Britain must accept its ‘sacrosanct’ heroes are flawed, says historian

Civilisations presenter argues that Churchill, Rhodes and Colston did bad things as well as good

PROTESTERS who want to tear down statues of controversial historic figures are not “snowflakes”, a BBC Civilisations presenter has said, as he argues Britain must accept that its “sacrosanct” heroes are flawed.

David Olusoga, the historian and broadcaster, said controversy over statues of Edward Colston in Bristol and Cecil Rhodes in Oxford, had become a “lightning rod” for a struggle for historical narrative, with complainants’ views entirely valid.

There was, he said, a section of society that only wanted to hear positive things about “sacrosanct” figures like Sir Winston Churchill, and it was “struggling to come to terms with” an alternative view.

Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival, he said: “Their voices are legitimate and they aren’t snowflakes and they aren’t trying to end history. They have a real case. Almost all historical figures did good and bad.”

Olusoga presents two of the 10 episodes of Civilisations, currently being broadcast on BBC Two – a reworking of the landmark Kenneth Clark series – giving different takes on art and history, with other programmes delivered by Simon Schama and Mary Beard.

Asked about the controversy over statues, which has seen campaigners seek to remove monuments of Cecil Rhodes from public life because of his links with colonialism, Olusoga said the debate was becoming “history wars”.

“I think this issue is not about statues, it’s about versions of history,” he said. “Statues have become a lightning rod for a struggle which we are going to have to have about our history, about inclusion, about seeing certain people. There are a lot of people who were brought up with a version of British history which is really, really important to them and I appreciate that.

“For them, certain subjects and certain people are sacrosanct. We only want to hear the good things they did.

“Other people want to tell different stories, so we have this conflict.”

The historian explained that local people descended from victims of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol may have feelings about him being honoured with a statue.

“Their feelings are valid,” he said. “I think we’re struggling to come to terms with that.”

Of Sir Winston Churchill, Olusoga argued it was possible to be “glad” he led the defeat of the Nazis while still acknowledging his culpability in the Bengal famine and behaviour “we would now consider war crimes”.

Olusoga’s new book, Civilisations: First Contact/the Cult of Progress, is out this month.