconception. So when I switch my television over to Sky News at midnight and see Lukwesa looking back at me I feel – though I haven’t really got anything against the rather nice fair-haired young lady who often replaces her – that all is well with the world. At midnight .... on Sky News .... and when everybody else in the household is asleep.
Clayton Goodwin 3rd March 2010
Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper Should stay where he is Lest we should believe it is stitch-up deferred
There was always the suspicion that the arrest and trial of Peter Sutcliffe (“The Yorkshire Ripper”) was meant to be a “stitch up”. That is why it is important that he is not even considered for parole, let alone have it granted, as has been mooted. Why bother – it was a long time ago? He is an old man now – much older than his (at least) 13 women victims were allowed to live. The story going around when this killer was arrested in early January 1981 was that he had allowed himself to be caught, in the company of a prostitute in the redlight district of Sheffield, as part of the bargain that he would be spared the charge of murder with a life sentence in prison and sentenced instead to the lesser charge of manslaughter with life (and perhaps eventual release) in a secure hospital.
Of course there could be no truth in a charge like that could there? I mean, British justice just does not work like that, does it? I remain to be convinced, and I was there on the press benches at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey when his trial opened on 28th April 1981. We had come to see this monster who massacred women with knives, hammers and sharpened files get his just deserts. Michael Havers, the Attorney General – the case was considered to be so important that the “top man” led for the prosecution, moved into the charge ....
And he said that he was not going to charge the man with murder but would accept a plea of diminished responsibility on the grounds on insanity. The courtroom was stunned. The rumour appeared to be right. Sutcliffe was going to “get away with it” by being found – without trial – “not bad but mad”. It seemed to be a “stitch up” from top to bottom. Well, not quite, the man right at the top was having none of it. Judge James Boreham said: “It seems to me that it would be more appropriate if this case were dealt with by a jury”.
Author David Yallop wrote in his excellent book “Deliver us from evil”: “I have never before felt the almost overpowering urge to get up in a courtroom and cheer a judge”. The medicine-men were wrong-footed and Peter Sutcliffe, found guilty of the crime of murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment. The rumour, as so it appeared to be, was quashed. Yet when they got the Yorkshire Ripper away from Mr Justice Boreham and the court of law the medicine-men convened and decided that he was “mad” after all and moved him to hospital. It was assumed that he would spent the rest of his days there. Now it is bruited he may not do that ....
Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, should stay where he is – lest we should believe the rumour of stitch-up deferred.
Clayton Goodwin 1st March 2010
Woeful West Indies While West Indies were boo-ed The Zimbabweans were buoyant
West Indies cannot play worse than this. No – really – they cannot. Admittedly the team has regularly plumbed depths which we did know before had existed. The disastrous tour to Australia earlier this year, when every match was lost, was bad enough, but, at least, there was the excuse that their opponents were the world champions. The 26 runs defeat to Zimbabwe in the Twenty/20 mis-match at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad was in a league of its own. Can there have been a more pathetic performance in any match of international competition? Maybe – you can never bet on anything where West Indies are concerned. Here, at the scene of so many well-cheered triumphs, the West Indian players were boo-ed from the field.
Zimbabwe have fallen so far from even the modest standards of a decade ago that they are denied Test Match cricket. They rank last – and by far – of the “recognised” cricket nations. The Africans are sustained neither by tradition nor depth of competition. It was impossible for West Indies to lose, but somehow they found a way of achieving just that. That takes an exhibition of rare genius to achieve. The impossible seemed to be even more impossible when Zimbabwe lost a wicket to the first ball of the match to left-arm spinner Suliman Benn, who reduced the tourists to 3 down with no runs on the board on his way to taking four wickets, and Daren Sammy chipped in with five wickets at the close of the innings.
West Indies were undone by spin. The margin of humiliation could have been worse because two comparatively easy catches were missed in the deep and the batsmen were given the benefit in two borderline stumping appeals (which, I felt, could have gone one either way). The side lacked the services of regular captain Chris Gayle who was resting after the exertions in Australia – but in Australia he had shown himself to be a spent force after his heroic achievements towards the end of last year.
