Professor David Olusoga – The Global History of the British Cup of Tea

Book Tickets There is nothing more British than a cup of tea. Tea is our national drink; our national obsession. Yet the history of tea is the ultimate global story. It links over 350 years of British history to the histories of China, India, the Americas and beyond. It encompasses the Boston Tea Party, the Opium Wars, the history of the British East India Company, and more – it is a story that involves industrial espionage, a vast forgotten migration within India, and the creation in Britain of a whole new world of domestic traditions. In this brand-new talk, David Olusoga uses art, photography and humour to uncover the strange, unexpected, and intriguing history of our national drink. David has become a renowned figure over the years—twice interviewing former US President Barack Obama, reaching the finals of the BBC’s The Celebrity Traitors, and creating numerous TV history series, most recently new instalments of A House Through Time and Finding Britain’s Slave Traders on BBC Two. He is, of course, also the author/co-author of eight books, including Black & British: A Forgotten History, which was awarded both the Longman-History Today Trustees Award and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize. This talk will be followed by a Q&A session and a book signing, giving you the chance to engage with one of the country’s foremost public historians and master storytellers.