1 May 2001 -Malika Booker co-produces a poetry film to commemorate the Royal Festival Hall's 50th Birthday Celebrations.

30 April 2018 - Sajid Javid is named as the new Home Secretary after Amber Rudd's resignation.

Mr Javid, the son of a Pakistani bus driver whose family came to the UK in the 1960s, and was the Communities, Local Government and Housing Secretary.

Before that, the former investment banker and MP for Bromsgrove had been Business and Culture Secretaries.

It is an historically significant appointment as Mr. Javid becomes the first ever ethnic minority persons to hold one of the great offices of State 

With thanks also to the BBC for the above information

29 April 2012 -  A year after her death in 2011 , Lambeth Council and the Cherry Tree Trust unveil a Plaque in honour of Dorothy Groce, 1948 - 2011. The plaque is inscribed" innocently shot in this house by police which sparked the 1985 Brixton uprising.A heroine to her children, family and community with her spiritual strength, motivation, optimism and love.Her legacy lives on.Cherry Tree Trust - Lambeth Council."

28 April 1995 - Andrew Salkey dies.(30 January 1928 – 28 April 1995) A prolific writer and editor, he was the author of more than 30 books in the course of his career, including novels for adults and for children, poetry collections, anthologies, travelogues and essays.

See Hall of Fame for Biography

27 April 2005.- Lance Sergeant Johnson Gideon Beharry VC is formally invested with the Victoria Cross by Queen Elizabeth II . Born 26 July 1979, he is a British Army soldier who, on 18 March 2005, was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration for valour in the British and Commonwealth armed forces, for twice saving members of his unit, the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, from ambushes on 1 May and again on 11 June 2004 at Al-Amarah, Iraq. He sustained serious head injuries in the latter engagement. Beharry is pictured here in 2007. See Hall of Fame for Biography.

26 April 1982 - The Trial of the Bradford 12 begins. 

Giovanni Singh, Praveen Patel, Saeed Hussain, Sabir Hussain, Tariq Ali, Ahmed Mansoor, Bahram Noor Khan, Tarlochan Gata Aura, Ishaq Mohammed Kazi, Vasant Patel, Jayesh Amin and Masood Malik appeared at the Leeds Crown Court .

They were all represented by counsel with the exception of Tariq Ali who chose to defend himself. The trial was to last 31 days before Judge Beaumont and a jury of seven whites and five blacks. All the jurors were local Leeds residents.The main line of defence was self-defence. Gata Aura, Singh, Patel, Hussain, Mansoor, Malik, Sabir Hussain, Khan and Vasant Patel admitted to being involved somewhere along the line. Ali, Amin and Kazi denied any involvement at all. All claimed that he was told by Gata Aura about the existence of the petrol bombs and he advised Gata Aura to destroy them. Amin's counsel cross examined on the basis that his client knew nothing about the operation and was playing cricket at the time. Kazi denied any involvement at all. See  Timeline 16 June 1982 

25 April 2021 - Daniel Kaluuya picks up the award for best supporting actor for his role as the Black Panther Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah, beating out his co-star LaKeith Stanfield, who was also nominated. 

Speaking of Hampton, he said: “What a man – how blessed we are that we lived in a lifetime where he existed.” He said the Black Panthers “showed us the power of union and power of unity” but added: “There’s so much work to do, guys, and that’s on everyone in this room.” The film also won best original song for Fight For You from HER.

With thanks to The BBC for the above information.

24 April 2011 -  Mrs Groce dies at Kings College Hospital of an infection which resulted in kidney failure.  The undisputed pathological evidence is that there was a causal link between the police shooting in 1985 and her subsequent death in 2011.

21 April 1996 - Newcastle and England Striker Les Ferdinand wins  the Football Players Player of the Year Award.   

20 April 1984 - English-born cabaret singer and legend, Mabel Mercer dies. For full biography see Hall of Fame Section 

19 April 2011 - Former Cricketer Basil D'Olivera whose selection for the 1968 Tour to South Africa led to the sporting boycott of South Africa for 23 years, dies. See Hall of Fame section for full biography. 

18 April 2011 - A Plaque commemorating Dadabhai Naoroji, the first ever Asian MP to be elected to Parliament in 1892, is unveiled outside the Finsbury Town Hall on Rosebery Avenue, London

17 April 2001 -  The 100 Black Men of London is formed and becomes a Registered Charity in 2004. The organisation is dedicated to the education, development and uplifting of black  youth and the wider community using Black Men as Mentors.  Their key focus areas are Education, Economic Development, Health & Wellbeing, Leadership and Mentoring. The 100 Black Men of London is an International Chapter of the 100 Black Men International Inc. based in the United States of America

16 April 1994 - Samuel Selvon dies. (20 May 1923 – 16 April 1994). His 1956 novel The Lonely Londoners is  groundbreaking in its use of creolised English, or "nation language", for narrative as well as dialoguedies. He was  was a Trinidad-born writer. His 1956 novel The Lonely Londoners is groundbreaking in its use of creolised English, or "nation language", for narrative as well as dialogue.

