The ever interesting website Palmers Green Tales has released four short films about the life of Professor Kurt Barling. In the first film, when he was a young boy living in Grovelands Road in the 1960s, Kurt recalls playing football in the street, on the corner of Grovelands Road and Fox Lane. Whenever an occasional car came along, the driver would wait for someone to score a goal before proceeding. How times have changed!
Professor Kurt Barling
We interviewed Professor Kurt Barling recently and it was wonderful to hear about him growing up in Palmers Green, his education, his interests and his career. Being a mixed race child at school during the sixties was not especially easy in Palmers Green, which at the time was not the multi cultural area it is today and Kurt talks about that. He talks about being into sports and becoming part of the National Youth Jazz orchestra, going to university and becoming the first Black English lecturer at the LSE. Then he became a journalist and broadcaster, becoming involved with campaigns and stories, including modern slavery, Abu Hamza and Finsbury Park Mosque and the Lakanal House Fire and he is now Professor of Journalism at Middlesex University and an author.
