British English Holidays Notting Hill Carnival

hi everyone I’m Gina the Notting Hill
Carnival happens every year in August in

the Notting Hill area of London it is
the colorful celebration and the biggest

carnival in Europe in this lesson you’re
going to learn about what happens during

the carnival and the history behind it

food is a big feature of the festival do
you know what the most popular foods are

we’ll show you the answer at the end of
this video the carnival in its current

form was first held in 1966 and runs
over three days the August Bank Holiday

Monday and the two days preceding it
over 1 million people attend the

festival and the main event a colorful
parade winds through 20 miles of London

streets the carnival began as a
small-scale local festival arranged by

the West Indian community from those
humble beginnings it has evolved into a

full-blooded Caribbean carnival
highlights of the weekend include a kids

day with a costume contest and the
parade where floats and thousands of

people walk through the streets one of
the key features of the carnival is

music steel bands line the streets and
play and their music can be heard for

miles
there are also displays of other types

of music such as Calypso and soccer and
in recent years professional and

international artists have begun to play
the carnival in increasing numbers

when the carnival first started it was
without approval from the authorities

it wasn’t until 1987 that the police
began to take a conciliatory approach

with the carnival instead of simply
trying to shut it down and now I’ll give

you the answer to the earlier quiz food
is a big feature of the festival do you

know what the most popular foods are
stalls at the festival so many types of

Caribbean food the most popular and
famous dishes are jerk chicken curried

goat and rice and peas how was this
lesson did you learn something

interesting
are there any festivals celebrating a

foreign culture in your country leave us
a comment at English class 101.com

and we’ll see you in the next lesson