Latest news with #ScottTrust
The Guardian
15-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
The Scott Trust Endowment board
Chair of the Scott Trust Endowment Limited, Non - executive director of the Scott Trust and member of the Scott Trust Nominations committee Tracy Corrigan joined the Scott Trust in December 2022. She was previously chief strategy officer of Dow Jones and has held a range of senior editorial positions including editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal Europe, editor of the Financial Times' Lex column and editor of Tracy is currently a non-executive director of Barclays Bank UK PLC, Direct Line Insurance Group PLC, and Domino's Pizza Group PLC. Chief investment officer Jonathan Evans joined GMG as head of investment in 2017. He was appointed chief investment officer of the Scott Trust Endowment on its formation in 2023. Prior to joining GMG Jonathan held a number of senior roles in investment including senior executive at HSBC, partner at Hansa Capital and chief information officer at Brit Insurance. He is a member of the board of the Gate Theatre. Non-executive director Chris Hitchen is an actuary with more than 30 years' experience in investment management. He is chair of Border to Coast, a £50 billion manager of pensions for local government workers, and the £20 billion Nuclear Liabilities Fund, which pays for the safe and effective dismantling of old nuclear power stations. Previously, Chris was chief executive officer of Railpen and served as a board member at Nest, which provides pensions for 13 million UK workers. Non-executive director of the Scott Trust Endowment Limited and the Scott Trust and member of the joint audit committee Dr Jonathan Paine is an investment banker and academic. He was a managing director and senior adviser at Rothschild & Co., where he worked for 25 years as a specialist in the telecoms, media and technology industries. He is a supernumerary fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, where he chaired the development committee and sits on the investment committee. He is also an independent council member at the University of East Anglia. Jonathan holds a from Oxford University and is a published author of works on the economics of literature and economics. Non-executive director Gayle Schumacher has over four decades of experience in private banking and investment management. She previously held senior roles in the investment industry in both pension and wealth management businesses. Gayle is a non-executive director of Scottish Widows Ltd and chair of its investment committee and ACD. Non-executive director of the Scott Trust Endowment Limited and the Scott Trust, chair of the Scott Trust Ole Jacob joined the Scott Trust in 2015 and was appointed chair in June 2021. He has been associated with the Schibsted Media Group ASA for 30 years, being elected to the Board in 2000 and serving as chair since 2002. He is also the chair of the Tinius Trust, and a member of the Board of Visitors at Columbia University, School of Journalism. He is the founder and chair of Formuesforvaltning AS private bank and also invests in start-ups and works with initiatives related to sustainable development goals. Company secretary Stephen Godsell joined the group in 2017 as general counsel and company secretary. Prior to this he was group general counsel and company secretary at PA Group, and has held senior positions at The Economist Group and Clifford Chance. Stephen is a board director and trustee of The Economist Educational Foundation, a member of the joint committee on Legal Deposit and a freeman of the City of London.
The Guardian
15-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Scott Trust initiatives
In addition to its core purpose of ensuring the Guardian's financial independence in perpetuity, the Scott Trust has a secondary interest in promoting the causes of freedom in the press and liberal journalism, both in Britain and elsewhere. Today the Scott Trust invests heavily in programmes that promote liberal journalism and support the next generation of journalists. These initiatives include: Serving as the principal funder of the Guardian Foundation Delivering on a long-term programme of restorative justice in light of our publication of the Legacies of Enslavement review into the Guardian's historic links to slavery Overseeing the Guardian's independent readers' editor As part of the Scott Trust's dedication to the future of liberal journalism, we are proud to support Guardian, an independent charity that works to promote global press freedom and access to liberal journalism. The Guardian Foundation works directly with journalists, news organisations, audiences and educators, in schools and across communities to enable change in three priority areas: News and media literacy - building skills for the next generation by turning classrooms into newsrooms, running interactive workshops, producing lesson plans and training educators Voice and agency - championing more diverse voices and perspectives in the media through schemes like the Scott Trust Bursary, which assists students who face financial difficulty in attaining the qualifications needed to pursue a career in journalism, and who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the media. Media viability - supporting at-risk independent media to continue their work and engage audiences with fact based journalism The Guardian Foundation also owns the GNM archive, safeguarding and sharing the rich heritage of Guardian News and Media for the benefit of future generations. Read more about the Guardian Foundation here. In 2020, the Scott Trust commissioned an academic review into the founding of the Guardian in 1821 by John Edward Taylor and his financial backers. Following the publication of this full review into the Guardian's historic links to slavery in March 2023, the Scott Trust has committed to the delivery of a 10 year programme of restorative justice. The components of this programme are: Building restorative justice partnerships with descendant communities in Jamaica, and the Sea Islands in the US. Raising awareness of