The words has been bruited already that groundsmen at the venues where the matches in the forthcoming limited-overs series are to be played should amend the pitches to make them less helpful to spin – thereby making the outcome less one-sided. While the West Indians were boo-ed, the Zimbabweans were buoyant. After their own seemingly inadequate first innings they could not have dreamed that their opponents would perform even worse. Whereas the victors must beware of putting too great an emphasis on what could yet prove to be a “false dawn”, West Indies know that the twilight which has descended on their game is anything but false.
Clayton Goodwin 28th February 2010
World Indoor Championships: Ennis and Idowu are there - and so is Dwain Chambers
UKA today announced World Champions Jessica Ennis and Phillips Idowu will travel to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha Qatar from 12 - 14 March as part of the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team. World Champion triple jumper, Idowu will be defending the World Indoor title he won in Valencia two years ago, whilst heptathlon World Champion Jessica Ennis will look for a return to the podium in the pentathlon. Also named were sprint duo Dwain Chambers (Daniel Plummer) and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Michael Khmel) who set the standard for British 60m sprinting with their blistering dash at the recent Aviva World Indoor trials and UK Championships, Chambers setting the fastest time in the world this year with a time of 6.50 and Aikines-Aryeetey close behind with 6.55. British record holders Jenny Meadows (Trevor Painter) and Kate Dennison (Steve Rippon), who set new 800m and pole vault national records respectively at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham are also included in the squad. A number of up-and-coming endurance athletes enter into the team including Vicky Griffiths (Stan Roberts), Ed Aston (Mike Smith) and Andrew Osagie (Craig Winrow) in the 800m, Charlotte Best (George Gandy) in the 1500m and 3000m athletes Scott Overall (Robert Chapman) and Gemma Turtle. Also returning to indoor action are Richard Buck (Michael Khmel) and Dale Garland (Malcolm Arnold) in the 400m and 4 x 400m relay alongside World Championship 4 x 400m silver medallist Conrad Williams (Linford Christie). Helen Clitheroe (Trevor Painter), who has found a new lease of life in the 1500m and the evergreen Joice Maduaka (Loren Seagrave) who won her sixth indoor title in Sheffield, are also included. UKA Head Coach Charles van Commenee said: “This competition gives athletes an opportunity to gain championship experience on a global level, the endurance athletes especially have taken this chance with lots of new faces in those disciplines. “The team is slightly bigger than I would have anticipated at the start of the winter season which positively shows the depth of the pool of athletes we have. We have names which will make the podium if they perform to potential and there is always room for outsiders.”
Submitted by UKA 23rd February 2010
Tony Leslie
Usain Bolt
Audley Harrison and Albert Sosnowski
Win another pair of tickets to The Mahogany Bridal Show
Just answer the question correctly
Here is your chance to win a pair of tickets to attend the Mahogany Bridal Show at the Holiday Inn, Coram Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1HT from 12 mid-day to 6 p.m. on Sunday 21st March 2010. All you have to do is to answer correctly the question at the end of this report. First come – first served. There is only one pair of tickets for this competition – so please be quick. All the same, if you do miss out this time, there will be too other competitions – but best not leave anything to chance – those questions may be harder. First, however, let me quote what the promoter has told us about the show. “Europe’s only bridal fashion show for African Caribbean brides and grooms, and family members will be returning for its 13th year on Sunday 21st March 2010. The Mahogany Bridal Fashion Show is the largest and only African Caribbean bridal fashion show in Europe. The Mahogany Bridal Fashion Show continues to grow from strength to strength and attracts hundreds of guests from across Europe, and even as far away as the Caribbean and Africa. The MBFS is a show that particularly concentrates on the fashion side of getting married and features the world renowned Mahogany Fashion Show, which people come to see year after year and it will feature top designers and wedding dress companies from across the UK and Europe. The MBFS will showcase a limited amount of exhibitors and a number of Bridal & Fashion related designers and accessory companies whom will be featured in the fantastic fashion shows, which last year was featured on the Wedding Channel on Sky TV. There will be two fantastic fashion shows featuring an array of retail and fashion designs both small and large, off the shelf or made to measure couture wedding dresses. Exhibitors will include a range of things that a bride needs for her wedding day; from decorative features such as chocolate or champagne fountains, to photography, menswear, wedding planers, cake makers and other wedding service providers”.
Can you really afford to miss it?
Here is the question – first correct answer wins the tickets.
