Person    | Male  Born 21/8/1943 

Leslie Palmer

From Trinidad. Director of the Notting Hill Carnival 1973-1975. He found sponsorship, recruited more steel bands and reggae groups and introduced static sound systems, live music stages and  generators. He also increased the emphasis on costumes and extended the route. Some of this was controversial at the time but it transformed the carnival into its modern form.

"In 1973 the Caribbean Notting Hill Carnival as we know it today was established on Acklam Road, facilitated by Anthony Perry and the Amenity Trust. The Carnival office under the administration of Leslie Palmer was at 3 Acklam Road for two years and then moved to number 9 in the mid 70s, when Selwyn Baptiste became director.

Andre Behan has informed us that Leslie Palmer was born as Leslie Stephen Palmer on 21 August 1943 and was known as 'Teacher'. Electoral registers from 2003 to 2006 show him at Flat 16, Westhill Court, Denbigh Road, London, W11 2SJ.

Sources include: The Underground map which quotes at length from Palmer's Carnival memoirs.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Leslie Palmer

Commemorated ati

Leslie Palmer

Leslie Palmer, 1943, pioneered the template for the modern Notting Hill Carni...

Read More

Other Subjects

Black Music Congress, etc.

Black Music Congress, etc.

A number of groups related to black music history seem to have come and gone; it's difficult to disentangle them. These links were working in 2021: Black History Month, IRDUK (mentioned on the post...

Group, Community / Clubs, Music / songs, Race Issues

1 memorial
John Donovan

John Donovan

Founder of Friern Barnet & District Local History Society. Lived in Friern Barnet between 1966 and 1995.

Person, Community / Clubs, History

1 memorial
Royal Photographic Society

Royal Photographic Society

Initiated by Roger Fenton and founded in London as the Photographic Society of London with Fenton as its first Secretary. The inaugural meeting was held at the, then, Society of Arts. Received Roya...

Group, Community / Clubs, Photography

2 memorials
L.U.D.R.A.

L.U.D.R.A.

This almost certainly is the Leyton Urban District Ratepayers Association, who erected other plaques in the area. It had two candidates elected to the Urban District Council in 1904, and It underto...

Group, Community / Clubs

1 memorial