| Description | An interview with Asian Irish Englishman, a single man with no children, who is a Radio promotions producer, born in Birmingham and now living in Birmingham. Asian Irish Englishman’s father was a Shop-keeper, born in India (Punjab) and his mother a Housewife born in Ireland. In the interview, he talks about …
'ASIAN IRISH ENGLISHMAN MS2255/2/098 Logged by Lorraine Blakemore
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I was born in Moseley on 22nd April 1974 at the Sorrento Hospital. Mother is Catholic Irish, father is Sikh Indian. Mother was working in a factory in Sparkbrook, father was a shopkeeper.
47” My parents met in about 1969-70 and married in 1972. They lived over the road from each other on the Warwick Road in Sparkhill…Story about how parents got together.
1.36 Difficulties for parents getting married.
2.40 Mother moved in with father’s family.
3.53 Married at registry office on Broad Street in 1972.
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Continues to discuss parents’ marriage in the early days.
1.42 Father’s brother started a food stall called Harry’s Food Stall on Stratford Road….went into partnership…from late 60s until 1982…
3.18 I have a lot of memories of the early shop…Describes the shop and area.
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Continues to describe the shops.
1.15 A lot of the African-Caribbean customers were extremely friendly and would talk for ages and ages…Describes the community.
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Contrasts father’s shop in Warstock with that of the early days.
1.25 My brother and I were both at school at Greet School….Describes the local park and playing in the area in the 80s.
2.53 When I was 10 or 11 I was glued to the box, I watched an incredible amount of TV, but it only took someone to call for me and I’d be out….
3.35 Not aware of safety in the streets.
4.10 Describes Greet School. It was very culturally mixed….I watched as I approached the age of 11, the school get more and more Asian….
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As a child I was never aware it was so culturally mixed….Looking back on it now, the teachers who were mainly white teachers….they handled it extremely well….
1.29 A lot of the friends that I had were Asian…Reflects on the complexity within the communities.
2.27 There was always the understanding there that my mum was white and my dad was Asian, but nothing was ever said of it….
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Other mixed race children in the area.
1.05 A lot of my cousins were brought up bilingual….and even though I was brought up in a bilingual house I picked up the language, I understand Punjabi….but I never really made any effort to put it into practice….Story about childhood game at cousins' house.
2.38 I made allowances for Asian culture, my brother had no interest in this going to the temple on Sundays….it was more a family thing than a religious thing….Describes the temple.
3.24 Mother decided to send the children to church in 1982. Mainly an Afro-Caribbean Methodist church.
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Irish family background.
Contrasts Asian and Irish funerals.
2.04 The food I ate at home was a right old mixture….I had the whole gamut of Asian foods really quite early on….On top of that we’d go round to people on my mum’s side and get usual English fare…
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Sitting 11+ exam.
I was always considered at school to be one of the brighter people in the class….went to King Edward’s Camp Hill and found myself not the brightest person in the class….and being one of about 3 Asian people in the first year….in 1985….Describes adjusting to new environment.
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Describes the school.
It was a very forbidding atmosphere to be in….
1.08 Christian assemblies.
1.33 There were separate assemblies in other classrooms for people who weren’t Christian or who weren’t going to take part, and in the end I decided that I was Muslim and I’d go and sit with them for a while….
3.19 The very first house assembly I had was a reflection on the Handsworth riots….because it was 1985….Then the housemaster played Eddie Grant’s “Give me hope Johanna”….
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A lot of the other pupils at King Edward’s were from inner city schools….but others who were from a substantially different background to me…Story about a parents' cheese and wine evening.
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Subjects studied at school.
2.49 Ability to detect whether someone has been to the grammar schools.
Problems with certain teachers.
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I left school in 1990 when I was 16….I was already looking forward to not going into the 6th form….
1.42 Enrolled at Matthew Boulton College…Contrasts with King Edward’s.
2.38 At Matthew Boulton we’re back into a multi-cultural atmosphere again….
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Subjects studied at A’Level.
44” As it was I’d started working more and more at the radio station…I worked for about 2 years….
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Wanted to work in the media.
1993-5 working in radio.
57” Applied to university in 1994. Accepted by UCE to study sociology.
1.22 Story about deliberating whether to go to university or remain at the radio station.
3.01 Completed degree course and started work immediately operating live shows in radio.
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Juggled work and studying at university.
That helped financially….we were coming to the end of the grant process and I could see my grant getting smaller and smaller…and I took out a couple of student loans as well….
1.34 Parents’ financial support. Moved out of family home when 22.
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Continued working on technicals until this year. Made permanent staff in 1999. Story about changing role at work.
2.10 Future plans at work.
2.59 I first really started stopping out from school when I was about 14 or 15 and that would be just a matter of going round to a café….or going to the park…That went on until I was 16 and went to Matthew Boulton…..
a few student nights at clubs….a lot of people my age have very big memories of places like the Hummingbird….
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But I think my life developed in a very different way….when I went to university I didn’t socialise a lot with people from university…Lists clubs and pubs visited.
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One of my earliest memories is of taping stuff from the radio….when I was 4 years old….Story about buying music.
Live concerts.
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Birmingham’s local music scene. I’ve always found the clubbing scene in Birmingham to be pretty poor….Story about starting up a specialist music night.
Lack of suitable music venues in the city.
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Continues to discuss music venues.
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I’ve lived in 2 places since I left home. One was a dingy flat in Moseley….Describes the flat.
1.25 Now living in King’s Heath in a large terraced house with 3 others. Advantages of house-sharing.
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I’ve always been astounded by new technology….when the first video cameras came out I remember Indian weddings….The first computer I had was a Commodore 16, that was in 1984….In the year 2000 I’ve finally bought a computer….the internet has now become such a part of life…Story about making a friend in a chatroom.
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Story about first encounter with a mobile phone in 1988.
1.01 I see people now drooling over the smallest dinkiest mobile phone….and none of it turns me on at all….
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Race relations in the city.
2.19 Story about radio assignment to record interviews for a race campaign.
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Political views. Story about political apathy amongst students.
ENDS |