Britain's historical involvement in slavery, its global impact, and the lasting wealth and broader inequality it generates. Carrying out further academic research aimed at seeking and telling the truth about the Guardian's history, and the wider history of enslavement. As part of this work, we have supported new reporting roles in the Caribbean, South America, the US, Africa and the UK to increase coverage of underrepresented communities and offer new opportunities; and we are also creating new opportunities for entry-level and mid-career Black journalists. Read more about the Legacies of Enslavement review and initiatives here. The Scott Trust directly oversees the work of the Guardian's independent global readers' editor, who is tasked with protecting and nurturing the Guardian's commitment to great journalism, fairness and accountability. The job of the independent readers' editor is to collect, consider, investigate, respond to and, where appropriate, come to a conclusion about readers' comments, concerns and complaints in a prompt and timely manner. Read more about the role of the Guardian's readers' editor here.
The Guardian
04-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
The Scott Trust Privacy Policy
This privacy policy explains how Scott Trust ('Scott Trust,' 'we,' 'us,' or 'our') handles information collected through surveys, studies, funding-related activities, or other data and information gathering activities (collectively 'Engagement Activities') conducted by Scott Trust that reference or link to this privacy policy. By participating in these activities, you consent to the use of your information in accordance with this privacy policy. Scott Trust has commissioned Guardian News and Media ('GNM') to facilitate these Engagement Activities. While GNM supports the administration of these activities, Scott Trust remains the primary entity responsible for your data as outlined in this privacy policy. Our values guide everything that we do – including our editorial approach and how we use personal data. We are strongly committed to keeping your personal data safe. This commitment exists throughout the lifecycle of your personal data, from the design of any Guardian service which uses personal data to the deletion of that data. To complement our global approach to privacy protection, this policy also incorporates specific data privacy rights granted to individuals under Californian and Australian privacy law. This reflects our relationship with our readers in these locations where we provide localised editions of our editorial content. We think carefully about our use of personal data, and below you can find the details of what we do to protect your privacy. This policy covers, among other topics: Information about your rights, the choices available to you, and our obligations in the UK, European Union, in California, in Australia, and elsewhere. Transparency about how we collect and use your personal data, including when and how it is shared. Information on how we protect your personal data. Information on how we will facilitate your rights and respond to your questions. Find out more about how we manage your personal data below. Scott Trust is the data controller responsible for personal data provided by participants in Engagement Activities. If you have any questions about how we use your personal data or if you have a concern about how your personal data is used, please contact the Data Protection Officer at Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Or, email dataprotection@ GNM acts as the data processor for Engagement Activities. GNM facilitates these activities on behalf of Scott Trust and performs statistical analyses of the results in line with our instructions. A contractual agreement between Scott Trust and GNM ensures that: GNM processes your personal data solely under our instructions. GNM is prohibited from using your personal data for any other purposes. GNM does not share your personal data with any organization other than Scott Trust unless explicitly authorized by us. GNM's postal address is: Guardian News & Media Limited Kings Place, 90 York Way London N1 9GU We may collect personal data that you provide as part of participating in an Engagement Activities such as: Name Contact information Age range Location Information related to funding applications, such as financial data, project proposals, or organisational information Any other information about you that is relevant to the activity We collect personal data from various sources and interactions, including but not limited to the following: When you agree to be contacted for Engagement Activities: When you consent to being contacted, such as signing up for a survey or agreeing to participate. When recommended by others: When someone suggests your participation based on your expertise, role, or potential for partnership. From publicly available information: For instance, if you work in a relevant field or have publicly shared your credentials or expertise. When you participate in Research Activities: When you provide personal data through responses or participation. When you request a review of your complaints: If you request a review of a complaint about an article that has already been formally assessed by GNM's Readers' Editor but remain dissatisfied with the outcome. When you contact us: When you contact us via email, social media, our apps, or other digital platforms, including mentions of us on social media. We also collect personal data through cookies and other similar technologies. Please refer to GNM cookie policy for more details on how we use cookies. We use personal data collected as above only when we have a valid reason and the legal grounds to do so. We determine the legal grounds based on the purposes for which we have collected your personal data. What is the legal basis for collecting and processing data? We use personal data only when we have a valid reason and the legal grounds to do so. We determine the legal grounds based on the purposes for which we have collected your personal data. Legal grounds for using your personal data The legal ground may be one