Question: The Mahogany Bridal Fashion Show is aimed for African and Caribbean brides and grooms, but which one of these countries is NOT in either Africa or the Caribbean: <1> Tanzania <2> Togo <3> Tonga <4> Trinidad & Tobago
Clayton Goodwin 23rd February 2010
Audley Harrison: Aims for Albert - Then the Klitschkos
Audley Harrison believes he has recovered from ‘being a broken man’ and is ready to claim the European Heavyweight Championship. Harrison, 38, saved his career by winning Prizefighter Heavyweights 3 in October and faces Poland’s Albert Sosnowski for the European belt on April 9 at London’s Alexandra Palace. Former Olympic gold medalist Harrison hopes victory leads to a shot at a world title with the Klitschko brothers in his sights, although England’s WBA Champion David Haye is not on his radar. “I’m not interested in David Haye,” said Harrison at a press conference held at The Dorchester in central London. “All I’m interested in at the moment is Albert Sosnowski and he will not give up that belt easily. The worst thing I could do is look past Albert. If I can’t get past him then there’s nothing in the future. The heavyweight division is desperately looking for marque names and, no disrespect to David Haye, but no one in the US is talking about David Haye. They’re all talking about the Klitschkos and no one is giving David Haye any play as a World Champion so the guys I want to fight are the Klitschkos. If you get a chance against David Haye then people will say ‘you now have to beat the Klitschkos’, so if I beat Albert, I want the Klitschkos.” Harrison claimed gold in Sydney in 2000 but four defeats in eight contests left his career in the balance before victory in Prizefighter kept his hopes alive. However, Harrison, who has won 26 of 30 contests, admits he nearly walked away from the sport and almost gave up on his dream of winning a world title. “I have a personal mission to be a world champion. Call me delusional or crazy but I call it reality,” added Harrison. When my contract with the BBC ended I lost my feel for boxing and the passion for boxing died. I left England and almost didn’t want to box as I was that disheartened - you saw that in my performances. I was a shell and I had no desire. I was a totally broken man and it took a long time to recover from that. It took a lot of soul-searching and I asked myself what I wanted to do and I said to myself I wanted to achieve my goals. I had to lick my wounds and go back to the drawing board. Ability gets you to the top but character keeps you there. I had certain characteristic flaws but it’s been part of my learning and journey. I wasn’t ready to be the next Lennox Lewis in 2004 and it was almost a blessing that I lost as I had a chance to grow through adversity. I’ve been through so much in my career but I’m still here, still believing, still persevering and that’s what character is. My moment of destiny is really close but I have a real obstacle in front of me. If he beats me to a pulp then I will know it’s over. If Albert Sosnowskis beats Audley Harrison fair and square then there will be no excuses as I’m 100 per cent physically, mentally and spiritually ready to win. Albert has been beaten before so there’s a blue print to beat him. With my skills and my ability you will see why I won an Olympic gold medal and why I was 19-0. I want to get my London fans in their St George’s T-shirts and I want to get nostalgic and hear chants of ‘Audley’, ‘Audley’, ‘Audley’. I want to hear the fans of boxing, the fans of Audley, the fans of perseverance and the fans of overcoming adversity and get back to boxing.” Sosnowski, who is based in Brentwood, Essex, but originally hails from Warsaw, Poland, claimed the title with an emphatic points victory over Italian Paolo Vidoz in December. However, 30-year-old Sosnowski is best known for a shock stoppage win in 2008 over Harrison’s long-term rival Danny Williams, the current British Champion and promises to bring with him an army of Polish supporters for the fight. “I will be ready and I want to show my best,” said Sosnowski. “I have respect for Audley and he was Olympic Champion but I believe in myself and I will win this fight.”
Submitted by Matchroom Sport 22nd February 2010
A family house-party Destroys a long-time prejudice
My god-daughter Rowena and her partner Paul had a house-warming party today. It was a very friendly get-together for families and a few friends, and probably of little interest to the outside world. Yet what I heard there shattered a long-time prejudice. Rowena, who is a white English young lady, is a hairdresser who is doing so well at her trade that she is about to go free-lance. Bang goes my theory, tried and tested by years of experience, that white people do not care as much about their hair as do their black counterparts.
It is always said that the reason inter-racial beauty contests have not “taken off” has been due primarily to the difference in attitude of the respective races to hair. (Paul, may it be said, has a splendid head of hair which if I had worn the same when I was his age, would have had my father, who had been a sergeant-major, marching me off to ....... just about anywhere). The young English people of today take much greater pride in their hair and in the manner in which they allow it to express their personality. And the world is a better place for it.
