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The Documentary: Three Pounds In My Pocket: Three pounds In my pocket

Three pounds In my pocket

11/08/2021 GMT

Three Pounds In My Pocket

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Three Pounds In My Pocket, Three pounds In my pocket

In 2001 everything changed for British South Asians as the progress of the 1990s stalled

In 2001 everything changed for British South Asians as the optimism and progress of the 1990s stalled.

Since 2014, Kavita Puri has been charting the social history of this community in post-war Britain. Many came with as little as three pounds due to strict currency controls.

In 2001, everything changed for British South Asians. After the optimism and progress of the 1990s, there was an abrupt change in 2001. The year began positively enough - in Spring, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook declared chicken tikka masala a national dish. It may not have been something that many - if any - British South Asians cooked at home, but Cook's speech was an imagining of Britain as diverse, open and multicultural.

Later that year, there was civil unrest in areas with large numbers of British South Asians, including Oldham, Burnley and Bradford. Racial tensions in Oldham were stoked by the British National Party. Their leader Nick Griffin made some electoral gains in the General Election in June. And then a few months later, on 11 September, al-Qaeda attacked the Twin Towers in New York City.

(Photo: Abdul Malik-Ahad with kind permission)

The Documentary: Three Pounds In My Pocket

British South Asians and the 1990s: a golden decade.

Since 2014 Kavita Puri has been charting the social history of British South Asians in post-war Britain. Many came with as little as three pounds due to strict currency controls.

This series looks at critical decade for British South Asians: the 1990s. We begin with Norman Tebbit and his so-called 'cricket test', which questioned the loyalty of those who supported India over England in international cricket. It was a far cry from the multicultural Britain that would be ushered in by Tony Blair's New Labour in 1997.

Amidst this changing political landscape, the children of the three pound generation were finding mainstream cultural success. Goodness Gracious Me was a hit on national television, films like East is East found success, and there were hit records from acts like Apache Indian, Bally Sagoo and Panjabi MC. Regular British Asian music nights at commercial venues began, such as Bombay Jungle at Soho's Wag Club, and soon hundreds were queuing up in central London to get in.

British South Asians remember the 1990s: a golden decade.

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