The history of reggae from former Teletubby John

The night is a narrated musical telling the story of reggae music, the Windrush Generation and how the music took the world by storm, featuring ska, rock steady, calypso, gospel, lovers rock, dancehall and reggae, played live by the JA Reggae Band. It’s a chance to enjoy the music of Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, Millie Small and many more in a show marking the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the first Windrush generation in the UK.

Crucial to the telling, not least because John is a stand-up comedian, will be humour – a key part of his way of looking back. As he says, the show is an affectionate look at our foibles.

The point is we do things hugely different now.

“You see it in the 1970s. I remember as a child being sent down the road to buy paraffin as if it was milk. You would be arrested now if you tried to get a child to do that but back then it was just considered completely normal. You just have to their aware how attitudes have changed. The point is that you've got to celebrate yourselves but also be realistic about your foibles.

“We go right the way from Christopher Columbus to Priti Patel in two and a half hours. She more or less ends it but we talk about the collective history, about how Jamaica was apparently discovered even though the people who had been living there for a long time didn't actually know that they were lost, and we are talking about that relationship between colonial powers and their islands and the fact that Britain has always needed immigrants. You think of all the colonies and how much they've contributed to the great tapestry and the richness of this country. But there is still denial.”

John likens it to Nigel Farage admitting that Brexit hasn't worked: “It's like if you're part of this group with 27 countries and you just convince yourself that you'll be stronger alone and so you leave your girlfriend and then you watch your girlfriend on social media and you keep saying ‘Yes, she's going to come crawling back to me’ and then she's on holiday with a much younger nicer man and you are still thinking ‘Yes, she's going to come crawling back to me’ and then she's getting married but you still think she's going to come back to you and then she's had a baby and yet you are still thinking she is going to come crawling back. That's what I mean that the show is also an affectionate look at our delusions.”

Among them is the idea that Britain somehow stood alone in the Second World War: “People talk about the country standing alone even though it had colonised in effect up to 25 per cent of the world! You can’t really call that standing alone! And that's what this is about, the fact that Britain has always needed these people, has always needed immigrants, the fact that the country needed the Windrush generation to come here and help rebuild the country.”