Meet the panel

James Walvin

An emeritus professor of history at the University of York, James became a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006 and has also been awarded an OBE for services to scholarship. He has written several books on slavery and social history, the most recent of which is Sugar: The World Corrupted from Slavery to Obesity.

Shrabani Basu

An Indian journalist and author, Shrabani has written for The Times of India and The Telegraph. Her books include For King and Another Country, about Indian soldiers on the Western Front, Spy Princess, about World War II heroine Noor Inayat Khan, and Victoria and Abdul, which is now a major film starring Judi Dench.

Richard Toye

Richard is a professor of history at the University of Exeter, prior to which he was director of studies for history at the University of Cambridge. He focuses on British history and its global and imperial context from the late 19th century onwards. His works include Arguing about Empire: Imperial Rhetoric in Britain and France, 1882-1956.

John Broich

John is associate professor in the history of modern Britain and its empire at Case Western Reserve University in the US. His latest book is Squadron: Ending the

African Slave Trade, which is about the attempts of British Navy officers and abolitionists to end the slave trade that continued illegally into the 1880s.