of the following: Consent: Often, we will use your personal data because you have given your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Please refer to the table below for examples of where we ask for your consent. Performance of a contract with you (or in order to take steps prior to entering into a contract with you): We will use your personal data if we need to in order to perform a contract with you. Compliance with law: In some cases, we may have a legal obligation to use or keep your personal data, for example to retain records of transactions as required by financial regulations. Our legitimate interest: We may process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests in a way that might be expected as part of running Scott Trust and in a way which does not materially impact your rights and freedoms. Please refer to the table below for examples of when we rely on our legitimate interests to use your personal data. When conducting Engagement Activities, we ensure that: Invitations, platforms, and forms clearly identify the survey and its purpose(s). The purpose of collecting your personal data, if applicable, is explicitly explained. We rely on the legitimate interests below to use your personal data: Complaints and corrections If you have a complaint about an article published online or in print and have already had it formally assessed by GNM's Readers' Editor, but remain dissatisfied with the outcome, the Readers' Editor will refer you to the Scott Trust Review Panel, which provides an external review of the decision. At this stage, you will be asked to provide the panel with all necessary information to appeal, including all correspondence exchanged between you and the Readers' Editor. Your personal data may be used for the following purposes: To assess whether the Readers' Editor's decision was reasonable based on the presented correspondence. To inform other readers about the decisions made regarding the complaint. All Review Panel decisions, whether in favor of or against the complainant, will be published in the Editorial Complaints and Corrections section of The Guardian website. Published decisions will include the complainant's name. If you have concerns about privacy, you may discuss them in advance with the Complaints Officer. Unless there is a legal right to anonymity, any request for anonymity in the published ruling will be considered by the panel and granted only in exceptional circumstances. When GNM has contacted you on behalf of Scott Trust by post or email, they have done so for the following purposes: Participation in a survey We use the personal data collected in connection with surveys for the purposes outlined in the survey or where there is a legitimate business interest or other legal basis for its collection and use. Specifically, the personal data you provide may be used for the following purposes: To verify your identity: Ensuring secure access to the survey and its related features. To manage our relationship with you: Addressing any requests, queries, or concerns you might have regarding the survey. To customize or improve surveys: Enhancing the relevance, design, and functionality of Surveys to better meet participant needs. You retain the right to withdraw from participation in a survey at any time. If you do not wish to receive further survey reminders, you can opt out by emailing us at: legacies@ We respect your preferences and will promptly update our records to ensure you receive no further communications related to the survey. Personal data shared by third party We may receive personal data about you from third parties in the following circumstances: When recommended by others: If someone suggests your participation in an Engagement Activity based on your expertise or role. From publicly available sources: Such as professional directories, publications, or online platforms, particularly when relevant to the context of a survey or activity. We do not aim any of our activities or services directly at children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal data about children under 13 in providing our services. Some of our services may have a higher age restriction and this will be shown at the point of registration. We also note and comply with the California law which prohibits sale of personal data of consumers between 13-16 years of age unless their guardian has authorised the sale. We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational controls to protect your personal data against unauthorised processing and against accidental loss, damage or destruction. Sending any information, including personal data, via the internet is not completely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of any personal data sent to us while still in transit and so you provide it at your own risk. Within the Guardian group of companies Depending on where you live, we may share your personal data within the Guardian group of companies in the UK, US, or Australia. We may share it for administrative purposes, or when we have a legitimate interest in doing so. For example: If you are completing a Survey in Australia, your data may be processed and securely stored on our systems located in the UK to ensure consistency and compliance with our data management standards across regions. Sometimes we may receive a letter, email or another form of communication from you that we consider to be significant to the history of the Guardian. We may decide to share this with the Guardian Archive run by the Guardian Foundation for historic and archiving purposes. With the Scott Trust Review Panel The Scott Trust Review Panel includes external third-party members. Any personal data you provide as part of the appeal process will be shared with the panel to assess whether the Readers' Editor's decision was reasonable. California resident - Do not sell These transfers may constitute 'sale' of your personal information under California law. A California resident can halt these sales at any time by pressing the 'California resident - Do not sell' link that is located in the footer of every page on our site. Data we collect may be transferred to, stored and processed in any country or territory where one or more of Guardian group companies are based or have facilities. While other countries or territories may not have the same standards of data protection as those in your home country, we will continue to protect personal data that we transfer in line with this privacy policy. Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA), we ensure similar protection and put in place at least one of these safeguards: We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been found to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data. We may also use specific approved contracts that use Standard Contractual Clauses for the protection of personal data where appropriate, with our service providers that are based in countries outside the UK or the EEA, including those based in the US and Australia. These contracts give your personal data the same protection it has in the UK or the EEA. If you are located in the UK or the EEA, you may contact us for a copy of the safeguards which we have put in place for the transfer of your personal data outside the UK or the EEA. We keep your personal data for only as long as we need to. How long we need your personal data depends on what we are using it for, as set out in this privacy policy. If we no longer need your data, we will delete it or make it anonymous by removing all details that identify you. If we have asked for your permission to process your personal data and we have no other lawful grounds to continue with that processing, and you withdraw your permission, we will delete your personal data. We may contact you in the following circumstances: Participant List: If you have provided us with your contact details directly, through a third-party recommendation, or from publicly available information, we may reach out to ask if you'd like to be included in our participant list for future Engagement Activities. Engagement Invitations: With your permission, or if you have not opted out, we may contact you to invite you to participate in Engagement Activities, such as surveys, or to send you event and meeting invites. To opt out of being contacted for these purposes, you can email us at: legacies@ Funding or Partnership Opportunities or Application Updates: If you have applied for funding or expressed interest in funding opportunities, we may contact you to provide updates, request additional information, or notify you of decisions regarding your application. Responding to Queries or Complaints: If you have raised a query, lodged a complaint, or sought clarification regarding any of our Engagement Activities, we may contact you to address your concerns or resolve your issue. When you visit our sites, we may collect personal data from you automatically using cookies or similar technologies. This privacy policy includes GNM's cookie policy, where you can find more information about our use of cookies. You have a number of rights with regard to the personal data that we hold about you and you can contact us with regard to the following rights in relation to your personal data: You have the right to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you. You have the right to correct the personal data we hold about you. Where applicable, you may also have a right to receive a machine-readable copy of your personal data. You also have the right to ask us to delete your personal data or restrict how it is used. There may be exceptions to the right to erasure for specific legal reasons which, if applicable, we will set out for you in response to your request. Where applicable, you have the right to object to processing of your personal data for certain purposes. Where you have provided us with consent to use your personal data, you can withdraw this consent at any time. If you would like to exercise any of your rights specified above, please email dataprotection@ or write to the Data Protection Officer at Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. We will respond to all standard legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a large number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated. We may need verification of your identity to proceed with a request. If you provide us with proof of identity containing information that does not match our records, we may request further proof of identity from you. This is a security measure to ensure that your personal data is not disclosed to any person who does not have a right to receive it. You will not have to pay a fee to obtain a copy of your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, for any further copies requested by you, we may charge a reasonable fee based on administrative costs. The California Consumer Privacy Act 2018 ('CCPA') and California Privacy Rights Act 2020 ('CPRA') provide certain rights to residents of California. The CCPA and CPRA are collectively referred to as 'CCPA' below. If you are a resident of California you may contact us with regard to the following rights in relation to your personal data: Right to Know: At or before the time of collection, you have a right to receive notice of our practices, including the categories of personal data and sensitive personal data to be collected, the purposes for which it is collected and used, whether such personal data is 'sold or shared' and for how long personal data is retained. These details are set out in this Privacy Policy. Right to Access: You have the right to request access to the personal data we may hold on you for the past twelve (12) months. You may submit up to two (2) requests per year of access to your personal data. Right to Correct: You have the right to correct inaccurate personal data we hold about you. Right to Opt-Out of Sale of Personal Data: For individuals sixteen (16) years or older, you have the right to opt-out of sale of personal data we may hold on you. You can exercise this right at any time by pressing the 'California resident - Do not sell' link in the footer of every page on our site. For individuals between thirteen (13) to sixteen (16) years old, you have the right to opt-in to the sale of personal data we may hold on you. Right to Deletion: You also have the right to ask us to delete personal data we may hold on you or restrict how it is used. There may be exceptions to the right to deletion which, if applicable, we will set out for you in response to your request. Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Data: Where applicable, you have the right to limit our use of sensitive personal data for any purposes other than to provide the services you request or as otherwise permitted by law. Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your California Consumer Privacy Act rights. If you want to make any of these requests, please contact dataprotection@ We will deal with requests for access to your personal data within forty-five (45) days for California-specific requests. To help us respond as you expect, please specify that you are making a request under the CCPA. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity. For example, we will verify your identity before complying. If you provide us with proof of identity containing information that does not match our records, we may request further proof of identity from you. You can designate an 'authorized agent' to make requests to exercise your rights on your behalf under the CCPA. We will clarify that any 'authorized agent' has your written permission in making that request. We may also contact you directly to verify your identity. Record of Requests We keep a record of requests that we received from users exercising their CCPA rights. If the user does not verify their identity, their request will be denied. California 'Shine the Light' Privacy Rights Residents of California can ask us to provide a list of the types of personal data we have disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the identity of those third parties. We do not generally disclose personal data as defined under the California 'Shine the Light' law. To the extent that we share email addresses with third parties in connection with online marketing that could be covered, you may opt-out through your 'Manage My Account' choices. To make a 'Shine the Light' request, please email dataprotection@ with 'Shine the Light' in the subject line. The Australian privacy Act has rules around how we handle your personal information that may be different to rules in other regions. These rules are set out in the Australian Privacy Principles in force under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Australian Privacy Act). We are required to treat your personal information in line with those principles, including to disclose to you what personal information we collect and how we use it, to store your information securely and to support you in exercising your rights. Personal information we collect and use When we refer to 'personal data' throughout this policy, we are also referencing 'personal information,' as it is defined under Australian law. Details about the personal information that we collect, use and disclose is set out throughout this privacy policy. You can navigate these relevant sections by going to the contents section at the top of the page. Your rights Your rights to privacy are also protected by the Australian Privacy Act, including your: Right of access to the personal information held about you; and Right of correction to correct your information when it is incorrect. These principles and rights are reflected throughout this privacy policy. Opt out of personalised advertising Under the Australian Privacy Act, you have the right to opt out of the use of your personal information for the purpose of direct marketing, including in relation to personalised advertising. You can opt out of personalised advertising across our website and apps at any time by going to the 'Privacy Settings' link on our sites in the footer of every page. You will still see non-personalised advertising. We and our partners use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your use of the website to help create reports and statistics on the performance of the website. Analytics cookies such as Google Analytics collect information such as your IP address, device type and operating system, referring URLs, location and pages visited. If you don't want Google Analytics to be used in your browser, you can install the 'Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On', provided by Google. For a complete description of our use of cookies and similar technologies globally, please see our cookie policy. If you have contacted us at dataprotection@ with a privacy related complaint and you are not satisfied with our handling of that complaint, you may refer that complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: GPO BOX 5218, Sydney NSW 2001 1300 363 992 If you have any questions about how we use your personal data or if you have a concern about how your personal data is used, please contact the Data Protection Officer at Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N19GU. Or, email dataprotection@ Complaints will be dealt with by the Data Protection Team, and will be responded to within 30 days. If you are not satisfied with the way your concern has been handled, you can refer your complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office. For individuals based in the European Union: Since we do not have an establishment in the European Union, we have appointed an EU based representative to serve as a direct contact for data protection authorities and individuals on our behalf, who can be contacted attheguardian@ or MCF Legal Technology Solutions Limited, Riverside One, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland. If we decide to change our privacy policy, the updated privacy policy will be posted on this page. If the changes are significant, we may also choose to email you with the new details. If required by law, we will get your permission or give you the opportunity to opt out of any new uses of your data. Changes to this privacy policy to date The most recent changes to this privacy policy were made on: February 2025 A list of all previous changes are available upon request.
