BBC Radio 4 – Young Again, 18. Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm was born in England to a British father and a Jamaican mother. He describes his father as “a ridiculously beautiful version of the English – he loved gardening; he loved to take long walks with his dogs; he didn’t talk about his feelings; he read Dickens and cried.

What I liked most about my father was that he was someone who had no desire to fit in. In fact, he loved being the odd one out.

He describes his mother as an “anglicized, middle-class Jamaican. You cannot understand Jamaica unless you understand how deeply ingrained English colonial culture was.” His parents, although from very different countries, shared many cultural roots. Malcolm says they organically instilled in him the belief that you should judge people by character, not appearance. “They didn’t realize there was a huge cultural divide between them,” he says. “The fact that there were different colors wasn’t very important in their eyes… They had this 21st century idea of ​​’Don’t get hanged just because someone’s skin is darker’… They’re just ahead of their time. “

2. He grew up without a TV, in a community without cars

“We didn’t have a television,” Malcolm says of his childhood. “We didn’t go to the movies that often. Once you make these two decisions in the 1970s and 1980s, you define yourself. I had an insight into popular culture. I just wasn’t a participant.”

Malcolm grew up in Canada, in a community of Mennonites, a religious order that, according to Gladwell, had an “ethic of modesty.” There are different types, but Gladwell’s neighbors were “Old Order Mennonites, who basically rejected the 20th century, so they have no electricity and drive horses and buggies.”

3. He likes to be distinctive

When asked how he felt about growing up in a way that was different from most kids, Malcolm says, “I was quite proud of it. I liked the distinctiveness. What I liked most about my father was that he was someone who had no desire to fit in. In fact, he loved being the odd one out.”

He continues, “I loved it (being different)… In my mind, my father had a definition of what it meant to be a Gladwell: a Gladwell was someone who went his own way.”