Alex Pascall

Alexander Pascall, OBE (born November 1936), is a British broadcaster, journalist, musician, composer, oral historian and educator. Based in Britain for more than 50 years, he was one of the developers of the Notting Hill Carnival, is a political campaigner and was part of the team behind the birth of Britain's first national black newspaper The Voice. Credited with having "established a black presence in the British media", 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 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.

Born on the island of Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean, Pascall was the eldest son in a family of 10. He 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. He had originally intended to return home after five years but has remained in the UK for more than five decades. 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."

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." Britain's first daily Black radio magazine programme, 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 in 1981, and provided a mouthpiece for many black musicians, artists and politicians who either lived in or passed through the capital. Prominent guests on the programme from the worlds of politics, sport, literature and the arts included Muhammad Ali, Alex Haley, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, C. L. R. James, Maurice Bishop, Michael Jackson, Arthur Ashe, Althea McNish, Mustapha Matura, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leon Britton MP, Angela Davis, Miriam Makeba and the Mighty Sparrow.

Pascall has paid tribute to the role of his late colleague Barry Clayton in the programme's genesis:

Among others who worked with Pascall on Black Londoners were Juliet Alexander, Syd Burke and Mike Phillips.

In 1994, 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.

Other notable documentary features that Pascall has researched and presented include Caribbean Cocktail on BBC Radio 2 (1994),They Came Before the Windrush on BBC Radio 4, produced by Marina Salandy-Brown, 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 and BBC Schools.