Kelso Cochrane (1927-1959)

Last yeasr riots in london meant according to some that London would never be the same again, a clain that Peter Ackroyd pooh-poohed citing the cities long history of civil disturbance. I guess you could go all the way back to the Boudiccan revolt and probably further. there are two dates that appear over and over 1666 and 1940 both of which saw a substantial proportion of the city destroyed. i cant see 2011 ever joining the list.
The 1958 race riots seem to have been overlloked in all the hysterical media jawing over last year. The death of Kelso Cochrane in 1959 (probably by a British Union of Facsists member) triggered repercussions both negative - the Afro-Caribbean communities of West London rose against an institutionally racist community and positive the institution of the of annual Notting Hill carnival in an attempt to express their solidarity, their cultural identity.
Kelso Cochrane is remembered by a plaque on the side of the Earl of Portobello pub just across the road from where he was stabbed. A site that Oswald Mosley later used as a site for one o his hate-mongering speecehes. Looking at the cretins of the EDF it doesnt seem that weve progressed that much...