The Guardian
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Long Wave: How A Thousand Blows recovers the lost history of a lion-taming West Indian boxer
Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. Last week I watched Steven Knight's historical drama series A Thousand Blows, in which Hezekiah Moscow (played by Malachi Kirby), a plucky young man from Jamaica, arrives in London to become a lion tamer but ends up a boxer. The Bafta-winning film-maker and historian David Olusoga, an executive producer on the series, tells me about the real Moscow and the difficulties of recovering the history of Black life in 19th-century London. That's all after the weekly roundup. Caricom seeks reparative justice | Caribbean leaders have defended their pursuit of slavery reparations, describing the compensation for centuries of enslavement and oppression as a simple matter of justice. Gaston Browne, the Antigua and Barbuda prime minister, told Natricia Duncan, our Caribbean correspondent, that governments in the region were seeking 'a final resolution' of this issue and a reset in the relationship between the Caribbean and Europe. Appalachians cultivate community power | The Black Appalachian Coalition, an environmental justice group, is trying to 'dismantle the romanticised whitewashed narrative around Appalachia'. Activists want to improve health outcomes and resource access as well as the wellbeing and safety of Black people in the eastern US community. Ghana's Kantamanto market struggles to rebuild | Six weeks after a devastating blaze in Accra ripped through one of the world's biggest secondhand markets, many stalls remain unfinished and thousands of vendors still have no income. Black Ecuadorians defend their heritage | Afro-Ecuadorians fear their culture is at risk of disappearance. They say there are few people in the country who can make marimbas – a pitched percussion instrument that can take 15 days to construct from palm trees – and young people are losing interest in continuing the tradition. Women thrive in Africa's art scene | Since 2023, female African artists have collectively surpassed men in auction sales – and the trend shows no sign of stopping. 'This shift marks a significant moment in art market history, particularly as global sales of [female] artists have not yet reached parity with men,' says Lindsay Dewar of the research company ArtTactic. As David Olusoga – who also sits on the board for the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian – tells me, the boxing and wrestling historian Sarah Elizabeth Cox is the authority on constructing the real Hezekiah Moscow's life. Research published on her blog, Grappling With History, inspired his depiction in A Thousand Blows and provided insight on his life. Moscow, born around 1862, was a 'traveller' from the West Indies who became a lion tamer and performer at an east London aquarium – he was later accused by the RSPCA of 'cruelly ill-treating' four bears. As Cox writes, these allegations were likely to have been false and malicious as the accuser had been subjected to a 'summons for perjury for fabricating evidence against Moscow and the aquarium'. From May 1882, Moscow was regularly appearing in sports newspapers under his boxing name Ching Hook, most likely a racist nickname drawn from his facial features. But by 1892, he was no longer featured in these publications. Apart from record of a marriage and daughter, there are sparse details of the rest of his life, or the conclusion of it, with no hospital, death, cremation records or obituaries as yet found. As Cox writes, Moscow simply 'disappeared into thin air' (although as she is working on a book on boxing history, we can hope for an update). Reflecting on this potted history, Olusoga says: 'Hezekiah Moscow's story is typical of what we have when it comes to Black Victorians in that it's a fractured biography. We have flashes of detail and then ages of darkness. And that is incredibly frustrating but it is typical of the Black 18th- and 19th-century experience. People emerge into the world – we have newspaper reports, we have pictures of them – and then they disappear. Very often we don't know what happened to them at the end of their life.' But this is the power of historical drama, and how it can be monumental in writing Black lives back into the public imagination. Creative licence is a gift. While historians will never be able to create a complete biography of Moscow, drama can conjure a life for such figures and provide an inner life that reflects the known conditions of their environment. Navigating a hyper-globalised world Though we can't be certain of Moscow's origins, the series constructs his identity through historical cues. He is depicted as Jamaican, his consciousness of the British empire having been shaped by witnessing the violent suppression of the 1865 Morant Bay rebellion as a child. In the show, Moscow surprises the hotelier Mr Lao with his fluency in Chinese, which he says was taught to him by his grandmother. This detail was imagined in response to the racist Ching Hook nickname, to play on speculation that Moscow had Chinese heritage. 