LOCAL COLOURFUL CHARACTERS FROM OUR PAST

​EVERY TRINI KNOWS THE LOCAL EXPRESSION "BAD JOHN"
USE: Yuh feel yuh is ah fo..ing BAJOHN ahwa?
Bad John is a synonym for a person who is a general miscreant and trouble maker, well HERE IS THE REAL BAD JOHN. This rare photo shows the Port Of Spain street dweller who bore the name. He was an elderly Afro-Trinidadian man, who dressed in a cast off top hat and jacket. He was a bit mad, or perhaps a sociopath, being known for his sometimes erratic and rarely violent behaviour . He was mostly a figure of public merriment and ridicule. Word had it that Bad John was a man who had been jilted by a lover and had gone mad. He was a fixture of Port Of Spain life well into the 1920s , along with Mahalle in the 30s and early 1940s ,a crazy Indian who walked rapidly, making all the motions of driving a car ( changing gear, steering, pressing brakes etc.) and Bullinder, a tall, muscular drag queen.
Gene Wilkes also mentioned a local character called Chancellor to Angelo whom he heard about as a youngster growing up in San Fernando. Chancellor " d trumpet man ",according to oral stories told about this local character was an excellent trumpeter who actually played in night clubs and bistros in Paris, France. He apparently had a successful career , and used to send home lots of money for his wife. On returning home one time, however, he discovered that she had flown the coop with another man and all his money. That was what sent him off we were told. Library corner used to be his concert hall from then on. It is believed that Chancellor was that he was killed by another vagrant after an argument one day by Library Corner, San Fernando.
People like these colorful characters do not die....they simply fade away if their stories are not told.  Source:  Virtual Museum of TT, Sept. 18, 2021
To find out more about the origin of name Bad John copy and paste the URL below into your browser. ( Due credit given to Kim Johnson for story cited in the link )
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://waltieainsworth.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/the-badjohn-a-slice-of-tt-history/amp/&ved=2ahUKEwi308Sk-rLkAhWRv1kKHSWoDPQQFjAIegQIBxAB&usg=AOvVaw0-269VZtj9FOchaRVA5vEU&ampcf=