British Subjects

This, the final sentence of a recent Rihanna interview with The New York Times has sent London Twitter crazy. RihRih lives in London!?

I’m going to need everyone to start introducing themselves to their neighbours because one of you is living next to Rihanna.— abi mcintosh

Sam Martinez was born 10 February 1918 in Honduras, now known as Belize. He came to Scotland in 1942 to help with the war effort as a lumberjack. He lived until the age of 106 having many careers and children, and becoming a dedicated fan of local football team the Hibs.

In this episode I speak to his grandson Yutsil Hoyo Diaz Martinez, who is making a documentry about Sam’s life. You can follow him and project on Instagram and Twitter.

Thank you to Sana Bilgrami for putting us in touch.

British Subjects is produced by Anna Rose Kerr.

Chao is a digital heritage specialist and overall history geek. After starting a history blog in 2012, she realised that the history she was taught growing up had significant gaps, was impersonal and had no room for personal stories and memories. Since then, she been doing various projects to document history/ culture through digital media.

You can find her project preserving Kenya’s antique railway stations at savetherailway.com

As part of the Museum of British Colonialism, Chao focuses on engagement, preservation and visualisation. She also runs African Digital Heritage and you can find her on twitter @ChaoTayiana.

British Subjects is produced by Anna Rose Kerr.

I couldn’t find a photo anywhere of Hulda, but this is footage likely from the Old Location Uprising

Hulda Kamboi Ngatjikare (married name Shipanga) was born on 28 October 1926 in Aminuis, South-West Africa (now known as Namibia). She came to the UK to study and qualifed as a theatre nurse and specialising in paediatrics and orthopaedics.

In this episode I share the little we know about her incredible life story. If anyone is interesting in researching her further, you could try looking in the archives of The National Archives, Wellcome Library for records of the Queen’s Nursing Institute,  London Metropolitan Archives for records of London training schools for nurses. Please get in touch if you find anything!

British Subjects is produced by Anna Rose Kerr.

Altab Ali was a textiles worker who moved to London from Bangladesh, with his uncle in 1969. When he was murdered by racists on May the 4th 1978 his death sparked a protest of thousands of Bengali people and supporters. In this episode I speak to Rafique Ullah, who was a teenager at the time, about life before and after this murder.

You can listen to more of Ullah’s story on the Ideas Store website, including a harrowing account of his first day at school which I couldn’t fit in this episode.

Image by Alan Denney, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

British Subjects is produced by Anna Rose Kerr.

New Zealand-born Nancy Wake loved a good drink and handsome men, and hated nothing more than the Nazis. Full show notes at britishsubjects.annaro.se

Bryon Chan considers himself a citizen of the world, and of nowhere. The first third of his life was spent in Malaysia, the second third in New Zealand, he now lives in London where he works as a software developer and volunteers with Good Gym.

Myrtilla was brought from Nevis to Warwickshire. When she died in 1706 her grave was given a headstone, thought to be one of the earliest in England commemorating a person of African descent. Further show notes at

Fatmata came to the UK to further her education, with the intention of eventually going back to Sierra Leone to develop her nation of birth. But while living here she's actively involved in many initiatives developing Tower Hamlets, where she lives.

The week that Brexit is supposed to be delivered Cyprus-born Maria Skarlatou talks about her experience growing up in both the European Union and the Commonwealth. Full show notes are available at britishsubjects.annaro.se