Nevertheless it is an appropriate time to pay tribute to the contribution of Caribbean and African hairdressers to the commercial success of their communities. When the main wave of West Indian immigrants arrived here in the 1940s and 1950s, they did not bother generally to set up any businesses of their own. They did not think it would be worthwhile because they did not expect to be living in England very long. It took quite a while for them to realise that they, and their children, were here to stay.
Yet hair was the one thing that could not be left to the white friseurs (-euses), especially for the ladies. The existing salons could not cope with the requirements of a different type of hair, and so many localised hairdressers sprang. Usually they carried on the trade in their own houses. My sharpest recollection of that time in the smell of the curling tongs heating on the kitchen fire and valour stove, and groups of ladies gathered round in back/downstairs rooms. As a struggling journalist I found them to be an invaluable source of community gossip.
The bigger salons – such as those run by Madame Rose and Dame Elizabeth – became a hub of commerce and social development. Anybody who was anybody dropped in for the latest news. Their graduations provided a rare social occasion for entertainers to demonstrate their art, business people and politicians to exchange views, for ideas to develop, and for reporters to find something about which to write. Most of the leading models of that time gained their first stage experience of performing in public while modelling for hair-styling academy graduates. The Porchester Hall in Paddington was a key landmark in this process.
Of course, I could not resist the temptation to bore Rowena with these views, and with a new house to excite her she probably did not want to chunter on about hair. Yet the profession has a proud history, and as far as the UK Caribbean and African communities are concerned it could be said that they have been held together – and held very firmly and assuredly together – by a thread of hair.
Clayton Goodwin 21st February 2010
Tony Leslie: Obituary outscores the Test Matches
Our obituary to Tony Leslie, who passed away last month, has set a record – even though we haven’t kept any specific statistics at such. It has attracted more hits than any other story, except for the occasional headline murder, than any other posted in our eight year history. That is a tribute to the popularity of the man and to the loyalty of his family and friends. Tony is already much missed, a fact that will become even clearer when the new cricket season dawns.
The interest shows up something else – the reason for the decline of the UK West Indian press. Tony Leslie was a community cricketer, a keen cricketer, but essentially a community cricketer: he did not adorn the national or the international game. Yet we have had more hits for his obituary for any report of a Test Match or profile of a first-class cricketer. The UK West Indian press has overlooked this sector at their peril, and, quite reasonably, have paid a heavy penalty for their arrogance and ignorance.
Over many years the late Connie Mark chided editors/managers of the Weekly Gleaner to fill their stories with the names of as many people as possible. People like seeing their name – and the names of their friends and colleagues - in the newspaper and will encourage their friends to go out and buy a copy. The more names that there are, the more copies that are sold. Al Hamilton and myself have urged the Weekly Gleaner / The Voice to concentrate more on sports personalities at a local level instead of perpetuating the obsession with “celebrity”. Their best features have indeed been on the stories nobody else has carried.
It stands to reason. Readers can find out all they want to know about the internationally-known “names” from the national press, from radio and from television. They do not need the rehashing of press release sent out to those same outlets, or interviews, which may or may not be exclusive, but inevitably go over the same ground which the interviewee has divulged elsewhere so many times. Where are the stars of tomorrow? Where are the stars of yesteryear? Who are the personalities whom the public know personally?
Tony Leslie didn’t make too many headlines while he was alive – though he was always there. He might have been surprised that his obituary has attracted many more hits than our report of the West Indians’ cricket match at Bristol last summer – the last occasion on which we met. It says something about the newspapers, and it says something, too, about West Indian cricket – by neglecting the community characters, the personalities around which the game is generated, they neglect themselves and their own true interests.
Clayton Goodwin 20th February 2010
W(h)ither West Indies? You have seen the results
Following on yesterday’s letter I have noticed that West Indies’ cricket has suffered yet another blow with further defeat in Australia. They have just not been in the contest. There are extenuating circumstances for the team not playing to its full capacity in that so many leading players are missing – Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards. It is rather a lot. Even so, although it may excuse the failure to perform to the highest international standard, it is not an excuse for continual defeat: the Australians, too, have been reduced to playing a team which has been far from being fully representative.
