When the steamship docked at Tilbury, Essex, on June 22, 1948, it brought nearly 500 people from Jamaica and Trinidad. Their role was to play a part in the reconstruction of Britain, which was emerging from the shadow of the second world war.

Though the climate may have been a shock to the system, and the welcome was often not as warm as they might have hoped, the Windrush passengers were about to make a deep and lasting impression on the national culture.

Just one of their creative influences was calypso music – Trinidadian star Lord Kitchener launched his British singing career when he serenaded reporters on the dockside with London Is The Place For Me.