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The Documentary: Three Pounds in My Pocket: Three Pounds in My Pocket

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The Grewal family

11/01/2015 GMT

Three Pounds in My Pocket

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Three Pounds in My Pocket, Three Pounds in My Pocket

Stories from those who came to the UK from the Indian subcontinent in the '50s and '60s

The pioneer generation arriving from the Indian subcontinent in the 1950s and '60s with as little as £3 tell stories of their first impressions of Britain.

In the 1950s and 1960s tens of thousands of migrants came to Britain from the Indian subcontinent. Many arrived with no more than £3 in their pocket - the limit set by the Indian authorities. They came to work in Britain's factories, foundries, and new public services. It was a time when the country desperately needed workers from its former colonies to regenerate its post-war economy. 

Presenter Kavita Puri, whose own father Ravi came with just a few pounds himself, hears his and other stories of the pioneering men and women who arrived in the '50s and '60s. They recall their first impressions of the country that once ruled over their own: the shocking housing conditions, the curiosity of neighbours and kindness of strangers and also the memories of casual racism and animosity. And they discuss their sense of belonging to their adopted homeland. 

These pioneer men and women led the way for the three million people of South Asian descent who live in Britain today.

Producer: Smita Patel

(Image: The Grewal Family. Credit: The Grewal Family.)

The Documentary: Three Pounds in My Pocket

BBC World Service

Kavita Puri hears stories of the pioneering migrants who arrived in Britain in the 1950’s from the Indian subcontinent.

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