25th August: Notting Hill Carnival

Notting Hill Carnival takes place in London today. 10 things you may not know about Carnival:

1. The roots of the carnival date back to 1959 when race relations in the UK were at a low ebb. In response to the previous year's Notting Hill riots, Claudia Jones, a Trinidadian who was the editor of the The West Indian Gazette at the time, organised an indoor event to celebrate and showcase West Indian culture. Taking place at St Pancras Town Hall, the event featured the Mighty Terror singing the calypso Carnival at St Pancras, a Caribbean Carnival Queen beauty contest, the Trinidad All Stars and Hi–fi steel bands dance troupe. Claudia Jones came to be known as "the mother of the Notting Hill Carnival".
2. The carnival moved outdoors in 1966 when Rhaune Laslett independently decided to hold a cultural event in Notting Hill. Some of the performers who took part had also been involved in Claudia Jones's event in 1959.
3. Rioters in 1976 put the future of the carnival in jeopardy, giving the event enough bad press that the authorities considered banning it. Prince Charles was one of the few establishment figures who spoke out in support of keeping the carnival going.
4. The 1976 riots inspired the Clash song, White Riot.
5. Planning the carnival, and making the costumes, takes most of the year. Top Trinidadian designers and craftspeople design and create each costume all of which are connected by a common theme, and made by hand.
6. On the Sunday, the Trinidadian community stage a massive food fight where people throw Chocolate at each other.
7. The costumed bands are called Mas (Masquerade) Bands, each of which could comprise as many as 150 people.
8. It is now the second largest carnival in the world, (Rio de Janeiro being the first), and the largest street festival in Europe. About a million people attend, 20% of whom are tourists. There are over 40,000 volunteers, and 9,000 police officers involved as well.
9. As well as the Mas Bands there will be about 40 static music stages playing a variety of different music styles.
10. During the carnival, guests will munch their way through 1 ton of rice and peas, 400 goats, 30,000 corn on the cob, 15,000 deep fried plantains, 1 ton of curry chicken, 1 ton of Jamaican patties, 12,000 mangoes, and 16,000 coconuts. They will drink 25,000 bottles of rum, 70,000 litres of carrot juice, 800,000 cans and bottles of drink.