As Others See Us

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Australia

20190905

2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a continuation of his new series, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain.

Today he's on the other side of the world. Australia's links with Britain appear, on the surface, to be uniquely close. For over two hundred years we've shared values, political structures and most crucially we still share a monarch. Neil talks to a one time representative of that monarch, former Governor General Quentin Bryce as well as Indigenous scholar and activist Marcia Langton, historian Stuart Macintyre and comedian Suren Jayemanne.
Quentin Bryce recalls visiting the UK in the 60s when everything seemed possible as values shifted and attitudes changed. But it was still viewed by many as the mother country and when we joined the EU in 1973 Australia felt the shock and the hurt sharply.
Marcia Langton draws on a longer perspective with Britain's role in the Australian story now being re-fashioned to form a more realistic view of the nation's long, long pre-colonial story. By contrast, Suren Jayemanne, born in Melbourne but of a Malaysian mother and Sri Lankan father, sees Britain from the standpoint of Australia's new and expanding immigrant population. But he too feels a sense of kinship with the UK although without the powerful empathy of former Australians who flocked to help Britain in two world wars and in the process helped forge their own identity.
Neil discovers that while Australians see us with a sustaining warmth it's also with an acceptance that we really are a country on the other side of the world and with the majority of their trade and exchanges going on in Asia and the Pacific Britain is further away than its ever been.

Producer: Tom Alban

Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain.

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Poland

20190906

2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a continuation of his series, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain.

In the final programme of the series, Neil makes the journey from South Ruislip on the A40 to the centre of Warsaw - to find out how Poland, our wartime ally and recent European partner, now sees Britain, as we prepare to leave Europe, come what may. He talks to Pawe? Ukielski, political scientist and Deputy Director of the Warsaw Rising Museum; Oscar nominated film director, Agnieszka Holland; Rados?aw Sikorski, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current MEP; and writer and rights activist, Agnieszka Graff.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain.

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Programme 1. Germany

20181231

2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a new series of five programmes, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. India, Egypt, Nigeria and Canada are explored in the rest of week, but he begins his journey in Munich and Berlin.

To what extent can the essence of the relationship between Germany and Britain can be traced back to key events or cultural influences, and what impact do those events still have on the nature of that relationship today. Wolfgang Sch䀀uble, the President of the Bundestag; TV host, writer and cultural commentator Thea Dorn and Hartmut Dorgerloh, the new Director of Berlin's Humboldt Forum each reveal what they learnt about Britain at school and how their first encounters with British cities and culture have shaped their perception of Britain now - whether it is Shakespeare, the 1966 World Cup final or the Sissinghurst Castle Garden.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 1. Germany

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Programme 2. Egypt

20190101

In this programme he is in Cairo to explore the extent to which the relationship between Egypt and Britain can be traced back to such key events as the Battle of the Nile or the Suez Crisis or whether there are other events and cultural influences that have a greater impact on the nature that relationship today. Writer Ahdaf Soueif and political historian Said Sadek are among those revealing what they learnt about Britain at school, how their first encounters with Britain and British institutions had the greatest impact in shaping their perception of Britain today.

Producer: Simon Elmes

Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 2. Egypt

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Programme 3. Nigeria

20190102

In this programme he travels to Kano and Lagos to see how far the relationship between Nigeria and Britain can be traced back to key events or cultural influences, and what impact those events still have on the nature of that relationship today. The Emir of Kano; Africa's first Nobel Laureate for Literature Wole Soyinka; and Yeni Kuti, dancer, singer and eldest child of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti each reveal what they learnt about Britain at school and how their first encounters with British cities and culture have shaped their perception of Britain now.

Producer: Tom Alban

Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 3. Nigeria

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Programme 4. Canada

20190103

In this programme he explores how far the relationship between Canada and Britain can be traced back to key events or cultural influences, and what impact those events still have on the nature of that relationship today. In Montreal, Ottawa (and New York), French-Canadian film director Denys Arcand; Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland and Booker Prize nominee Madeleine Thien reveal what they learnt about Britain at school and how their first encounters with British cities and culture have shaped their perception of Britain now.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 4. Canada

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Programme 5. India

20190104

In this programme he travels to Mumbai and Delhi to see how far the relationship between India and Britain can be traced back to key events or cultural influences, and what impact those events still have on the nature of that relationship today. Ram Narasimhan, Proprietor of The Hindu Newspaper; the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Shobana Kamineni; and outspoken historian Kavita Singh are among those who reveal what they learnt about Britain at school and how their first encounters with Britain and British culture have shaped their perception of the country now.

Producer: Tom Alban

Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 5. India

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Singapore

20190902

The first programme in a new series in which Neil MacGregor talks to opinion formers from five countries with strong historic links to Britain sees him in the South East Asian trading hub of Singapore.
Singapore has been held up by some political figures in the UK as an example of how Britain might survive and indeed thrive after leaving the European Union. Senior Diplomat Tommy Koh, novelist Catherine Lim and businessman Sunil Amarasuriya talk about their sense of Britain's legacy from language to law and trade to statecraft. Their collective memories stretch back to the height of Colonial rule and include the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, the horrors of the Second World War and thereafter the putting down of the Malayan uprising and the subsequent handover to Malaysian and later Singaporean independent rule. All these events have helped shape a vision and opinion about Britain and the British.
Neil discovers a particular trust in the role of a powerful and direct leader, inspired by the legacy of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and he asks if Britain can indeed learn lessons from its former Colony.

