The best of rest: The myth of history
British history has long been the subject or films and stories. Books celebrate tales of British ‘pluck’ in Whisky Galore, and history crosses over into myth with Mutiny On The Bounty. British soldiers climb out of the trenches on Christmas Day to play football with the Germans, and Britannia ruled the waves with the sun supposedly never setting on the British Empire, such was the expanse of time zones it covered. How EXACTLY we acquired these lands was shushed away. Did you know that there’s a museum in Cuba documenting one small part of Britain’s slave trade? Seems it was only shushed in our own living rooms.
Around the world, people are challenging how nations deal with the darker side of their history, including involvement with slavery, racism or colonialism. And those people include writer and journalist Afua Hirsch.
British soldiers climb out of the trenches on Christmas Day to play football with the Germans
In America they’re fighting over statues, and Afua is asking if we should really still be revering Winston Churchill in the way that we do. He may have had a good quip for a haughty woman, and been at the helm during WWII, but his views on race left a lot to be desired. And what about Horatio Nelson’s pro-slavery ideas? But saying we should even take another look at figures mostly seen as icons of national pride is not an easy path.
In The Battle For Britain’s Heroes Afua presents the charges against some of the biggest names in British history, visiting Germany to see if we can learn from how they have addressed their past, and speaking to both sides of the battle – including, from the traditionalists’ corner, a certain Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Will we move forward historically in a more responsible manner? One man who could be trusted never to sugar-coat or flinch away from the distasteful sides of history is Frankie Boyle, back this week with a new series of his New World Order. Every story is written from its teller’s perspective, but with eyes like his on the narrative hopefully we’ll have engaging stories that keep the whole truth front and centre.
The Battle For Britain’s Heroes, Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm
Frankie Boyle’s New World Order, Friday, BBC2, 10pm
Afua Hirsch forgot to mention that she’s part Ghanaian.
And that pre Atlantic slave Trade Ghana’s economy was based on slavery (a third of the population were slaves – another African country had 60% slaves!)!
That Ghana was a major player in the Atlantic Slave Trade (until Britain put an end to it)!!
And that Ghana STILL has a LOT of slavery!!!
Oh, and she was born in Norway – that makes her a pillaging and enslaving Viking!!!!