Said Mohammed was born in 1936 in Tiger Bay, the area around Cardiff Docks. Betty Campbell (born 1934) went to school with Said and went on to become a headteacher. The programme emphasises the cultural diversity and racial harmony of the area. It also focuses on work, housing and the opportunities for entertainment for young people.

Race

Tiger Bay was an area of racial and cultural diversity. This was because of the port, which attracted people from all over the world — Said mentions Norwegians, Chinese and Japanese. In the area of Tiger Bay they lived alongside each other with no problems. The children would go to different religious festivals — Christian and Muslim are mentioned — and would be given sweets — one’s own background did not matter. Betty confirms what Said has said, commenting on the fact that they didn’t need to have RE lessons at school as they could learn more simply by observing the people around them.

Within Tiger Bay there was a strong sense of community — Betty could name all the people who lived in her street when she was a child. She says that this sense of community has been lost.

Outside the Bay, they could expect to find racist attitudes. Betty, an intelligent child doing well at grammar school, was told by her teacher that she should not nurture her ambition to become a headteacher because there would be ‘too many problems’. The fact that Betty went on to become a headteacher is testimony to her determination and perhaps to the self-confidence instilled in her by being brought up in Tiger Bay.

Entertainment

Said describes the excitement of gathering around a television to watch the coronation of the Queen in 1953. Previously, the radio had been the main form of home entertainment — rented from a local shop and mounted on the wall. Said says that the development of the transistor radio, which allowed young people to listen to the music of their choice (for example, Radio Luxembourg) in their own rooms, was a big change. He also suggests that many of the houses in Tiger Bay had televisions by the end of the 1950s.

Said also talks about the Rock ’n’ Roll era, and the dances held at the Razzle Dazzle Club where over 400 young people would gather to drink cola and dance. Said describes the bright, fashionable suits of the period, talking about the importance of how you looked, and the need to rehearse the complicated dance routines (jives).

Housing

Said describes his childhood home in the Bay. There was no supply of hot water; and to go to the toilet you had to go outside, where the chickens which the family kept would peck at your legs. Said slept in a bed with three other people. Almost anything would be burnt on the fire to heat the house — including household rubbish. The diet of the family partly depended on Said’s mother’s success at gambling: a win would allow them to eat bacon and eggs, while a loss would leave them with bread and ‘dripping’ (fat collected from frying or roasting meat).