Throughout its reign, the British Empire stole a lot of stuff. Today those objects are housed in genteel institutions across the U.K. and the world. They usually come with polite plaques. This is a series about the not-so-polite history behind those objects. Hosted by Marc Fennell.
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Throughout its reign, the British Empire stole a lot of stuff. Today those objects are housed in genteel institutions across the U.K. and the world. They usually come with polite plaques. This is a series about the not-so-polite history behind those objects. Hosted by Marc Fennell.
Season 1:
Episode 1: A Tiger and a Scream
Stuff The British Stole32:05S1 E1: A Tiger and a Scream
How a toy tiger became the symbol of a struggle between India and its former British colonizers.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
What if your doorstop was evidence of brutal mass murder and wholesale theft?
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
Stuff The British Stole28:33S1 E3: Best.Named.Dog.Ever
Don’t let their fluffy hair and judging eyes fool you, Pekingese dogs are hiding a secret. Their history encompasses torture, hubris, war, and some very long sleeves. Most importantly these dogs — well, one in particular — holds a key to understanding the sometimes vexed relationship China has with the West.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
Stuff The British Stole28:42S1 E4: The Headhunters
The arrival of Europeans in New Zealand kicked off a trade in Mokomokai — or tattooed heads — but these colonial souvenirs have their own complex history.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
The Gweagal shield is just one of the things James Cook and his shipmates took from the local people when they landed in Botany Bay. Why has it become among the most contentious?
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
A war. A ransom. And a stunning recovery mission. Five elaborately carved panels were buried in a New Zealand swamp to hide and protect them.
Then 150 years later, they’re acquired by a British collector before being sold to a Swiss-Bolivian collector in Geneva.
Their long journey home began when a kidnap ransom payment had to be made.
This is the remarkable story of the Motunui Epa.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
Stuff The British Stole36:46S2 E2: Losing Your Marbles
They’ve seen wars, the bottom of the ocean and even — bizarrely — been part of a boxing match.
The story of how the Parthenon Marbles actually ended up in London’s British Museum is a wild tale featuring bribes, court cases and some extremely dodgy deals.
There’s been a centuries-long campaign to get them back to their homeland. Now, a team of Greek-Australians have decided that the time for diplomacy is over and a new tactic is required.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
In County Cork, Ireland, there’s a tree that locals call the Chalice Tree. Local lore says it’s where British Redcoats disrupted a secret Catholic mass, killed two priests and stole a sacred chalice.
Now that chalice sits in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
What happened in the intervening 200 years is now being pieced together by two Irish families: the O’Keeffes and the McAulliffe’s.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
Sarah 'Saartjie' Baartman was taken to the U.K. by a British doctor. But did she know what she was signing up for?
Stage-named 'The Hottentot Venus', Sarah was paraded around freak shows in London and Paris. During her life and even after her death, she was objectified, mistreated and abused.
More than 200 years after her death, her life story reveals confronting truths about the treatment of Black female bodies and how much has, and hasn’t, changed.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/stuff-the-british-stole-transcripts-listen-1.6804375