'There were Chinese indentured labourers sent to Jamaica, which is where we think he's from,' Olusoga says. 'Most of these Chinese labourers, the 'Coolies' as they were called, went to Guyana or Trinidad. Not many went to Jamaica, but some did, so he could have been of mixed Chinese ancestry. We think he was born around the right time for that to be a possibility.' Sign up to The Long Wave Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world after newsletter promotion Whatever the facts of his heritage and the exact country in the West Indies he migrated from, Moscow arrived in London when it was near the apex of its power, Olusoga says. 'In the 1880s, it's a city of around 5 million, and it's rushing towards 6 million. It's the biggest city in the world. It was also a port city, so there is the world of the port, of the dock workers, and of the sailors and seamen who are from all over the world.' London, with its maritime connections, was the centre of the largest empire the world had ever seen and the largest trading hub. As such, Moscow and the other characters in A Thousands Blows are navigating a 'hyper-globalised world' where sailors from west Africa and the Caribbean are interacting with Irish migrants and Jewish migrants who had fled pogroms in imperial Russia. Olusoga refers to a parliamentary debate recorded in Hansard, in February 1893, in which an MP who complains about hearing foreign languages in the East End of London describes 'sonic streets you may go through and hardly know you are in England' – an achingly familiar discourse in our current times. A world of performance In the 1880s, boxing was the great working-class sport, says Olusoga, and it is the natural environment for Moscow to be drawn into. At the time, there was an incredible lore and legacy of late 18th- and early 19th-century Black boxers such as Bill Richmond and Tom Molineaux, both of whom were born into slavery in the US and hailed as sporting heroes in England. But boxing's significance in 1880s London was as an arena in which poor people of various ethnicities and origins, if they had the ability and the luck, could rebuild their fortunes, Olusoga says. 'It is a place of chance and skill and danger and risk but incredible reward. Middle-class people don't [box] because it's an incredibly risky thing to do.' Class informs the picture of boxing in Moscow's London as a sport that enabled marginalised groups from all over the world to take their chances on a better life by jumping into the ring. But it is also true that some Black men took up boxing because in Britain they were often conscripted into a world of performance. Olusoga says in late-Victorian London the 'exoticism and rarity' of Black people was of incredible value, 'so you see Black people on the stage and you see Black people as street performers'. And African American music was especially popular: 'The Fisk Jubilee Singers coming from Tennessee and the Bohee Brothers – African Americans are in London teaching people how to play the banjo, [leading to] a big banjo craze. Black people are on the stage, they are on the street singing and performing and they are in the ring. In some ways, the ring is just another stage in which these people's exoticism and rarity is channelled.' This is depicted in A Thousand Blows at a Gilded-Age party, where a Black acrobat swings around the room to collective awe and wonder. What we can know of Moscow's real life, and that of many Black Victorians, is limited. But dramas such as A Thousand Blows offer hope that their names will not be forgotten, even if their lives cannot be charted entirely. 'For the first time since the 1880s, the name Hezekiah Moscow is in the newspapers,' Olusoga says. 'Isn't that an amazing second life for this forgotten figure, about whom so many details of his life will never be known to us? I find it really moving that, 140 years later, Hezekiah Moscow is once again the talk of London.' A Thousand Blows is streaming on Disney+ in the UK, Ireland and select regions, and on Hulu in the US. Black History for Every Day of the Year by David Olusoga, Yinka Olusoga and Kemi Olusoga is published by Pan Macmillan. To receive the complete version of The Long Wave in your inbox every Wednesday, please subscribe here.
