The People's Songs 

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BBC Radio 2 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Light Programme.

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Radio 2 Remembers Windrush

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Marking the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush.

Marking the 75th anniversary of the Empire Windrush docking in Tilbury and celebrating the impact of Caribbean culture on British life.

Radio 2 Remembers Windrush: My Boy Lollipop: The Caribbean comes to Britain

My Boy Lollipop: The Caribbean comes to Britain

BBC Radio 2 - Radio 2 Remembers Windrush, My Boy Lollipop: The Caribbean comes to Britain

Stuart Maconie looks at the beginnings of modern multi-cultural Britain.

Stuart Maconie speaks to those who arrived from the West Indies for a new life in the UK in the 40s, examining the culture they brought with them.

On June 22, 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 their 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 60s, 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.

Amazing music. Played by an amazing line up.

Radio 2: Amazing music. Played by an amazing line-up. The home of great music, entertainment and documentaries

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Radio 2 Remembers Windrush

My Boy Lollipop: The Caribbean comes to Britain

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