Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Baker shows us why he’s unforgotten
Baker shows us why he’s unforgotten
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
Who remembers Ginger Baker? The legendary British drummer born in Lewisham in 1939 set the music world alight in the ’60s as part of threesome Cream with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce.
But Baker was then and now essentially a drummer of the blues and of jazz, who began with the blues-drenched Graham Bond Organisation in 1964.
He was inspired by the greatest of British jazz drummers, Phil Seaman of Burton-on-Trent, and counted as his friends and “uncles” three legendary jazz drumming giants — Max Roach, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones, who he befriended in the US.
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