Checking out me history john agard biography
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John Agard
Guyanese playwright, poet and writer
John AgardFRSL (born 21 June 1949) is a Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in Britain. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.[1] He was awarded BookTrust's Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2021.[2]
Biography
[edit]Agard was born in British Guiana (now Guyana), and grew up in Georgetown. He loved to listen to cricket commentary on the radio and began making up his own, which led to a love of language.[3] He went on to study English, French and Latin at A-Level, writing his first published poetry when he was in the sixth form, and left school in 1967. He taught the languages he had studied and worked in a local library. He was also a sub-editor and feature writer for the Guyana Sunday Chronicle, publishing two books while he was still in Guyana.[3]
His father (Ted) settled in London and Agard moved to Britain with his partner Grac
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Dem tell me
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me
Bandage up me eye with me own history
Blind me to my own identity
Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat
dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat
But Touissant L’Ouverture
no dem never tell me bout dat
Toussaint
a slave
with vision
lick back
Napoleon
battalion
and first Black
Republic born
Toussaint dem thorn
to de French
Toussaint de beacon
of de Haitian Revolution
Dem tell me bout dem man who discover de balloon
and de cow who jump over de moon
Dem tell me bout de dish run away with de spoon
but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon
Nanny
see-far woman
of mountain dream
fire-woman struggle
hopeful stream
to freedom river
Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and Waterloo
but dem never tell me bout Shaka dem great Zulu
Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492
but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too
Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp
and how Robin Hood used to camp
Dem tell me bout ole Kin
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Reynolds's News and Miscellany
ByDr Stephen Basdeoon
Stephen Basdeo is a historian and lecturer based in Leeds, United Kingdom.
Introduction
The origins of British imperialism date from the late medieval period.[1] The subsequent rise of the English, and after 1707, British Empire is a well-told tale. Eventually the empire covered one quarter of the world’s surface. The focus of this article is the former British colony of Guyana and a poem written by the Guyanese-born poet John Agard (b.1949) titled “Checking Out Me History” (2004).
The poem offers a fascinating but brief glimpse into the reception of medievalism in the colony’s schools in the lead up to Guyanese independence in 1966. Agard’s poetical testimony will be supplemented with oral reminiscences from my own father, Dr namn Basdeo (b.1957).[2] As I argue here, the teaching of seemingly harmless medieval events and legendary figures was viewed a tool of colonial oppressio