Mary Seacole
You're Dead to Me
BBC
4.7 • 11.8K Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2021
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Greg Jenner is joined by Prof Gretchen Gerzina and comedian Nathan Caton to delve into the extraordinary life and adventures of the 19th-century celebrity, Mary Seacole. Mary was born and raised in Jamaica and rose to fame as a businesswoman and a volunteer nurse during the Crimean War. The episode explores her childhood of practising healing techniques on her pets, the perils of Panama, her experience of cholera, how she dealt with racists, the risks of running a business in a warzone and why she loved being famous.
Research: Hannah McKenzie Script: Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Project management: Siefe Miyo Edit producer: Cornelius Mendez
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts |
| 0:04.6 | Hello and welcome to your Dead To Me from Radio 4, a comedy podcast that takes history |
| 0:10.0 | seriously. |
| 0:11.0 | My name is Greg Jenner, I am a public historian author and broadcaster and I am the chief |
| 0:14.7 | nerd on the funny kids TV show Horrible Histories. |
| 0:17.5 | And today we are jumping back to the 19th century to travel the world and tend to the |
| 0:21.6 | second injured with the extraordinary business woman, Traveller and Healer Mary Seacol. |
| 0:27.1 | To help me do that, I am joined by two very special guests. |
| 0:29.9 | In History Corner, she's the Paul Murray Kendall Chair in Biography and Professor of English |
| 0:35.0 | at University of Massachusetts Amherst. |
| 0:37.8 | She's a renowned expert on the Biographies of 19th century Black people in the UK and USA |
| 0:42.6 | and on interracial relationships. |
| 0:44.5 | And she's a broadcaster, the author of many important books, including most recently Britain's |
| 0:48.2 | Black Past, which became a ten-part radio series on the BBC, is Professor Gretchen Gassina. |
| 0:53.2 | Welcome Gretchen. |
| 0:54.2 | Hello Greg, it's nice to be here. |
| 0:56.6 | And in Comedy Corner, he's an award-winning comedian and writer. |
| 0:59.3 | You may have seen him on live at the Apollo, mocked the week, Russell Howard's Good News |
| 1:02.2 | or caught him on BBC Radio 4's The Now Show or his radio foreshow, Can't Tell Nathan |
| 1:06.8 | Katen Nothing. |
| 1:08.0 | And of course you have heard him on our show, You're Dead To Me. |
| 1:10.4 | When we did an episode on Notting Hill Carnival, it's the delightful Nathan Katen. |
... |
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