Val McCalla

Val Irvine McCalla (3 October 1943 – 22 August 2002) was a Jamaican accountant and media entrepreneur who settled in Britain in 1959. He is best known as the founder of The Voice, a British weekly newspaper aimed at the Britain's black community, which he established in 1982 as a voice for the British African-Caribbean community. He was honoured as a pioneering publisher for the community, but also faced critics who deemed him sensationalistic.[1]

Val McCalla
Born
Val Irvine McCalla

(1943-10-03)3 October 1943
Kingston, Jamaica
Died22 August 2002(2002-08-22) (aged 58)
Seaford, East Sussex, England
NationalityJamaican
EducationKingston College
Occupation(s)Accountant, media entrepreneur
Known forFounder of The Voice

In the 100 Great Black Britons poll conducted in 1997, Val McCalla was voted number 68.[2]

Early life

Val McCalla was born in a poor part of Kingston, Jamaica.[3] After studying accountancy at Kingston College, a Jamaican high school, McCalla travelled to England in May 1959, aged 15.

Career

He joined the RAF, but a perforated eardrum put paid to his dreams of becoming a pilot and instead he honed his skills as a bookkeeper,[4] leaving in the mid-1960s.[5]

He then found employment in various accounts and book-keeping positions, before working part-time on a community newspaper, East End News, based near his flat in Bethnal Green.[6] He started The Voice newspaper in 1982, Britain's first Black owned paper, with a team that included broadcaster Alex Pascall,[7][8] launching it at the Notting Hill carnival that August,[9] and bringing in Viv Broughton as marketing manager.[10] The Voice became a training ground for leading journalists. He owned Chic and Pride magazines, and in 1991 founded The Weekly Journal.[11]

McCalla died of liver failure on 22 August 2002, aged 58, in Seaford, East Sussex, where he was buried.[4][12][13]

Legacy

In June 2021, on Windrush Day, Val McCalla was honoured as the founder of The Voice with the installation of a plaque by the Nubian Jak Community Trust outside the newspaper's Brixton offices, Blue Star House.[14][15][16]

References
  1. "Memorial tributes to Voice founder". BBC News. 3 October 2002. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  2. "100 Great Black Britons".
  3. Andy Beckett, "The Voice in the Wilderness", The Independent, 11 February 1996.
  4. "Val McCalla", Encyclopædia Britannica.
  5. Steve Pope, "Val McCalla" (obituary), The Guardian, 24 August 2002.
  6. "Val McCalla", 100 Great Black Britons.
  7. Andy Beckett, "The Voice in the Wilderness", The Independent, 11 February 1996.
  8. Lionel Morrison, A Century of Black Journalism in Britain: A Kaleidoscopic View of Race and the Media (1893–2003), Truebay Limited, 2007, p. 63.
  9. George Ruddock, "Voice35Years: Happy Birthday To Us!", The Voice, 27 August 2017.
  10. Steve Alexander Smith, "Viv Broughton", British Black Gospel: The Foundations of this Vibrant UK Sound, Monarch Books, 2009, p. 78.
  11. "Val McCalla | British publisher". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  12. Angelique Chrisafis, "McCalla, publisher who gave black people a voice, dies", The Guardian, 24 August 2002.
  13. "Parish church packed for funeral of black newspaper's founder", Sussex Express, 5 September 2002.
  14. "Val McCalla | The Eentrepreneur Who Gave the Caribbean Community A Voice". Black Plaque Project. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  15. "Black Plaque installation on Windrush Day to commemorate Val McCalla the founder of The Voice newspaper". Black History Month. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  16. "Val McCalla, the Founder of The Voice Newspaper, is honoured as a 'Great Black Briton' with a Black Plaque in Brixton". Voice Online. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
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