Afleveringen

  • What were The Troubles and why did they lead to 30 years of violence and division in Northern Ireland? How were Irish Catholics inspired by the American Civil Rights movement in 1969? Why did the British government deploy troops on the streets of Belfast? In the first of four episodes, Anita and William are joined by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss the beginning of The Troubles, and to introduce three key characters: Ian Paisley, Gerry Adams, and Dolours Price.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • What was the British Army’s policy of “Internment” in Northern Ireland, and how did it drive membership for the Provisional IRA? Who was General Kitson? How did the Price sisters go from peaceful protestors to IRA frontline soldiers? What happened on Bloody Sunday? In the second of four episodes, Anita and William are joined once again by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss early IRA bombing campaigns in Belfast, and how the British Army in Northern Ireland employed methods used against other anti-colonial struggles across the British Empire.   _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill

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  • Who organised the bombing of The Old Bailey in Central London? Why was Jean McConville abducted in December 1972? Why did the British government choose not to intervene when hunger strikers like Bobby Sands refused food in 1981? How was the graveside grenade incident linked to the first seed of peace that would one day end The Troubles? In the third of four episodes, William and Anita are joined once again by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss Bloody Friday, the infamous IRA bombings in London in 1973, and the hunger strike that changed the trajectory of The Troubles toward a battle for the ballot.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill

  • Who was responsible for the murder of Jean McConville? Which IRA secrets were revealed in the Belfast Project tapes? How did Gerry Adams move into politics and become a key figure in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement? Listen as Anita and William are joined for the final time by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss how the families of the Disappeared searched for their loved ones after the ceasefire in the 1990s, and Patrick’s discovery of who killed Jean McConville in 1972.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill

  • In the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence in 1921, Michael Collins is sent to London to meet Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and other British officials to negotiate a treaty.  After weeks of travelling back and forth across the Irish Sea, Collins and his fellow Sinn Féin negotiators return with a deal. Ireland would become a Free State, but it would remain in the British Empire, and the Irish must swear an oath of allegiance to the King. Eamonn De Valera, the president of the republic, refuses to accept. De Valera and Collins, who were on the same side, are suddenly enemies. A rift tears through the republicans, splitting them into pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty forces. Families are divided, and soldiers who once fought together are on opposite sides. As the Irish tricolour replaces the Union Jack above Dublin castle, war breaks out between the two factions. Will Collins and De Valera survive their third war on home soil? Listen as William and Anita are joined once again by Diarmaid Ferriter, author of A Nation Not A Rabble, to discuss how the Anglo-Irish Treaty descended into civil war.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • In this special bonus episode, William and Anita are joined by historian Roy Foster to discuss the life of Ireland’s greatest poet, W.B. Yeats.  Born in Dublin in 1865, William Butler Yeats actually spent much of his youth in London. His bohemian family was poor but managed to prioritise art above all else. With this in mind, his sisters received arts and crafts lessons from their neighbour William Morris, whilst Yeats was able to earn a living from poetry in his early twenties.  Best known for helping to establish the Abbey Theatre in 1904, which led the way in the Irish cultural revival, Yeats was also fascinated by the Occult and Indian mysticism.  How was Yeats’ inspired by the world around him? And how was his art shaped by his early life?  Roy Foster is the author of W.B. Yeats: A Life.   _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill

  • The Irish republicans who led the Easter Rising of 1916 are tried for treason by the British government, and sentenced to death. Some are so unwell they have to be tied to a chair to be killed, and the brutality of these executions turns the tide of public opinion in Ireland, increasing support for the Republican cause. The remaining revolutionaries are carted off to prisons and internment camps, where they come up with new ideas for the next fight for independence. The British press has misrepresented the Easter Rising as “The Sinn Féin Rebellion”, but this accidental branding gives the political party a newfound prominence, and its leaders seek to turn it into a national republican organisation. In 1918, during the first British general election where women can vote, Sinn Fein candidates win 73 seats in the Houses of Parliament. But they refuse to go to Westminster. They create their own parliament and declare themselves an independent Irish Republic. Meanwhile, the newly-named Irish Republican Army launches guerrilla attacks on the police force upholding British rule in Ireland. A new war of independence has begun… Listen as William and Anita are joined once again by Diarmaid Ferriter, author of A Nation Not A Rabble, to discuss the significance of the Irish War of Independence.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The 1916 Easter Rising was a definitive moment in 20th-century Irish history. Its memory was evoked throughout The Troubles, with republicans wearing commemorative Easter Lily badges to honour the revolutionary martyrs that came before them.  On Easter Monday in 1916, amongst the backdrop of the ongoing First World War, Irish revolutionaries brought the anti-colonial struggle to Britain’s doorstep.  Armed men and women stormed and seized important buildings across Dublin, and proclaimed the beginning of The Irish Republic. From the steps of the General Post Office, Patrick Pearse read the proclamation of independence that would be referred back to for generations. As the leaders of the revolution faced their tragic fate, we trace the journeys of three rebels who escaped execution: a countess with a pistol, a maths-teacher-turned-military-commander, and a young man from Cork who will soon oversee a guerrilla war campaign as the revolution is reborn…  Listen as Anita and William are joined by Diarmaid Ferriter, author of A Nation Not A Rabble, to discuss the impact of the Easter Rising.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The legacy of the Great Famine continues to shape not only Ireland, but the Irish diaspora in America, Canada, and the UK. In the mid-1800s, starving families fled the country in search of survival, gathering at the docks to board “coffins ships” sailing to Liverpool and the east coast of the USA. When “the famine Irish” arrived in America they resented the idea of ever doing rural work again, and sought work in the police, in bars, and in the fire brigade. Irish communities centred around Boston, New York, and Philadelphia developed into powerful Irish congresses in politics. How does the legacy of famine emigration continue to shape American politics today?  Listen as William and Anita are joined once again by writer and historian Colm Tóibín to discuss the Great Famine and how it shaped post-modern Irishness, from the cheekiness of The Beatles to Donald Trump’s cabinet.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • How did the memory of the Great Famine shape Irish identity? Could it have been prevented? From 1845 to 1852, a disease decimated potato crops across Ireland. Farmers of small plots who relied entirely on this monoculture were launched into complete destitution. Desperate families were evicted from their homes and suffered through starvation. British public policy offered limited assistance, such as workhouses and public works schemes. But people who were used to hunkering down inside during winter had no warm clothes now suddenly had to work outside in freezing conditions to earn their way. Charles Trevelyan, was put in charge of handling the famine and repeatedly promoted “self-reliance”, describing the catastrophe as a “judgement of God sent to teach the Irish a lesson”. Approximately 1 million people died of disease or starvation, and around 2 million people emigrated, causing huge societal shifts that changed Ireland forever. Listen as Anita and William are joined by writer and historian Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn and Long Island, and co-author of The Irish Famine, to discuss the impact of the Great Hunger on Ireland.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • What was it like to be a diplomat in the USSR? Why were India and the Soviet Union close in the late 20th century? What was it like to be a woman in the Ottoman harem as the empire collapsed? And are we living in an era of the return of imperial politics? Listen to this special bonus episode as William, Anita, and Producer Anouska speak to different writers at Jaipur Literature Festival 2025 to see how they grapple with Empire in their work.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill

  • Ireland may have been England’s first colony but, by the 17th century, Irishmen were carving out their own imperial legacies in India. Gerald Aungier, an ambitious East India Company official, saw Bombay as a new frontier for plantation and trade. Drawing from his family’s plantation experience in Ireland, he laid the foundations for the establishment of the legal and economic framework that would define colonial rule in India for centuries. A hundred years later, John Nicholson, an Ulster-born soldier, became a symbol of British military might - and brutality. Known for his extreme violence during the 1857 uprising, Nicholson led savage campaigns against Indian rebels, earning both devotion from his men and horror from his enemies. His actions, once celebrated in Britain, are now remembered as some of the worst atrocities of colonial rule. At the height of the Raj, another Irishman, Lord Dufferin, presided over India as Viceroy. Deeply aware of Ireland’s own history under British rule, he feared that Indian nationalism would follow the same path as Ireland’s Home Rule movement. So, how did these Irishmen shape the empire that once subjugated their own people? Listen as William and Anita are once again joined by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, author of Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism and the Early Modern World, to uncover the contradictions of Irish imperial history. _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The Restoration reinstates the monarchy in England, Scotland & Ireland, and Irish Catholics believe that they will get their lands back for their loyalty to the king. And when the openly Catholic King James II succeeds his older brother, they are even more hopeful. But English Protestants fear that his reign will lead to a Catholic dynasty, and invite the Dutch William of Orange to take the throne. James II flees to France and gathers troops to back his cause. He arrives on the coast of Ireland in 1689 to reclaim his crown. When news of this reaches Parliament, William of Orange heads to Ireland to meet his enemy on the battlefield. In the Boyne Valley near Dublin, the two kings clash in a battle that continues to be memorialised in Ireland today. But was it that militarily important? And how did the Battle of the Boyne play into the chessboard of European geopolitics? Listen as Anita and William are joined once again by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer to discuss how the Battle of the Boyne shaped Protestant identity in Ireland.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • His statue may stand proudly outside the Houses of Parliament in London, but in Ireland, Oliver Cromwell is remembered as “the Devil from over the Sea” for the bloodshed he unleashed there from 1649 to 1653.  Rising to prominence as a Parliamentarian during the English Civil Wars, Oliver Cromwell sought revenge against the Catholics who had killed Protestant colonists in Ireland during the rebellion of 1641.  Soon after overseeing the execution of King Charles I, Cromwell feared that Ireland would be used as a backdoor to England by Royalists, and he took violent measures to stop that from happening. The sieges at Drogheda and Wexford saw some of the worst massacres to occur in Irish history. What happened to ordinary people during the misery of the 1650s? And what legacy did the Cromwellian Conquest leave in Ireland? Listen as Anita and William are joined once again by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, author of Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism and the Early Modern World, to discuss how Irish Catholics were displaced and dispossessed as a result of the Cromwellian Conquest.   _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • After victory in China, Genghis Khan goes west and takes on the Khwarezmians, surprising his enemy with a daring assault. He conquers all in his path and now controls the biggest empire the world has ever seen. But whose shoulders are broad enough to become his successor? Listen to Goalhanger and Wondery's podcast, Legacy, as Afua Hirsch and Peter Frankopan explore the life of Genghis Khan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • In 1607, after launching a failed rebellion in Ulster against the English, Hugh O’Neill and other Irish nobles are forced to flee Ireland, and their lands are confiscated. In response to the revolt, an insidious narrative about Irish people emerges in Tudor England, describing them as ‘caterpillars’ and ‘barbarians’ who needed ‘civilising’. In the wake of the development of the Ulster Plantation, a group of London merchants establish The Honourable Irish Society to colonise County Derry, renaming it County Londonderry in an ode to their origins. How did the city’s 17th century history shape its role in The Troubles? And what’s the difference between plantations in Ireland and plantations in the Caribbean? Listen as William and Anita are joined once again by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, author of Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism and the Early Modern World, to discuss English imperialism in Ireland in the early 1600s. _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com.  Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • Does the fall of one empire lead to the rise of another? What shapes South African Indian identity? How do aspiring writers break into the industry? In our second edition of bonuses from Jaipur Literature Festival 2025, William, Anita and Producer Anouska have been out collecting a bundle of mini-interviews with some brilliant speakers. From the author of Slumdog Millionaire, to an Empire Club member creating a timeline inspired by the podcast, there's a whole host of characters to introduce you to... _____________ Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill

