We Go Way Back

Kit is joined by Stephen Bourne, a historian of Black British history, to discuss Dr Harold Moody and his creation of the League of Coloured Peoples.

The League was a British civil rights organisation founded in London in 1931. Dr Moody, the League's creator, had arrived in the UK from Jamaica thirty years before to study medicine at King's College London.

Dr Moody founded the League to push for racial equality and civil rights in the UK and is, therefore, an integral figure in 20th-century British history.

12 months from the 2022 French presidential election, Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's far-right party the National Rally, is leading the sitting president Emanuel Macron in the polls.

Le Pen is an ultra-conservative nationalist who blames almost all of France's problems on globalisation, immigration and Islam. Her party is a hotbed for xenophobic and racist attitudes.

But who is this politician? Where did she come from? And, what events helped form these attitudes?

To answer these questions, Tom speaks with Professor Cécile Alduy from Stanford University in California.

Cécile Alduy is a professor of contemporary French politics, with expertise on the far-right as they relate to the question of French identity.

In 2015, Alduy published a book in which she analysed the way Marine Le Pen uses language to broaden her party's support, helping her become the most popular politician in France today.

In an era when the bounds of free speech seem to be a constant topic of debate, We Go Way Back examined an episode from the 1970s that tested the limits of the US Constitution.

Kit speaks to Professor Philippa Strum, Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, about the time neo-Nazis tried to hold a demonstration in a small US town of Holocaust survivors - and the liberal free speech advocates who came to the Nazis' defence.

In this episode, We Go Way Back brings to life the amazing story of Cetshwayo KaMpande. To do so, Tom speaks with Dr. T.J. Tallie, an assistant professor of African History at the University of San Diego in California.

Cetshwayo became King of the independent African state of Zululand in 1873 and the episode follows his gripping story covering an incredible victory over colonial British forces, painful losses, imprisonment, and a high-profile trip to London in 1882. Ultimately, this is a profile of a man who traversed class dynamics, racial attitudes and gender norms in a time of strict social hierarchies.

Dr. Tallie's research is focused on the history of Southern Africa and he is the author of 'Queering Colonial Natal: Indigeneity and the Violence of Belonging in Southern Africa'. He's an expert on this topic, an important voice to listen to, and an incredibly fun interviewee.

In 1959 nine people died in a mysterious mountaineering incident in Soviet Russia that continues to confound and intrigue onlookers.

A recent Russian investigation determined that an avalanche probably led to the mountaineers' deaths, but some are still not convinced.

Among the doubters is Teodora Hadjiyska, a long standing Dyatlov Pass researcher, whose new book Height 1079 details her theory of the events of February 1959.

As the UK attempts to come to terms with its colonial past, Alex talks with colonial historian Dr Jana Tschurenev about Sati - the ancient Hindu act of female self-sacrifice.

The fringe but horrifying practice saw women immolate themselves on their husband’s funeral pyre to gain religious merit and social prestige.

It was abolished by the British Empire in 1829, and has been used to exemplify native barbarity and justify colonialism.

But does this tell the full story?

In the first We Go Way Back of the year, Kit speaks with Dr Matthew Alford about the relationship between the US federal government and the film industry. Hundreds of household favourites such as Transformers and Argo have been directly influenced by US state propaganda. In this episode, Kit's in search of what this means for freedom of thought, US hegemony and the balance of geopolitics.

Dr Alford is a lecturer at the University of Bath. His research — based in freedom of information requests — has exposed the deep ties between Washington DC and Hollywood stretching back 80 years. He's just the person to be speaking on this topic and you can find out more about his work at the link below.

https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/matthew-alford

In the fifth and final episode before Christmas, Tom speaks with Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller, the hosts of Bad Gays podcast about the resignation of right-wing Hungarian MEP József Szájer.

Bad Gays is a podcast about "evil and complicated queers in history." The show has 4 seasons and has covered people such as Benjamin Britten, Gertrude Stein, Morrissey and many, many more.

For this episode, the discussion was pegged to the news story of József Szájer — a long-term member of Hungary's far-right ruling Fidesz Party which has passed a series of laws persecuting the freedoms of the LGBTQ community. In December, Szájer's resigned from the party after being caught at a reported gay sex party in Brussels.

Tom, Huw and Ben discuss this story and explore some of the other main themes from the Bad Gays podcast.

In episode 4 of this series, Alex speaks with Jake Fiennes, farmer and conservationist, about the post-war intensification of British farming at the expense of wildlife. As the UK and the EU continue to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal, Alex and Jake focus on the role EU membership played in British farming before analysing the ways in which life outside the EU will be different.

Jake Fiennes is the conservation manager at Holkham Estate, an 18th-century country house in Norfolk, England. In his work as an integrated farmer, he strives to marry conservation with agriculture in a mission to prove that they can co-exist.

This week, Kit speaks with Dr René Najera about the history of vaccination.

The difference between vaccination and inoculation; Edward Jenner's eureka moment; the rise of anti-vax - all are explored in this timely discussion.

René Najera is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) at Johns Hopkins University and editor of the History of Vaccines site. He is also helping to prepare the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in his local area.