Paul Boateng writes: Darcus Howe could be infuriating, was always irrepressible, but more often than not, as one of the great activist polemicists of our time, was simply inspirational. He was also a lot of fun, with a cultural hinterland of extraordinary depth, greatly assisted in the old days by the not so occasional rum and Coca Cola.
I recall both Darcus the activist giving it to the denizens of the Mail and Express offices as he led the march for the New Cross fire victims down Fleet Street, and Darcus the countryman ambling across the South Downs with fellow journalist and contrarian Peregrine Worsthorne, discussing poetry and identity. Although one seemed so very English, and the other so very Caribbean, both were quintessentially British. He once declared to a gullible journalist that he was like a father to me. Not so, but I, like many who were privileged to know and work with him, loved him dearly.
Giles Oakley writes: On television Darcus Howe was a charismatic and compelling performer, about which he had no false modesty. When I invited him to appear in a studio debate on black politics for Open Space on BBC2 in 1985, he held out for a very hefty fee, arguing with a disarming smile that black people should always insist on getting their just desserts.
The debate was chaired by Leila Hassan, editor of Race Today (and later his wife), and was peopled entirely with black and Asian contributors drawn from a wide variety of communities, exploring the wider issues thrown up by the creation of Black Sections in the Labour party, as set out in a film by the great social theorist Stuart Hall. It was an impressive lineup, but there was little doubt he was the star.
Darcus always spoke with great eloquence, in part drawing on the rich cadences of the King James Bible, and in the debate he spoke with almost forensic precision and passion. He was physically a dominant figure, with large brooding eyes set in a deeply expressive face, characterised by great human warmth and an entertainingly provocative sense of humour, often judiciously deployed in the cause of greater social justice.
