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Stories from Notting Hill: Episode 4: Enterprise

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Episode 4: Enterprise

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BBC Radio 4 - Stories from Notting Hill, Enterprise

Kwame Kwei-Armah examines Carnival as it attempted to become a more commercial enterprise.

Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah looks back at the highs and lows of the Notting Hill Carnival as it moved into a new era of sponsorship and expansion in the 1980s.

Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah discovers how the Notting Hill Carnival was transformed from a British urban arts festival into a global phenomenon during the 1980s and 1990s - but at great personal cost to those at the heart of the organization of the event. 

This was the era when the carnival-goers increased year-on-year, until numbers reached two million in 1999. The costumes and the bands also became bigger every year. Big name sponsors were persuaded to invest and the carnival looked well-positioned to becoming a fully commercial enterprise. However, although crime at the Carnival was generally low, in 1987 a man was fatally wounded. By 2000, four deaths had been linked to the event and the carnival organisation came under intense scrutiny. 


Producer: Pam Fraser Solomon
A Culture Wise production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

The complex history of the Notting Hill Carnival, with writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah

Writer and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah has been attending the Notting Hill Carnival since the 1970s. He explores the festival's history and meets some of the key people who make the event happen.

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