Chevalier de Saint-Georges
You're Dead to Me
BBC
4.7 • 11.8K Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2021
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Greg Jenner is joined by historian Prof Olivette Otele and comedian Sophie Duker in 18th century France to meet the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Born the son of a slave and a white plantation owner, he lived a remarkable life in France, becoming a master fencer, violin virtuoso, composer, confident of Marie Antoinette and a revolutionary. He is regarded as one of the most significant composers of the 18th century and Mozart is widely regarded to have had major beef with him. So why is his story mostly unknown?
Produced by Cornelius Mendez Script by Greg Jenner and Emma Nagouse Research by Lloyd Roberts
A production by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello Greg here, not Jenna, but James. You can tell us apart because he is a highly qualified |
| 0:05.8 | academic who specialises in his subject and I have great hair. |
| 0:11.5 | Before you get into this podcast, I just want to let you know about my new podcast that I host |
| 0:16.3 | with Bella Mackie, who is amazing, and also my wife. It's called Teach Me a Lesson, and each |
| 0:22.0 | week we have a teacher on who teaches us their favourite lesson. It's a celebration of learning |
| 0:28.1 | and remembering to learn when you've left actual education. You can find it on BBC Sounds now, |
| 0:34.5 | just search for Teach Me a Lesson. |
| 0:42.0 | Hello and welcome to your Dead To Me on Radio 4, a history podcast for everyone, for people who |
| 0:47.1 | don't like history, people who do like history and people who forgot to learn any at school. |
| 0:51.1 | My name is Greg Jenna, I'm a public historian author and broadcaster, and I'm the chief nerd on |
| 0:55.7 | the BBC comedy show Horror Boy Histories. You might have heard my other podcast, Home School History, |
| 1:00.0 | but that one's mostly for the kids. So what do we do on this podcast? Well here, we're all about |
| 1:04.4 | the dazzling duets between bookbathers and rib ticklers, and today we are composing a comedy |
| 1:09.7 | concerto as we travel back to 18th century France to talk about a musical sensation and a revolutionary |
| 1:16.0 | rebel. It's the Chevalier de Saint-George, also known as Joseph Ballon, and to help me do that, |
| 1:22.0 | I'm joined by two very special guests. In History Corner, she's professor of the history of |
| 1:26.6 | slavery and memory of enslavement at the University of Bristol, and she's both a fellow and vice |
| 1:31.7 | president of the Royal Historical Society. She is a regular expert commentator on the TV and on |
| 1:36.9 | the radio and in the newspapers, and you may have read her fabulous new book, African Europeans, |
| 1:41.7 | It's Professor Oliveette Artilei. Hello Oliveette, how are you? I'm very well, thank you, I'm delighted |
| 1:46.4 | to be here. Very, very fun to have you here. And in Comedy Corner, she's a sensational stand-up |
| 1:51.2 | comic and writer who you have seen on all the TV shows, including roast battle, Frankie Boyle's |
... |
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