I don’t watch Sunday morning TV but scrolling social media I noticed a clip of historian (& broadcaster) David Olusoga hosting Sky’s Sunday current affairs programme.
Olusoga is known as an historian perhaps particularly looking at the detail of Britain’s slave trade but also his A House Through Time series where he focuses on who lived in a particular house in a specific city over the generations.
He is a good broadcaster and also, I think, runs a TV production company. However while its not clear (to me anyway) what his politics specifically are he certainly fits the model of a radical historian.
In an earlier generation historians such as Eric Hobsbawm and E P Thompson who made a big public impact with their books of course appeared on TV and radio from time to time. Hobsbawm remained a member of the Communist Party until it concluded in 1990 (he did not join the successor CPB) and Thompson spent a life in the new left and peace movement,
Perhaps Olusoga’s lack of a specific link to left politics means he can host a mainstream Sky programme from the perspective of those who determine such things. Perhaps it was just thought it would make interesting TV..
Leave a Reply