Simon Schama and I
I may not have Simon Schama’s brains and erudition but, watching episode 2 of ‘Whose Britain is it any way’ made me realise that we share the same attitude to the evolution of this country- a realistic optimism not blind to the dark side of life.
He tells the story of the cultural enrichment of our culture by the Windrush generation though music. Simon highlights the role of the Jacaranda Club and how exposure to the music of these brave newcomers, made the Beatles. One moment jarred – a reminder of a dreadful murder in Coventry where Satnam Singh Gill was murdered for having a white girl friend. My motivation for letting Claret Press publish my memoir was a desire to tell the untold story of women like me who married men who were not white at a time when relationships like ours were regarded with hostility. Here’s how Atam and I met at a time of visceral hatred of immigrants stirred up by venal politicians.
Simon uses music and I use food to tell my story of cultural enrichment. Simon’s fellow historian Professor Rana Mitter seemed to find it a good read.
Told with brio and verve, this is an astonishing life story that takes in working-class life in post-war Britain, and the transformation of society in the decades that followed. Encounters with India and China shape a life where enthusiasm for food, art and politics come together in a combination of profoundly serious issues and the laughter of liberation: Rana Matter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford
People often fear difference but nothing illustrates better the richness that has come to the UK from immigration than the recipes in my book. My mother’s English cream tea and my grandmother’s Cornish pasties have not gone away but my family and friends have added recipes from the countries of their origins and they include Italy, France, Iceland, China, India, Jamaica, Mauritius, Kenya and the Americas.
With food comes love and with love comes hope.
Once a month, I go to Confluence Café where people of all backgrounds come together to share music and that experience influences them and their creativity. Today we had a taste of West Papua Independence music. Simon Schama and I believe that British culture is expansive and embracing so we have nothing to fear from immigration.
