black and british a forgotten history david olusoga

Getting all the education you can when you come from a disadvantaged background is pretty much a no-brainer, but it hadn’t involved making many choices,” he says. “I didn’t come from a background with ambitions of working in elitist areas like television. But with a PHD looming, he realised he was on “a conveyor belt” to academia. By the age of 25, Olusoga had collected a history degree from the University of Liverpool and a master’s from Leicester. Television, though, took a back seat to education for the next decade. The next summer I went travelling around Europe and went to all the art galleries I could to see the paintings depicted in that series,” he recalls. It showed history in a way that was exciting, life-affirming and horizon-expanding. “I just adored it – it blew my mind when I was 16 and it hasn’t aged at all. One almost-forgotten programme, BBC Two’s 1986 docu-drama Artists and Models, about three French 18th century painters, changed everything for Olusoga. That a boy born in Lagos and brought up on a Gateshead council estate should become one of Britain’s leading television historians, broadcasters and filmmakers is testament to Olusoga’s own brilliance – and to the power of television. “It feels very moving to be recognised by the industry in which I’ve spent most of my adult life,” says Professor David Olusoga, reflecting on his BAFTA Special Award. ©Robert Wilson/The TimesPortrait: Robert Wilson/The Times The broadcaster, writer and historian receives one of BAFTA’s highest honours in recognition of his groundbreaking screen career.

The following interview appeared as an extract in BAFTA's official 2023 Awards brochure, which is now available on Issuu.

Black and british a forgotten history david olusoga