Six years ago as West Indies were being steamrollered – yet again – in England I engaged in a heated debate with some (English) spectators who contended that there was nothing wrong with the regional game and that West Indies would “come again”. They argued with some justification that form was cyclical and that other teams had come back from even deeper and longer periods of depression. Nevertheless there is something very different in the decline and fall of West Indies.
Commentators speak of the great teams led by Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards as if it were only a few years ago. It is now a life-time and more ago. West Indies have not won a series in England since 1988 ..... that is 22 years ago. They did not lose a series in the 1990s, but neither did they win one. The series in 1991 and 1995 were drawn. The former is particularly interesting because although West Indies were the dominant side their performance fell away so much in two matches that their opponents were able to square the rubber. Five years later even Brian Lara batting at his brilliant best could not tip the balance in their favour. Something had gone out of the soul. It was immediately after that series that I wrote the article “W(h)ither West Indies ?” in Wisden Cricket Monthly predicting the imminent decline of the region as a force in cricket.
It is not true, either, that success in cricket is inevitably cyclical. Philadelphia in the U.S.A. was once a force in the international game. That was just over a hundred years ago when the greater part of the globe was “painted red” of the British Empire - neither is success cyclical in politics or world-power. The return of Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Bravo, Taylor and Edwards – plus the discovery of one or two new and talented players – should provide greater resolution, but until then West Indies cricket is primarily, and probably solely, Chris Gayle, and when the gale blew out after his heroic efforts towards the end of last year ...... well, you have seen the results.
I do not argue that West Indies cricket “cannot” come back, but to do so needs much more than depending on the “cyclical” nature of success in cricket.
Clayton Goodwin 19th February 2010
BOLT and FRASER NOMINATED FOR TOP AWARD BOLT HAS APPLIED COUP DE GRACE (TO CRICKET)
Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser, Kenenisa Bekele and Sanya Richards have been named as finalists for this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards for their performance in the calendar year of 2009. The winners will be voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy, a jury made up of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and sportsmen of all time, and will be unveiled at the televised Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi on 10 March.
The nomination provides a welcome opportunity to look back on their outstanding achievements. Bolt, who won the Laureus last year, followed up his superb performances in the Beijing Olympic Games by winning both the 100 metres and 200 metres in the world record-breaking times of 9.58 seconds and 19.19 seconds respectively at the World Championships in Berlin. The Jamaican has started ths year by winning the 400 metres in 45.86 seconds in the Camperdown Classic in the National Stadium, Kingston. His success was echoed by that of his compatriot and counterpart Fraser, similarly aged 23 years, who added to her Olympic Games triumphs by running 10.73 seconds for the 100 metres in Berlin. I am reminded of a piece I wrote at the time. “The Kurfurstendamm could have been Lord’s in 1950, the Alexanderplatz the Oval of the 1980s, and Unter den Linden the streets of Melbourne in 1961. West Indian flags were everywhere, West Indian music and West Indians .... Jamaicans mainly but a good few from Trinidad & Tobago and some still from the smaller islands. It was a sports jamboree that even less than a generation ago would have meant cricket, but today can mean only track and field athletics. Usain Bolt has captured the Caribbean consciousness and imagination in the way associated hitherto with Viv Richards, Learie Constantine, George Headley, Garry Sobers or the three Ws.Certainly neither Brian Lara for all his on-pitch achievements nor Chris Gayle could hope to match it. On the winners’ rostrum with Bolt and his Jamaican compatriots there was even a Barbadian, from an island whose very name is synonymous with cricket. West Indians have deserted cricket, and they will not come back - not only for the recent bunch of “schoolboys” and first-team “reserves” but for the “proper players” now that they have deigned to return. West Indies cricket does not deserve the loyalty of even its decreasing band of supporters: it has forfeited that trust. The veneer of a “West Indies” region over a scatter of different communities has been an anachronism since the dream of federation foundered half-a-century ago, and the regional-identity of cricket had to punch above its weight to off-set the nationalist pull of soccer and athletics’ alluring individuality. For some time now “West Indies” has endured as a concept only outside the West Indies. Now even that concept endures no longer, except within the geo-political realm of the Caribbean Basin of the Pax Americana. For a hundred years or more cricket has reflected the rise of the “British” West Indies – now it mirrors its fall. There is a story that Michael Holding could have been a successful athlete but chose cricket: Usain Bolt started out as a cricketer before opting for the track. Apocryphal? Perhaps, but it is also indicative of changed attitudes to the sports. .........
