Who was Michael X, born Michael de Freitas, and later known as Michael Abdul Malik? Was he simply a man with a big-time hustle, trying to make his way in Britain in the ‘50s and ‘60s? Or was he Britain’s Black Power leader who experienced a Damascene convertion after the visit of Malcolm X to London? Or was he just a regular guy, born in Trinidad to a black mother and a white father, with magnetic charm who parlayed his way to the forefront of 60s counterculture?

John L. Williams, the author of the ‘Michael X – A Life in Black and White’, suggests that Michael X was all and none of the above. His life was in many ways a product of its times – arriving in West London in 1957, there were few opportunites for black men and so Michael, like so many, starting running scams – from dealing drugs to property rackets to pimping. Notting Hill, or Notting Dale as it was known back then, was unrecognizable from its present incarnation. Streets were filled with rubble and terraces of slum housing were rented out at extortionate rates by landlords who knew how difficult it was for black men to find places to live (‘Room to Rent. No Coloureds. No Irish. No Dogs’ was the sign all too familiar to new arrivals from the Caribbean). Prostitution was the cornerstone of the economy in the area, and the white women were pimped out by the new West Indian arrivals who quickly found their way into the hearts (and pockets) of these young women. Colin MacInnes, a friend and mentor to Michael X, would provide the definitive picture of the area in his ‘London Trilogy’ of novels: City of Spades, Absolute Beginners and Mr Love and Justice.

But as time went by, Notting Hill underwent a major transformation. The first arrivals were the journalists and liberals who found in West London plenty of horror stories to write about and worthy causes to dedicate themselves to. These were followed by the beatniks and downward slummers – ghetto tourists who were attracted by the cheap rents and the whiff of danger that surrounded the area. Michael would befriend the likes of Glaswegian junk author Alexander Trocchi, a close friend of William Burroughs; he would become a regular contributor to the International Times, the underground magazine of the day, and later contributed to Oz magazine too. He became involved in the London Free School in Powis Terrace which provided playgroups for the children of working mothers and also gave free English lessons to immigrants from across the world. Around that time bands like Pink Floyd played their first concerts in the area, and a clutch of clubs, shebeens, gambling dens, hippie stores and the like were opening up. It was also the time of the first ever Carnival in which Michael had a hand in setting up.

Through his ability to associate with the white world of hipsters, beatniks and acid freaks, Michael became so well known amongst the UK public, later befriending John Lennon. But Michael also held strong ties with the black community, even if he later became ostracised from them. When Malcolm X first came to speak in London, Michael went along and introduced himself, handing Malcolm a piece of paper with his address written on it. That same night, Malcolm X turned up on his doorstep and they chatted long into the night. Despite what the cynics say, Michael was no doubt impressed by what he heard and he would accompany Malcolm throughout his stay in the UK. It was then that Michael de Freitas became Michael X.

Over the next few years, Michael would attempt to set up a Black Power movement in the UK, firstly with a political organization called RAAS, and later through a project called the Black House, a community centre and hostel on the Holloway Road. But ultimately, Michael was no black revolutionary and his powerful ideas were never matched in actions.

Nevertheless, it didn’t stop Michael becoming a target of the gutter press. In 1967 he gave a speech in Reading after the US Panther Stokely Carmichael pulled out at the last minute. Michael’s incendiary rhetoric, inspired by seeing Stokely speak the previous week, went down well with the audience. But unfortunately, his words were being recorded word-for-word by journalists, and these were later printed in the national press. Lines like “if you ever see a white laying hands on a white woman, kill him immediately” did not go down well with the general public, and Michael was soon summoned to trial for inciting racial hatred (ironically, through a new law that was supposed to protect blacks, not prosecute them). Following a circus-like court case in which Michael and a throng of supporters made fun of the justice system, the judge delivered a guilty verdict and Michael was sentenced to 12 months.

It was a sentence that marked the beginning of the decline and fall of Michael de Freitas which is beautifully told by John L. Williams in his biography, showing a lot more tenderness towards his subject than others, most notably VS Naipul and the biographers David Humphry and David Tindall in False Messiah: The Story of Michael X.

The era of Michael X, awash in leftist leanings and LSD-laced optimism, was also the springboard for other voices who have since become guardians of black culture in Britain – the like of Darcus Howe and Horace Ové, both of whom knew Michael well, and also actor Stefan Kalipha. Michael X’s place in this history, however, remains something of a bizarre footnote.

“People like Michael (had) made a change,” remarked Ové, interviewed for Days In The Life: Voices from the English Underground 1961-1971. “What people don’t realize, now he’s been branded a gangster, is that in those days it was hard hustle to survive. There was no Black Power, there wasn’t anything. And eventually when Malcolm X and the whole Black Power movement started to build and people here got conscious of it, this influenced Michael, And Michael started the whole Black Power movement here… Everyone related to each other. Black Power wasn’t a separate thing on its own. Black people were relating to whites, and demonstrations came together and all that sort of thing.”

Unfortunately, unlike Ové who went into filmmaking, Michael couldn’t knock the hustle. But he was a complex character, and not just the gangster that the newspapers liked to depict. His life, as Williams’ new biography shows all too clearly, was irredeemably shaped by the course of events both in his life and outside. By the end, he was a very different man from the young man that arrived in England in the early ‘50s.

As Mutabaruka once said, “It’s no good to stay in a white man country too long”. During his years in England, it seems like Michael X finally outstayed his welcome. But then he wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms in native Trinidad either, the place that provides the setting for the tragic last chapter of his life. Michael X’s story is the perfect tale of the outsider, almost the same but not quite.

‘Michael X: A Life In Black and White’ by John Williams is out now via Century (£11.99)