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My Boy Lollipop - The Caribbean Comes to Britain

Stuart Maconie speaks to those who arrived from the West Indies for a new life in the UK in the 1940s, examining the culture they brought with them.

On June 22nd 1948, an ex-Troop ship called The Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury carrying nearly 500 passengers who had left behind their home in the West Indies for a new life in Britain. For them it must have been a massive culture shock. It must also have been something of a shock to the people of the UK. With the new immigrants came their slang, their customs, their food and fashion. But it was probably the music that had the first impact.
Afro-Caribbean calypsos had taken root in the folk scene of the early Sixties, but for many Britons their first experience of this new music came courtesy of an effervescent, feisty young woman from the Jamaican slums called Millie. My Boy Lollipop was recorded in Forest Hill, London, and became the first hit single for Island records. Millie even appeared on a Beatles TV special in 1964. This was the start of a cross cultural pollination.

57 minutes

Music Played

  • Millie Small

    My Boy Lollipop

  • John Holt

    Winter World Of Love

  • Lord Kitchener

    London Is The Place For Me

  • Chubby Checker

    Let's Twist Again

  • Desmond Dekker & the Aces

    Israelites

  • Harry J. Allstars

    Liquidator

  • Harry Belafonte

    Island In The Sun

  • Millie Small

    My Boy Lollipop

  • Bob & Marcia

    Young, Gifted And Black

  • Bob Marley & The Wailers

    No Woman No Cry (Live)

  • Althea & Donna

    Uptown Top Ranking

  • The Supremes

    Nathan Jones

  • Amy Winehouse

    Our Day Will Come

  • Amy Winehouse

    Our Day Will Come

Share your comments and stories

Your contributions will play a key part in this episode, take a look at the questions below and :

  • Did any of your family or friends arrive on the HMS Windrush in 1948?
  • Do you remember the first wave of immigrants arriving in the UK in the late Forties/early Fifties?
  • What were the years like immediately after the end of WWII?
  • Do you remember discovering reggae music for the first time?

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Broadcasts

  • Wed 6 Feb 2013 22:00
  • Tue 9 Feb 2016 23:00

Song Profiles

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