But misinterpretation and misreporting have given a somewhat overblown idea of the true extent of mixed unions. In fact, the original figure was 40 per cent of African Caribbean men with a partner and under 30. It did not include the many men without a partner, or obviously, older men. In addition, high-profile mixed marriages such as that of Labour MP Bernie Grant, black peer John Taylor, swimmer Sharon Davies, comedians Dawn French and Lenny Henry, plus all those black footballers with blonde girlfriends, have created the impression that large numbers of black men and white women are marrying each other But the issue has been somewhat exaggerated. Figures drawn from the last census and reported in the newspapers claimed that 40 per cent of African Caribbean men had a white partner. Get over it!” In the USA, where mixed race people live in a society which is more segregated than the UK, the issues revolve more urgently around the politics of race.
Mixed relationships have always attracted a disproportionate amount of interest. Accept the blessing of having two cultures, but understand that you are Black.

In this world if you have one spot of Black blood you are Black. One way or the other, as people of mixed race become a significant minority they are expected to have a vital social impact. Even among people of mixed heritage themselves, the response is ambiguous. Jo Hodges, author of the highly successful new film and the novel The Girl with Brains in her Feet a story about growing up as a mixed race kid in Leicester, claims she has been able to move fluidly across the cultural divide: “My experience is of being allowed to eavesdrop on all sorts of conversations that black and white people have about each other.” The idea that mixed race people could create a “bridge generation” is a possibility. Yet Lenny Kravitz, a black, Jewish, New Yorker has commented: “You don’t have to deny the white side of you if you’re mixed. Subsequent sulk lasted years; he stalked off to live in Majorca and bum round the Med on his yacht Majorca is lacking in Harry Ramsden’s fish and chips. “I wish he’d send me a packet of frozen,” says a nostalgic John.NOT WHAT HE SEEMS: Says that his open persona is naught but a sham: an alter-ego he calls Idiot Noakes.

“Idiot Noakes has an extrovert personality, is light-hearted and jokey. A bit of a buffoon who would do anything for a laugh or a few pence.” Off-screen, he says, he is about as extrovert as – well, any other native of Halifax. “I switch the personality on when I turn up to do the job, and off when I leave.”FAME PROSPECTS: Dour Yorkshiremen tend not to scale the heights in television. But bring back Idiot Noakes and who knows? Podgy pets could be just the start of a glorious renaissance.. BRITAIN is witnessing a explosion in the number of mixed race children being born. The news that one in 20 pre-school children (and rising) is of mixed parentage has produced a range of responses, from predictions of a future brown Britain, to the idea that such a group could usher in a new era of race relations to the question of racial identity – both black and white.