How did a story made up by a mother for her sick children turn into Babar The Elephant? Why did two immigrants to France create such a patriotically French cartoon in Asterix and Obelix? How should we feel about racist depictions of people of colour in beloved children’s cartoons today?

Listen as William and Anita explore the controversial debates about two of the most beloved cartoons from twentieth-century France: Asterix the Gaul, and Babar The Elephant.

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @empirepoduk
Blue Sky: @empirepoduk
X: @empirepoduk
Producer: Anouska Lewis
Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe
Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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What is the true history behind the “madwoman in the attic” in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre? How was Jane Austen’s aunt deeply connected to slavery in Barbados? Who were the British heiresses who married Caribbean plantation owners and inherited vast wealth made through chattel slavery?

William and Anita are joined by Miranda Kauffman, author of Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance, and Caribbean Slavery, to discuss how Austen and Brontë were connected to, and wrote about, these often-ignored slavery heiresses.

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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How did a Polish sailor become one of the greatest writers in the English language? Why were Conrad’s parents exiled to the harsh conditions of northern Russia? Should we continue to read The Heart of Darkness in spite of its outdated views?

Anita and William are joined by Maya Jasanoff, author of The Dawn Watch, to discuss the adventurous life of Joseph Conrad and how his work shaped readers' understanding of imperialism.

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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Why was Orwell’s wife, Eileen, written out of his story when she co-wrote Animal Farm? How did the CIA twist the novel into anti-communist propaganda? As a writer who was so ahead of his time on imperialism and totalitarianism, why did Orwell fail when it came to the patriarchy?

Anita and William are joined by Anna Funder, author of Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life, to discuss the women who are missing from Orwell’s biography despite being crucial to his development as a writer.

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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What was the inspiration behind George Orwell’s most famous works? Why did he move to the remote Scottish island of Jura to finish writing 1984? What was Orwell’s “Snitch List” which he handed over to the government after World War 2? 

In Part 3 of this miniseries, Anita and William discuss Orwell’s life during WW2 and deep-dive his two most famous works…
Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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Why did George Orwell go to Spain to fight on the Republican side against General Franco? Who saved his life when he was shot in the throat? How did internal feuds on the leftist side of the war influence his writing and his paranoia? 

In Part 2 of this miniseries, William and Anita discuss Orwell’s fight against fascism and his experiences in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. 

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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How was George Orwell’s childhood rooted in the British Empire and the opium trade in India? Why did George Orwell become a colonial police officer in Burma? When did Orwell develop his anti-imperialist stance?

In the first part of this miniseries, Anita and William explore the early life of Eric Blair - later George Orwell - and his time in India and Burma.

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Dom Johnson

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How did neighbouring Arab nations respond to the displacement of Palestinians in 1948? Why was the future Egyptian prime minister, General Nasser, stationed in Gaza in 1948? How did the population of Gaza double almost overnight with the influx of refugees, and what conditions did they face?

William and Anita are joined once again by Eugene Rogan, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at The University of Oxford, to discuss the First Arab-Israeli War in 1948.

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Neil Fearn

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Why did the British decide to end their Mandate in Palestine less than three decades after it began? What was the UN Partition Plan for Palestine and why did the Zionist leadership accept it whilst the Arab Higher Committee rejected it? How did the displacement of thousands of Palestinians during the War of 1948 affect Gaza? 

Anita and William are joined once again by Eugene Rogan, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Oxford, to discuss the War of 1948 which led to the creation of Israel and the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians. 

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Neil Fearn

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When Palestinian Arabs rose up against the British in 1936, what repressive tactics were used to quell the revolt? Who was the WW2 hero “Bomber” Harris, and why did he bomb Palestinians in the 1930s? How did Christians, Muslims and Jews who had once co-existed in the region turn against each other in a divisive civil war? 

William and Anita are joined once again by Caroline Elkins, author of Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire, to discuss how unexpected characters from the web of British imperial violence appear in Palestine during the Revolt of 1936-1939.

Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com 

For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: @empirepoduk

Blue Sky: @empirepoduk

X: @empirepoduk

Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices