Main content

Linton Kwesi Johnson

'I was documenting the history of black people in Britain as that history was being made.' Linton Kwesi Johnson discusses poetry, politics and music with Philip Dodd.

"My generation, which was the rebel generation of black youth, has changed England and in changing England we've changed ourselves." The words of Linton Kwesi Johnson - the man who invented dub poetry and used it to chronicle some of the key events of black British history, from the celebrated case of George Lindo, wrongly accused of robbery in Bradford in 1978, to the New Cross Fire and Brixton riots a few years later. Philip Dodd talks to him about the roots of his poetry, his love of music and the way he thinks Britain and black Britons have changed since 1963 when he arrived in London from Jamaica as an eleven-year-old boy.

Producer: Zahid Warley

Main image: Linton Kwesi Johnson (Photo by Lex van Rossen/MAI/Redferns)

Available now

44 minutes

Last on

Wed 21 Aug 2019 22:15

Broadcasts

  • Wed 12 Dec 2018 22:00
  • Wed 21 Aug 2019 22:15

Featured in...

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

You can download all the past episodes of Radio 3's Free Thinking

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Angry politics, what we can鈥檛 say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

Angry politics, what we can鈥檛 say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival

Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life