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00:09So eat your heart out, Dr. Rowley, because I'm sure you could see.
00:19I may be black like a moonless night, but look how my heart is white.
00:28Yep, that's the great Calypsonian we know as Chogdust, but how did he get the name?
00:35I first called myself the educator, and afterwards I called myself Chogdust because Chogdust was showing me how the denominational
00:45schools treat teachers.
00:47For example, you couldn't be a teacher if you were not married, and you couldn't be a teacher if you
00:53made a girl pregnant, without getting married to her.
00:57All the problems that was happening with priests, I called myself Chogdust.
01:07But before he was the Chogdust, he was a little boy named Hollis Urban Leicester Liverpool, who survived poverty, embarrassment,
01:17and punishment in his early years.
01:20I was the poorest lad ever went to St. Mary's College.
01:24I didn't know I was so poor, because my father worked in Tobago every two months or so, three months,
01:31and he was working, catching the nenen.
01:34And I was so poor, I couldn't afford to buy, get the blue shirt, and couldn't afford to get the
01:40monogram, and I couldn't afford to buy many things.
01:43So I learned to, I learned to sell bottles.
01:54To make matters worse, Hollis did not grow up with his parents, who lived Tobago at the time.
02:00Instead, he moved from house, to house, to house, cousins, to siblings, to friends of his parents, just to survive,
02:08in the most creative ways as that.
02:11I used to go to the breakfast shed as a boy, and get a breakfast of four cents.
02:17Because in those days, four cents was for primary school children, and twelve cents for secondary school children.
02:23But I was so small, I used to go to the primary school boy.
02:27And at the end of the day, he was still just a young boy, so naturally, his circumstances got to
02:33him at times.
02:34St. Mary's College was a great college. Outstanding in godly things. But they never treated me as a human being.
02:45In a ways, the priests and them never took no excuse. Relics, I got to St. Mary's as a boy.
02:51Why?
02:52Because I couldn't afford to do the work. I didn't have the money and the funding to get the things
02:59that are needed to attend St. Mary's College.
03:01From those experiences, you might think he would have chosen a completely different profession. But no. He went on to
03:10become a teacher himself. Why?
03:12I met a priest and I happened to give my recommendation. His name was Father Scott. I didn't know him
03:19too good, but he taught me somewhere in form two or form three.
03:25When I went into him, he told me, go and teach. Go and teach. God wants you to be a
03:32teacher. I said, what did he say, Father? He said, ah, he said nothing. I said, Father, you didn't talk
03:39to me just now? He said, no, I didn't talk to you.
03:41I said, no, I didn't talk to you.
03:43Like God's work.
03:46Years later, Hollis Urban Nestle Liverpool became Professor Dr. Hollis Liverpool, earning a PhD in History and Ethnomusicology from the
03:56University of Michigan.
03:58But before that, there was someone who played an important role in developing his love for history.
04:04I told a big lie to get in his class. I told him I had an O-level in history.
04:08I didn't have an O-level, but I couldn't get in no other place. I went to the maths and
04:12they failed me in maths. I went to the English, they failed me.
04:16Nobody ever beat me in history for the two years I was there. When I was there, we were discussing
04:211848, a turning point in Austrian history. I was arguing and discussing it and showing it, showing whether it was
04:28a turning point or not.
04:29And Eric Willow was in the class and he tapped on my shoulder. Very good.
04:35And his start to Calypso began when he would always listen to his sister's Calypso records, which he memorized by
04:53heart. Then the opportunity came.
04:55When I went to the college, there was a Calypso competition. I was 1964. And I won the Calypso competition.
05:05I saw Calypso called Mama Pool Men.
05:10Married men, I don't want to offend. But when I died, I have too much Mama Pool Men. There's a
05:16lot I remember.
05:17And there's a misconception, you know, that nobody can beat Sparrow. Well, tonight he will be destroyed by...
05:29From there, he started entering more competitions, winning some and placing highly in others.
05:35First person of the way that Calypso was, that Calypso was a striker. Striker was the Calypso king. National Calypso
05:41king.
05:42And I come third. Nobody knew me. Nobody knew me. I sang Calypso called Savant Local Industry.
05:50And I came third in the island and I got $200. $200 was plenty money. I went on to win
05:59in 1972. I got $1,000.
06:02Calypso eventually became his way out of poverty. He went on to win major titles, including the Calypso Sokamona crown,
06:10nine times.
06:11Those accomplishments meant even more because once upon a time, singing Calypso at school was something that got him ridiculed
06:19and even sent home.
06:22The principal came to me and said, the chief inspector, I want to see you. And they sent me to
06:25the chief inspector.
06:27And I went up to see him. My fellow called Mr. Romain, Ralph Romain. I was called his name because
06:31they heard him die. Ralph Romain.
06:33And he asked me, he said, sit down there, young man. I said, who give you permission to St. Calypso
06:38in school?
06:40I said, what, sir? Who give you permission to St. Calypso in school? I said, I need no permission to
06:46St. Calypso in school.
06:49He jumped. He said, go there, young man. You'll hear from me. And he said, next night, you'll fire me.
06:55Your dividend must match your divisor.
07:01So he used Calypso to teach. He used it to sing. And sometimes his Calypso stood controversy.
07:08When I said, chauffeur wanted, the new driver cannot drive. I made the news. I made parliament.
07:17It took a year for passengers to realize. They said, the new driver cannot drive.
07:30After many years in the industry, loving, striving, and educating, 86-year-old Professor Hollis Liverpool is now reflecting on
07:39his late wife he married for 64 years, who he says changed his life.
07:44And his five children. And now he's just finishing another book called Teacher by Day, Calypso in by Nights.
07:52And when it comes to his legacy, he wants to be remembered as someone who revolutionized Carnival.
07:59From poverty to the classroom, from the classroom to the big stage,
08:04Liverpool is the epitome of what it means to live a truly holistic life and to be a true national
08:11hero.
08:11I am Hollis Urban Lester Liverpool, a.k.a. Truckless. Thank you, Rochelle Edwards, for catching up.
08:18I hope this program catches up with some of my work and for Trinidad.
08:26He raised Kaiso and from sunrise to sunset.
08:32And then gave Kaiso a toast and rum tablets.
08:36Rochelle Edwards, TV6 News.
08:39He's in plenty of capital.
08:41For Kaiso, sit in the hospital.
08:47Kaiso, sit in the hospital.
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