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Episode details

World Service,17 May 2022,9 mins

The murder of Kelso Cochrane

Witness History

Available for over a year

In May 1959, Kelso Cochrane, a carpenter who'd emigrated to Britain from Antigua, was knifed to death by a gang of white youths in West London. The unsolved murder came at a time of racial tension in the area and led to the first official inquiry into race relations in British history. For its part, the large Caribbean community in West London responded by creating the cultural festival that became the Notting Hill Carnival. Claire Bowes talks to Victoria Christian, a friend of Kelso Cochrane. PHOTO: The funeral of Kelso Cochrane in 1959 (Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

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