African Empire Stories
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 598 Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2020
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Petina Gappah on writing David Livingstone's African companions back into history. Sarah LeFanu looks at the Boer War experiences of Rudyard Kipling, Mary Kingsley & Arthur Conan Doyle and their views of Empire. Matthew Sweet presents.
Petina Gappah's novel is called Out of Darkness Shining Light - Being a Faithful Account of the Final Years and Earthly Days of Doctor David Livingstone and His Last Journey from the Interior to the Coast of Africa, as Narrated by His African Companions, in Three Volumes.
Sarah LeFanu's book is called Something of Themselves: Kipling, Kingsley, Conan Doyle and the Anglo-Boer War.
Laleh Khalilis' book, Sinews of War and Trade - Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula is published in May.
Recent programmes on The Thirty-Nine Steps is https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02twj9g And on The East India Company is https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c0f7
Producer: Alex Mansfield.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Can I just say? |
| 0:01.5 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | It's such a wonderful listen. |
| 0:05.6 | So nice. |
| 0:06.5 | There are loads more like it on BBC sounds. |
| 0:08.8 | Different paces, different heights. |
| 0:10.6 | The roof is buckling. |
| 0:11.9 | Where you can also listen to live sports commentary. |
| 0:14.2 | It's right foot goes for goal. |
| 0:16.7 | And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories. |
| 0:21.7 | The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession. |
| 0:25.2 | And she's had to live with that. |
| 0:26.8 | So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.7 | Sort of expecting that every week now. |
| 0:35.0 | Hello, my name's Matthew Sweet and I just wanted to let you know that the Arts and Ideas |
| 0:39.5 | podcast lies just beyond the next ridge. We're making camp in some of the most spectacular |
| 0:44.9 | parts of colonial history. We just have to navigate these messages. An American capitalist, |
| 0:52.1 | a Russian tax advisor, and a breathtaking heist. |
| 0:55.4 | You're saying fraudsters have stolen more than quarter of a billion dollars from the Russian state. |
| 1:01.1 | Based on a true story, a musical about doing the right thing at any cost. |
| 1:06.7 | Mr. McNitsky, if we changed our mind. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.