Now in producing in Usain Bolt track and field athletic have achieved something which has been beyond even the power of football to attain. His charisma, like that of Muhammad Ali, goes beyond his own sport. My grandchildren in inner-city London, still too young to attend a major sports event in person, imitate his actions. And the athletes have given the islands success to go with the pride. By winning seven gold medals, and several more at silver and bronze, in Berlin Jamaica finished second in the medals table to the U.S.A., hurdler Ryan Brathwaite is the toast of Barbados, the essential centre of cricket, and no the pale imitations of the great cricketers of yesteryear, and even Trinidad & Tobago achieved a smattering of medals.
The posturing and recriminations of the cricketers and the administrators – who really cares who is in the right? – seem to be not only petty: they are a lot worse than that in that they are irrelevant. Media attention is directed already to what the athletes will achieve in the London 2012 Olympic Games and not to what the cricketers will do in their World Cup a year earlier.
West Indies cricket may have died by its own hand, but Usain Bolt has applied the coup de grace. He has provided something, and some-one, in whom the Caribbean can be justly proud, and it will be difficult, and probably impossible, for cricket to come back from that.” Clayton Goodwin 18th February 2010
Win a pair of tickets to The Mahogany Bridal Show
Just answer the question correctly
Here is your chance to win a pair of tickets to attend the Mahogany Bridal Show at the Holiday Inn, Coram Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1HT from 12 mid-day to 6 p.m. on Sunday 21st March 2010. All you have to do is to answer correctly the question at the end of this report. First come – first served. There is only one pair of tickets for this competition – so please be quick. All the same, if you do miss out this time, there will be too other competitions – but best not leave anything to chance – those questions may be harder. First, however, let me quote what the promoter has told us about the show. “Europe’s only bridal fashion show for African Caribbean brides and grooms, and family members will be returning for its 13th year on Sunday 21st March 2010. The Mahogany Bridal Fashion Show is the largest and only African Caribbean bridal fashion show in Europe. The Mahogany Bridal Fashion Show continues to grow from strength to strength and attracts hundreds of guests from across Europe, and even as far away as the Caribbean and Africa. The MBFS is a show that particularly concentrates on the fashion side of getting married and features the world renowned Mahogany Fashion Show, which people come to see year after year and it will feature top designers and wedding dress companies from across the UK and Europe.The MBFS will showcase a limited amount of exhibitors and a number of Bridal & Fashion related designers and accessory companies whom will be featured in the fantastic fashion shows, which last year was featured on the Wedding Channel on Sky TV. There will be two fantastic fashion shows featuring an array of retail and fashion designs both small and large, off the shelf or made to measure couture wedding dresses. Exhibitors will include a range of things that a bride needs for her wedding day; from decorative features such as chocolate or champagne fountains, to photography, menswear, wedding planers, cake makers and other wedding service providers”.
Can you really afford to miss it?
Here is the question – first correct answer wins the tickets.
Question: In which country will the football World Cup take place this summer? There is a clue around here somewhere on this page.
Clayton Goodwin 17th February 2010
Cy Grant - War hero More than being a mere strummer of chords
Cy Grant, who has died aged 90 years old, was the first West Indian, and, indeed, the first black person, that most English people of their generation ever saw. For three years from 1957 he opened the popular BBC television programme with a calypso commenting on the events of he day. Grant, who was born in Guyana (then British Guiana), was so successful in that role that he became type-cast and his careers – sorry, his careers – suffered accordingly. There was so much more to Cy than being a mere strummer of chords.
It was known that he was also an actor, even if most people suspected, wrongly, that the acting opportunities came as a result of, rather than preceding, his calypso spot. It was hardly mentioned, if at all, that he was a qualified barrister. At that time there was very little work in Britain for black barristers however qualified they may have been. At least in acting Grant had a second string to his bow. Even that was not the extent of the abilities of an extraordinary man who was also a writer, civil rights campaigner and ...... a war hero.
The 1950s, when Cy was whistling tunes penned for him by critic Bernard Levin, were high-point for films about the Second World War, especially those, such as Dambusters, about the air-raids over a Germany. That was followed by the Great Escape in the following decade. Yet here was an actor eminently qualified for these roles who was quite over-looked. Grant had been an RAF officer – a navigator on those very raids. And he was shot down and taken prisoner, even spending some time at the same prisoner-of-war camp where the real Great Escape took place. For him captivity had double jeopardy – he was an enemy combatant and a black person who had fallen into the hands of a regime which practised extreme ethnic cleansing.