See Hall of Fame for Biography.

15 April 2018 -A red plaque is  unveiled in honour of George A Roberts by London Fire Brigade on New Cross Fire Station in South East London where he was stationed in World War Two.

See Hall of Fame for Biography

7 April 2018 -Britain's James DeGale regained his IBF super-middleweight title with a unanimous points decision over Caleb Truax in Las Vegas.

DeGale, 32, lost his belt in a shock points defeat by the 34-year-old American in December 2017.

But he did not underestimate Truax a second time and went the distance, despite a bad cut, to secure the win.

With thanks to the BBC for the above information.

6 April 2016 - The 25th Anniversary of the opening of Pak Cosmetics 

Pak Cosmetics is London’s biggest chain of black hair and beauty product retailers, with nine green-fronted stores across the city, an online shop and a wholesale outlet, which even supplies supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda. Serving thousands of customers per week and selling about as many products, it’s almost synonymous with black British cosmetics retail – and yet is owned by Saghir and Tanvir Hussain; an Asian family, like the majority of its competitors.

In recent years, this issue of Asian ownership of Afro-Caribean centred business has become a point of contention;

5 April 1985 - The West India Committee, formed in London celebrated its incredible 250th Anniversary. The West India Committee was established in Bishopsgate, London to protect trade in the British West Indies. However, by 1836, the West India Committee coordinated fundraising to end slave ownership and slave labour. After emancipation in the British West Indies, the Committee reached out to slaves from Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and assisted them in being granted asylum in declared safe havens.

4 April 2017 -Black Sound  an exhibition from the Black Cultural Archives, is launched to celebrate and reflect on 100 years of the Black Sound in Britain. It  remembers the players, the promoters, the producers and the punters who helped propel black music in the UK. London. The Exhibition ran from April to November 2017. 

Photo: Smiley Culture, c.1980s. © Ian Watts. Courtesy of Black Cultural Archives

2 April 2018 - Justin Cochrane is appointed as the new Head Coach of the England U15 Football Team.

Justin Vincent Cochrane (born 26 January 1982, in Hackney, London) is a former professional footballer who last played for Boreham Wood and the Antigua and Barbuda national football team.He was previously at several clubs between 2000-2013 -Queens Park Rangers, Hayes, Crewe, Gillingham, Rotherham, Yeovil Town, Millwall,Rusdhen & Diamonds, Aldershot, Hayes & Yeading.

Justin  was formely youth team coach at Tottenham Hotspur football club.

1 April 2017 - , the playwright, screenwriter and mentor to many, who tragically passed away on April 1st.  Parv pioneered the telling of stories that showed the realities and absurdities of British Asian life. See Hall of Fame for Biography

31 March 2018 - Anthony Joshua becomes the undefeated and  unified World Heavyweight Boxing Champion by defeating the  previously unbeaten WBO World Heavyweight Champion, Jospeh Parker in a unanimous points decision in front of 80,000 in Cardiff Wales. He thus becomes the  WBA, WBO, IBF & IBO Champion. Only the WBC Title Holder, Deontay Wilder, the undefeated WBC Champion from the United States stands between Joshua becoming the first undisputed World Champion since Britains Lennox Lewis in  2003. 

30 March 2020 - Douglas "Brother Dougie" Williams, "Mr.Tottenham" Community Activist,  for more than 30 years, popular DJ on SLR Radio dies. One of the causes close to him was his campaign to promote more effective parenting within the Black Community . From tackling gun and knife crime, issues of mental health, promoting better education, improving personal relationships, Douglas Williams would organise an event or support other activists at their events and across communities. His spirituality was a source of strength and inspiration to him.  

29 March 2018 - In the first event of its kind, Digital and Culture Secretary Matt Hancock brought together more than 100 organisations from across the digital, culture, media and sporting worlds to address diversity concerns.

The diversity forum, hosted at the world famous Abbey Road Studios, is part of the Government’s mission to create a fairer society where success is based on merit, not privilege.

The forum was attended by high-profile figures including former paralympian Lady Tanni Grey-Thompson, CodeFirstGirls’ Chief Executive Amali de Alwis, ITV's Head of Diversity Ade Rawcliffe, Chair of UK Music’s Diversity Taskforce Keith Harris and Sport England’s Director of Insight Lisa O’Keefe.

With thanks to the Voice Online for the above information.

17 March 2017 - Adam Regis 15, nephew of  ex Athlete John Regis MBE,is  stabbed to death in Plaistow, Newham, east London. The killers were described in media reports as five black youths, who fled in a car. He had been following in his uncle's footsteps as an athlete