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I left Jamaica in 1955 when I was 14 years old. The day after I arrived in London, my mother woke me up early so I could start work. As we left our home, there was a man at the door who told her, “You can go to work but he can’t, because he’s not 15”. I had to go to school. I was 14 years and 11 months old.
In 1958, Professor Chapman gave me a job as a junior technician at Queen Elizabeth’s College in London. One day he called me into his office and said “I don’t think you’re as stupid as you try to make out. I think you should go to university.” So I went to Leicester University in 1961 to do an Honours degree in Botany.
What people need is a cup of kindness – Burns was speaking metaphorically in Auld Lang Syne. When somebody asks you to take a drink with them, it’s an act of kindness. But how many migrants have been asked to join in such a drink? If somebody is not prepared to eat or drink with you, then you’re not part of the system. I think you get that relationship of kindness in a society if somebody sees you as equal. By 1800 there were about 300,000 slaves in Jamaica, and about 10,000 Scots, mainly men – many Jamaicans have some Scottish blood in them. Scottish people are fascinated by this history, because their historians never told them.
I retired in 2005 as Professor of Grain Science in the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling at Heriot Watt University. I still do experiments at home in my kitchen! However, I now spend most of my time on the boards of various charitable organisations and give lectures to the community on Scottish/Jamaican/Caribbean history. This history is outlined in my book, The Enlightenment Abolished.
Geoff Palmer
I left Jamaica in 1955 when I was 14 years old. The day after I arrived in London, my mother woke me up early so I could start work. As we left our home, there was a man at the door who told her, “You can go to work but he can’t, because he’s not 15”. I had to go to school. I was 14 years and 11 months old.
In 1958, Professor Chapman gave me a job as a junior technician at Queen Elizabeth’s College in London. One day he called me into his office and said “I don’t think you’re as stupid as you try to make out. I think you should go to university.” So I went to Leicester University in 1961 to do an Honours degree in Botany.
What people need is a cup of kindness – Burns was speaking metaphorically in Auld Lang Syne. When somebody asks you to take a drink with them, it’s an act of kindness. But how many migrants have been asked to join in such a drink? If somebody is not prepared to eat or drink with you, then you’re not part of the system. I think you get that relationship of kindness in a society if somebody sees you as equal. By 1800 there were about 300,000 slaves in Jamaica, and about 10,000 Scots, mainly men – many Jamaicans have some Scottish blood in them. Scottish people are fascinated by this history, because their historians never told them.
I retired in 2005 as Professor of Grain Science in the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling at Heriot Watt University. I still do experiments at home in my kitchen! However, I now spend most of my time on the boards of various charitable organisations and give lectures to the community on Scottish/Jamaican/Caribbean history. This history is outlined in my book, The Enlightenment Abolished.