His experiences of racial discrimination in Britain changed Cy Grant, a man who was born into comparative privilege, from being television’s cheery “innocuous” token black man to a campaigning activist. Towards the end of his long life, and particularly in his final years, he was active through his writing, speaking and research in ensuring that the black servicemen of the Second World War, especially those of the R.A.F., should not be forgotten. It would be appropriate if Cy Grant could return again to our screens (but large and small) as the subject of a film of his life.
The last time that I saw Mr Grant personally was back a couple of years at the same meeting at the West Indian Ex-Servicemen’s/women’s Association in Clapham, South London as at which I also last saw Connie Mark, another campaigner for the recognition of Second World War service personnel, just a few days before she died.
Clayton Goodwin 16th February 2010
Mayor of Hillingdon, Cllr Shirley Harper-O’Neill with Yolanda Gqomo, her escort and Contest Co-ordinator Anna Myers and Cllr Brian Stead.
Mayor of Hillingdon meets 22nd Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth
report from the office of the Mayor of Hillingdon
THE winner of the 2009 Miss Caribbean and Commonwealth has started her official duties with a visit to Hillingdon. Yolanda Gqomo, who lives in Hayes, won the competition in 2009 and carried on the tradition of the winner meeting the Mayor of the borough where they live. She met with Mayor of Hillingdon, Cllr Shirley Harper-O’Neill, and her escort Cllr Brian Stead, and had a guided tour of the Mayor’s Parlour.
Yolanda was born in South Africa and will be making a private trip home just before the football World Cup in that country in June.
Yolanda said: “I’m very happy to have won the title – I really wanted to win. I want to be a model, so I hope this will start it. I’m a student at East Berkshire College doing beauty therapy at the moment as my plan B – hopefully I can open my own salon one day.”
Cllr Harper-O’Neill said: “Meeting Yolanda was one of the more unusual jobs I have done in my time as Mayor. It is fantastic for Hillingdon that she lives here and the title is a great opportunity for her to learn more about her culture and community. I wish her success during her year holding the title.”
Scroll down for CaribCommx report of the meeting
Channel-Hopping: “We have no quarrel with this people”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s perceived “sabre-rattling” at Iran while her country and its allies are still engaged in military activities in Afghanistan and Iraq recalls the time her husband, President Bill Clinton, authorised an American attack on Iraq at the time of the “Monica Lewinsky scandal”. At the time I penned the poem “Channel-Hopping” printed above in Poems. It begins:
“We have no quarrel with this people".
It is with sorrow that we bring you
Each moment in the agony
Of their country's tragedy.
Rejoice !
The guns, the bombs, the killing
From our brave lads
To whom we gave the shilling
To blast to hell for our amusement
A tyrant who is not content
To leave world power
To those of good intention
With right to arms of our invention.
Bullets fly
Children die
Bombs fall
Old folk crawl
In death and mutilation
To meet the debit of their nation.
Broadcasters bluster
The generals fluster
To find the words to justify
Why these poor souls must die.
Their containment is our entertainment.
The news at noon
Is much too soon
To watch the aftermath of hell.
The news at eight
Has come too late
To listen to politicians tell
What they have done -
What they had to do -
In the name of us ...
That's me and you.
Why don't they say:
"We have had our way
And battered down
Some foreign clown".
Do not wrap it in a moral
About folk with whom
We have no quarrel.
The tracers flash
And buildings crash.
Total up the score -
A hundred ?
More ?
Players of an unknown name
In this television game. .............. (continues)
Clayton Goodwin 15th February 2010
Mayor of Hillingdon Receives Yolanda Gqomo 22nd Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth
There are occasions when running the Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth title are well worthwhile – and others when they are very much not so. The meeting which Councillor Shirley Harper O’Neill, Mayor of Hillingdon (London), and her escort, Councillor Brian Stead, afforded to Yolanda Gqomo, 22nd Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth, and her chaperone Magykk Myers at the Civic Centre in Uxbridge was very much one of the former. The Mayor kindly gave her guest a full one hour and a half of her valuable time.