Producer: Tom Alban

Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain.

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Spain

20190904

Today he is in Spain to explore the close historic and enduring relationship between the two countries. Royal alliances in the 16th century made King Philip II of Spain also King of England and his wife Queen Mary ('Bloody Mary') was crowned Queen of Spain. But infamous disputes and clashes like the Armada and Gibraltar caused centuries of tension between the rival nations and spawned the Leyenda Negra (the Black Legend) characterizing the Spaniards as bloodthirsty envoys of the Inquisition. The Duke of Wellington's intervention in the Spanish War of Independence against the French in 1813 led to a new era of warmer relations. Nowadays more Brits settle in Spain than any other country and vice versa for young Spaniards.

Neil hears how Catalan nationalists have watched the Scottish independence movement closely as they sought their own referendum. And also how the much admired British constitutional system - which Spain emulated when it became a democracy in the 1970s - is seen now in the context of Brexit.

Neil speaks to former minister Eduardo Serra, artist Cristina Iglesias, MP for the Partido Popular Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo, economist Pedro Schwartz, journalist Guifre Jordan and the Duke of Wellington

Producer Neil McCarthy

Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain.

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

The USA

20190903

2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a continuation of his new series, Neil MacGregor visits five more countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain.

Both the United States and the United Kingdom frequently refer to their special relationship, forged during the second World War and still a factor today. In this programme, recorded in Boston and Los Angeles, Neil hears how that special relationship has also been influenced by the Boston Tea Party, Gainsborough's Blue Boy, James Bond, Harry Potter and Downton Abbey. Along the way he talks to: Harvard historian and staff writer at the New Yorker, Jill Lepore; James Cuno, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust; Executive Vice President at Variety magazine, Steve Gaydos; and Mohamad Ali, the new CEO at International Data Group.

Producer: Paul Kobrak

Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain.

Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Comments
Australia	20190905	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a continuation of his new series, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. Today he's on the other side of the world. Australia's links with Britain appear, on the surface, to be uniquely close. For over two hundred years we've shared values, political structures and most crucially we still share a monarch. Neil talks to a one time representative of that monarch, former Governor General Quentin Bryce as well as Indigenous scholar and activist Marcia Langton, historian Stuart Macintyre and comedian Suren Jayemanne. Quentin Bryce recalls visiting the UK in the 60s when everything seemed possible as values shifted and attitudes changed. But it was still viewed by many as the mother country and when we joined the EU in 1973 Australia felt the shock and the hurt sharply. Marcia Langton draws on a longer perspective with Britain's role in the Australian story now being re-fashioned to form a more realistic view of the nation's long, long pre-colonial story. By contrast, Suren Jayemanne, born in Melbourne but of a Malaysian mother and Sri Lankan father, sees Britain from the standpoint of Australia's new and expanding immigrant population. But he too feels a sense of kinship with the UK although without the powerful empathy of former Australians who flocked to help Britain in two world wars and in the process helped forge their own identity. Neil discovers that while Australians see us with a sustaining warmth it's also with an acceptance that we really are a country on the other side of the world and with the majority of their trade and exchanges going on in Asia and the Pacific Britain is further away than its ever been. Producer: Tom Alban Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain. Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
Poland	20190906	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a continuation of his series, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. In the final programme of the series, Neil makes the journey from South Ruislip on the A40 to the centre of Warsaw - to find out how Poland, our wartime ally and recent European partner, now sees Britain, as we prepare to leave Europe, come what may. He talks to Pawe? Ukielski, political scientist and Deputy Director of the Warsaw Rising Museum; Oscar nominated film director, Agnieszka Holland; Rados?aw Sikorski, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current MEP; and writer and rights activist, Agnieszka Graff. Producer: Paul Kobrak Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain. Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
Programme 1. Germany	20181231	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a new series of five programmes, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. India, Egypt, Nigeria and Canada are explored in the rest of week, but he begins his journey in Munich and Berlin. To what extent can the essence of the relationship between Germany and Britain can be traced back to key events or cultural influences, and what impact do those events still have on the nature of that relationship today. Wolfgang Sch䀀uble, the President of the Bundestag; TV host, writer and cultural commentator Thea Dorn and Hartmut Dorgerloh, the new Director of Berlin's Humboldt Forum each reveal what they learnt about Britain at school and how their first encounters with British cities and culture have shaped their perception of Britain now - whether it is Shakespeare, the 1966 World Cup final or the Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Producer: Paul Kobrak Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 1. Germany Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
Programme 2. Egypt	20190101	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a new series of five programmes, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. In this programme he is in Cairo to explore the extent to which the relationship between Egypt and Britain can be traced back to such key events as the Battle of the Nile or the Suez Crisis or whether there are other events and cultural influences that have a greater impact on the nature that relationship today. Writer Ahdaf Soueif and political historian Said Sadek are among those revealing what they learnt about Britain at school, how their first encounters with Britain and British institutions had the greatest impact in shaping their perception of Britain today. Producer: Simon Elmes Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 2. Egypt Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
Programme 3. Nigeria	20190102	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a new series of five programmes, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. In this programme he travels to Kano and Lagos to see how far the relationship between Nigeria and Britain can be traced back to key events or cultural influences, and what impact those events still have on the nature of that relationship today. The Emir of Kano; Africa's first Nobel Laureate for Literature Wole Soyinka; and Yeni Kuti, dancer, singer and eldest child of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti each reveal what they learnt about Britain at school and how their first encounters with British cities and culture have shaped their perception of Britain now. Producer: Tom Alban Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 3. Nigeria Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
Programme 4. Canada	20190103	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a new series of five programmes, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. In this programme he explores how far the relationship between Canada and Britain can be traced back to key events or cultural influences, and what impact those events still have on the nature of that relationship today. In Montreal, Ottawa (and New York), French-Canadian film director Denys Arcand; Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland and Booker Prize nominee Madeleine Thien reveal what they learnt about Britain at school and how their first encounters with British cities and culture have shaped their perception of Britain now. Producer: Paul Kobrak Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 4. Canada Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
Programme 5. India	20190104	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a new series of five programmes, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. In this programme he travels to Mumbai and Delhi to see how far the relationship between India and Britain can be traced back to key events or cultural influences, and what impact those events still have on the nature of that relationship today. Ram Narasimhan, Proprietor of The Hindu Newspaper; the President of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Shobana Kamineni; and outspoken historian Kavita Singh are among those who reveal what they learnt about Britain at school and how their first encounters with Britain and British culture have shaped their perception of the country now. Producer: Tom Alban Neil MacGregor explores how five major countries see Britain - Programme 5. India Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
Singapore	20190902	The first programme in a new series in which Neil MacGregor talks to opinion formers from five countries with strong historic links to Britain sees him in the South East Asian trading hub of Singapore. Singapore has been held up by some political figures in the UK as an example of how Britain might survive and indeed thrive after leaving the European Union. Senior Diplomat Tommy Koh, novelist Catherine Lim and businessman Sunil Amarasuriya talk about their sense of Britain's legacy from language to law and trade to statecraft. Their collective memories stretch back to the height of Colonial rule and include the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, the horrors of the Second World War and thereafter the putting down of the Malayan uprising and the subsequent handover to Malaysian and later Singaporean independent rule. All these events have helped shape a vision and opinion about Britain and the British. Neil discovers a particular trust in the role of a powerful and direct leader, inspired by the legacy of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and he asks if Britain can indeed learn lessons from its former Colony. Producer: Tom Alban Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain. Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
Spain	20190904	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a continuation of his new series, Neil MacGregor visits five different countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. Today he is in Spain to explore the close historic and enduring relationship between the two countries. Royal alliances in the 16th century made King Philip II of Spain also King of England and his wife Queen Mary ('Bloody Mary') was crowned Queen of Spain. But infamous disputes and clashes like the Armada and Gibraltar caused centuries of tension between the rival nations and spawned the Leyenda Negra (the Black Legend) characterizing the Spaniards as bloodthirsty envoys of the Inquisition. The Duke of Wellington's intervention in the Spanish War of Independence against the French in 1813 led to a new era of warmer relations. Nowadays more Brits settle in Spain than any other country and vice versa for young Spaniards. Neil hears how Catalan nationalists have watched the Scottish independence movement closely as they sought their own referendum. And also how the much admired British constitutional system - which Spain emulated when it became a democracy in the 1970s - is seen now in the context of Brexit. Neil speaks to former minister Eduardo Serra, artist Cristina Iglesias, MP for the Partido Popular Cayetana Alvarez de Toledo, economist Pedro Schwartz, journalist Guifre Jordan and the Duke of Wellington Producer Neil McCarthy Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain. Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.
The USA	20190903	2019 is a year of potentially momentous change for the United Kingdom, and in a continuation of his new series, Neil MacGregor visits five more countries to talk to leading political, business and cultural figures to find out how they, as individuals and as members of their broader communities, see Britain. Both the United States and the United Kingdom frequently refer to their special relationship, forged during the second World War and still a factor today. In this programme, recorded in Boston and Los Angeles, Neil hears how that special relationship has also been influenced by the Boston Tea Party, Gainsborough's Blue Boy, James Bond, Harry Potter and Downton Abbey. Along the way he talks to: Harvard historian and staff writer at the New Yorker, Jill Lepore; James Cuno, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust; Executive Vice President at Variety magazine, Steve Gaydos; and Mohamad Ali, the new CEO at International Data Group. Producer: Paul Kobrak Neil MacGregor takes five journeys overseas to hear what others think of modern Britain. Neil MacGregor visits 5 other countries to find out how leading figures there see Britain.