A Home From Home: From Immigrant Boy to English Man - Softcover

'Courageous, controversial, compassionate' DAILY MAIL 'Part memoir, part political treatise . . . As a migrant twice over, Alagiah is better placed than most to discuss important arguments about what being British means' GUARDIAN 'Alagiah's experiences give him a unique overview of the entire argument. He urges wider tolerance, on both sides of the cultural divide. His argument is solidly supported by facts and interviews, and is very persuasive' Kate Saunders, SUNDAY TIMES 'As a migrant twice over, Alagiah is better placed than most to discuss important arguments about what being British means' GUARDIAN 'In a brave, perceptive and sometimes humorous book, Alagiah raises important questions and adds his experienced voice to a complex debate' DAILY EXPRESS 'A HOME FROM HOME does not simply rehearse... familiar issues. Alagiah laces his statistics with interviews, anecdotes and observations. It is a memoir - a confession even... After the often unsettling encounters with his Sri Lankan background, Alagiah reassuringly looks forward... he is guardedly optimistic about the future of Britain and its struggle to identify itself' INDEPENDENT

George Alagiah was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Ghana. His family came to Britain in the 60s. This is his story, going to school in Portsmouth (where his friends were all white and teased him in the shower room for not having a summer tan) and gradually discovering his immigrant identity. 'It crept up on me - this feeling that I wanted to be Sri Lankan again. Or, at least, allow Sri Lanka to be a part of me again. This is not about citizenship. I am British. This is not about allegiance. I am loyal to Queen and country. This is about a feeling. How do you account for what I can only call an umbilical connection with a place you have left over forty years ago?' And this feeling is also something Alagiah examines more widely, looking at how immigrant experiences have differed in Britain in the post-war years, how multiculturalism has led to ghettos and failure, and how we should celebrate our immigrants both through their civilising values and economic necessity. Alagiah's A HOME FROM HOME can be read as the moving sequel to A PASSAGE TO AFRICA or as a stand-alone autobiography of the immigrant experience.