The visit was as instructive as it was pleasant. The Mayor’s office and parlour were very much a living museum of this West London borough, itself formed from several earlier boroughs. Councillor Harper O’Neill explained the history and significance behind the considerable array of flags, banners, photographs, medals, insignia and implements (the last-named included a spade used by Princess Margaret). Pride of place is given to a photograph of Queen Elizabeth II arriving back in the borough by air from her trip to Kenya where she learned that her father, King George VI, had died. Consequently her first step in England as Queen was in Hillingdon.
The Mayor showed her guests the Council Chamber, and from standing at her place from the presidium engaged in dialogue with Yolanda. Returning to her parlour Councillor Harper O’Neill spoke enthusiastically about the borough’s twinning arrangements, especially with Emden in Germany. She outlined also the duties of her office and the qualities required of a mayor. Ms Gqomo, who was making her first formal appearance as title-holder, spoke about her own hopes for her term of office.
I recalled some of the similar mayoral meetings of Yolanda’s predecessors commencing with the after-hours reception which Mayor Philpott of Newham put on for Lucia Charlery in 1984. Two years later Mayor Shaw of Barking & Dagenham had been so impressed by Carron Duncan’s interest that he presented her with a book of the borough’s history, after their reception the Deputy Mayor of Slough had whisked Sharmaine Hughes off to his official visit to the local hospital, the Mayor of Barnet had introduced Anita St Rose to a meeting of the full council, and the Mayor of Lambeth had chatted with Fiona Rickard long into the evening. Then, of course, there were the two most recent previous meetings in such contrasting weather. Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham, received Shirley Dee during a torrential downpour, and Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor Lewisham, received Karola Rajoo in a tropical heat wave.
The Mayor of Hillingdon has done much to restore stability to the Miss Caribbean & Commonwealth title after the vicissitudes of last year, and provided a friendly and educational start to the new reign. In doing so Councillor Harper O’Neill has emphasised again the value of the link between the contest and the community and by her actions has re-stated the purpose for the institution of the title .... to select a promotional model to represent the Caribbean and Commonwealth communities at public-relations occasions and in meetings with social and civic dignitaries at home and overseas.
Clayton Goodwin 14th February 2010
Professor Rex Nettleford - Out of many, one Rex
Rex Nettleford who passed away on 2nd February 2010 achieved so much in his 76 years – he failed by only a couple of hours to reach his 77th birthday – that the heading in the Gleaner newspapers in Jamaica “Out of many – one Rex” is particularly appropriate. My own obituary to Professor Nettleford was published in The Times of London on 11th February. You can tell the greatness of the subject of an obituary by the amount of information that has to be left out. In spite of having a generous allowance of words I had to leave out as much, if not more, as was included.
My first knowledge of Rex Nettleford was in his role of dancer and choreographer. It took some time for the truth to sink in that he was the same Rex Nettleford as the academic and social critic. It didn’t seem to be possible that one person could achieve so much. His life and work is reflected in so many strains of contemporary Jamaican life that it is tempting to use the epitaph of the architect of the architect Sir Christopher Wren – “if you want something to remember by – look around”. Nor was his influence limited to Jamaica – it was regional.
Nettleford’s Caribbean perspective comes from an earlier, less parochial, time. It is not surprising to learn that he was inspired by the ideals of statesman Norman Manley. Yet he transcended the philosophy of mere party: all Jamaican Prime Ministers still living, whatever their party allegiance, paid full and heartfelt tribute to his life, and they should know as Professor Nettleford had counselled or worked with all of them. He and the National Theatre Dance Company, and his work in academia, had been with Jamaica since its inception as an independent country in 1962.
The three years from 1957 in which Professor Nettleford was a Rhodes Scholar in England was the only time in his adult life that he was not based at/with the University of the West Indies. Other Jamaican / West Indian scholars have settled in overseas centres of academic excellence, from where they have spoken fondly of their homeland, but by returning home Rex did not cut himself off from the roots of his own community. He spoke of Jamaica from within. Commentators, unanimously, have written that they cannot remember a bad word having been said about Professor Nettleford.
I share the view – expressed by Rex Nettleford, himself, among others – that the word “icon” has been devalued by flippant and over- use, but it is difficult to find another epithet that is so suitably apt. Over recent months Jamaica has suffered a particular, and frequent, loss of its cultural icons. Professor Nettleford’s mother, Labertha, passed away only last month – aged a full hundred years. With that precedent Rex still had a lot more to contribute to his country and region.