  • Ireland is the only country in Western Europe that has experienced being colonised in the modern era. It was used by England as a laboratory for imperialism, and was the site of bloody colonial wars for centuries, yet many people in the neighbouring United Kingdom have little understanding of Ireland’s history.  The new series on Ireland & Empire begins with the Tudor Conquest. By the 1500s, there were small pockets of English imperialism in Ireland via descendants of the Anglo-Norman invasions of the 1190s, but they were concentrated along the southeastern coast. However, when Henry VIII launched the Protestant Reformation in England, establishing control over Ireland suddenly became a top priority. In 1541, he declared all Irish people as his subjects. He built upon previous laws banning Irish language and customs, and created a militarised society. And by Elizabeth I’s reign, the Tudors introduced plantations in Ireland which granted land to English and Scottish settlers.  Listen as Anita and William are joined by Professor Jane Ohlmeyer at Jaipur Literature Festival to discuss how Tudor colonialism paved the way for the overhaul of Gaelic society in Ireland. _____________ Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up or start a free trial on Apple Podcasts. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The future of the Chagos Islands hangs in the balance as world leaders debate how really owns the islands and who should be allowed to live there. Since the 1970s, the evicted Chagossian people have been using legal channels to fight their expulsion from their Indian Ocean homes, challenging Britain's claim to its last colony. Led by Olivier Bancoult, a Chagossian activist expelled from Peros Banhos in the 1960s, hundreds of people have been campaigning to be granted the right to return to their land. Despite winning their case in October 2024, the election of US President Donald Trump has thrown the status of the Chagos Islands again into jeopardy. So, as the weeks roll on since Trump's inauguration, the Chagossian people are asking: when will Britain let us go home? Listen as William and Anita are once again joined by barrister, writer and academic, Philippe Sands, to discuss the uncertain future of the Chagos Islands.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  • The Chagos Islands have dominated news headlines over the past few months, but the struggle of the Chagossian people to reclaim their island home has spanned decades. First colonised in 1513 by the Portuguese, the archipelago shifted from one imperial master to another over the course of the next three hundred years, until the British took control in the 19th century and changed the course of Chagossian history forever... In the 20th century the US realised the strategic importance of the Chagos archipelago, sitting equidistant between Asia and Africa. As the island of Diego Garcia became home to one of the largest US military bases in the world, the Chagossian people were forcibly evicted from their lands and displaced across the world, left to fend for themselves in unknown lands. Listen as Anita and William are joined by Philippe Sands, barrister, writer and academic, who has been leading the repatriation case against the British government on behalf of the Chagos Islands and the Mauritian state.  _____________ Empire UK Live Tour: The podcast is going on a UK tour! William and Anita will be live on stage in Glasgow, Birmingham, York and Bristol, discussing how the British Empire continues to shape our everyday lives. Tickets are on sale NOW, to buy yours head to empirepoduk.com. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and a weekly newsletter! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk goalhanger.com Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices