British Jamaicans
[3] Post-war Britain was suffering from significant labour shortage and looked to its overseas colonies for help, British Rail, the NHS and London transport were noted as being the largest recruiters.
Jamaicans continued to migrate to the United Kingdom during the 1970s and 1980s, albeit in smaller numbers, the majority of these people were from poor households and went to extreme lengths to get to Britain.
[3] There is an uneven distribution of household wealth throughout Jamaica and during the economic crisis of the 1990s lower class Jamaicans continued to migrate in significant numbers.
[9] In 2005, another series of race riots in Birmingham occurred as a result of the alleged rape of a 14-year-old Jamaican girl by a group of up to 20 South Asian men including the Pakistani store owner it was reported she initially stole from.
[3] The 2011 UK Census recorded 159,170 people born in Jamaica resident in England, 925 in Wales,[12] 564 in Scotland[13] and 117 in Northern Ireland,[14] making a total Jamaica-born population of 160,776.
[16] Besides the above locations, the IOM has also identified the following towns and cities as having notable Jamaican communities: Bath, Bedford, Bradford, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Ipswich, Liskeard, Luton, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Swansea, Swindon, Truro and Wolverhampton.
[33] In later years, as the community developed and food imports became more accessible to all, grocers specialising in Caribbean produce opened in British high streets.
"Jerk" is a style of cooking from Jamaica in which meats (including pork and chicken) are dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a very hot spice mixture.
In March 2007, Grace Foods bought ENCO Products, owners of the Dunn's River Brand, as well as "Nurishment", a flavoured, sweetened enriched milk drink, and the iconic Encona Sauce Range.
[55][56] Bruce Oldfield is best known for his couture and bridalwear designs and has a client list that includes Queen Rania of Jordan, Jerry Hall, Samantha Cameron, Charlotte Rampling, Jemima Khan, Sienna Miller, Rihanna, Catherine Zeta-Jones and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
[70] More contemporary contributions come from authors including Andrea Levy whose novel Small Island won the Whitbread Book of the Year and the Orange Prize for Fiction, one of Britain's highest literary honours.
Smith's acclaimed first novel, White Teeth (2000), was a portrait of contemporary multicultural London, drawing from her own upbringing with an English father and a Jamaican mother.
[76] The novel, which describes the life and loves of Queenie Jenkins, a vibrant, young British-Jamaican, received positive reviews and was marketed as "a black Bridget Jones".
[79] In July 2020, Linton Kwesi Johnson received the PEN Pinter Prize and was described as "a Living legend", "a poet, reggae icon, academic and campaigner, whose impact on the cultural landscape over the last half century has been colossal and multi-generational".
[80] Other notable contributors include Ferdinand Dennis, Winsome Pinnock, Victor Headley, Benjamin Zephaniah and Raymond Antrobus, who became the first poet to win the Rathbones Folio Prize for his collection The Perseverance.
[83] The Voice closely follows in terms of readership; this weekly tabloid newspaper, based in the UK but owned by the Jamaican GV Media Group and established by Val McCalla (who was born in Jamaica), covers a variety of stories that are aimed solely at the British African-Caribbean community.
Jamaican-born Neil Kenlock co-founded Choice FM in London, the first successful radio station granted a licence to cater for the black community in Britain.
A distinctive mixture of heavy basslines and sometimes complex arrangements and samples, trip hop was born in the St Paul's area of Bristol from the likes of Smith and Mighty, Massive Attack and Portishead.
[114] Kelly Holmes was one of the success stories of the 2004 Summer Olympics having won multiple gold medals and still holding numerous British records in distance running.
[115] Another 2004 success story was Jason Gardener[116][117] and Mark Lewis-Francis,[118] who won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay with Darren Campbell and Marlon Devonish.
[138] John Barnes is the most capped English Jamaican to have played for the England national football team, and a number of the current national team players have origins in Jamaica, including Darren Bent,[139] Aaron Lennon,[140] Raheem Sterling,[141] Theo Walcott,[142] Daniel Sturridge,[143] Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Ashley Young and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
[146] In 2021 alone in the Jamaican squad there were 11 British born and raised players: Amari'i Bell, Liam Moore, Ethan Pinnock, Wes Harding, Michael Hector, Adrian Mariappa, Kasey Palmer, Andre Gray, Jamal Lowe, Greg Leigh, and Bobby Decordova-Reid.
The same IOM investigation found that minimal numbers of British Jamaicans actually watch these black-orientated channels, this is thought to be down to a heavy focus on Black African culture and issues (as opposed to Afro-Caribbean).
Away from soap operas, other notable actors include Malachi Kirby, who earned a BAFTA for his role in Steve McQueen's highly acclaimed Small Axe,[160] Michael Ward who won the 2019 BAFTA Rising Star Award,[161] Colin Salmon and Ashley Walters, whose role in Bullet Boy earned him a British Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performance.
[163] Manchester-born Marsha Thomason is noted for her roles in the US shows Las Vegas and Lost,[164] whilst Oxfordshire-born Wentworth Miller of Prison Break fame is also of partial Jamaican descent.
[167] Stephen Graham featured in three Martin Scorsese productions and won two Screen Actors Guild Awards as part of the cast of the much lauded Boardwalk Empire.
[171] She also starred in the critically acclaimed film Moonlight, a performance that earned her a number of accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Adrian Lester appeared in The Day After Tomorrow[172] and the political blockbuster Primary Colors, directed by Mike Nicholls and co-starring John Travolta, Kathy Bates, Billy Bob Thornton and Emma Thompson.
Lashana Lynch featured opposite Brie Larson in 2019's Captain Marvel and played the role of Nomi, the secret agent who replaces Craig's retired Bond in No Time to Die.
British author Ian Fleming, creator of the super spy, resided at GoldenEye for many years, where he wrote all his James Bond novels.
