The Notting Hill Carnival is celebrating its 33rd birthday this year and two million people are expected to descend on the west London community for a slice of the fun on the bank holiday weekend of August 30 and 31.

The carnival grew out of Notting Hill's troubled history in the late 1950s. The neighbourhood had become popular with black immigrant families, newly arrived from Britain's colonial territories in the West Indies.

But unemployment and poor housing conditions led to racial tension with some of the existing white community and resulted in four days of sporadic rioting in 1958.

The area was plagued with racial tension but in 1964 a children's street party, in the mould of a Trinidadian carnival, was organised in an effort to raise spirits.

Steel bands provided the music and refreshments came courtesy of local traders. A year later the carnival was born, although it operated on a local basis for some years before growing rapidly into a mass-participation event in the 1970s.

Violence tarnishes party atmosphere

The party atmosphere suffered a setback in 1976 when black youths rioted against the police. Although the future of carnival was called into question, it went ahead the following year, by which time it was drawing about 500,000 people.

The three-day event has since been reduced to two but its popularity remains unrivalled. That was partly because similar festivals in Britain, such as the Greenwich Fair which drew crowds of 200,000, closed in the last century for fear of crime and public disorder.

The last few years have seen as few as 100 arrests over the two days, for offences ranging from assault to possession of drugs.