We all come to Ithaca in our own way. It is both a homecoming and a mystery who we shall find there. A strange whistling came out of the scrub around me. There was the answering bleat of a goat. A tumult of copper bells began their rhythmic, hollow clanking as the herd began to […]
How I found Odysseus Read More »
‘To the palace!’ How many times in life does one get the chance to announce that to a taxi driver? Our filming team was the guest of the Emir of Kano in northern Nigeria. He is part of an ancient tradition of kings who have ruled in Kano for over a thousand years. The Emir’s
A Visit to the Emir’s Palace in Kano Nigeria Read More »
It was the Hunchback of Notre Dame that first showed me television was a powerful medium. It was 1976 at boarding school in Makhanda on a Saturday night and we were all crammed into the common room, waiting for a prefect to turn on the TV that was installed in the top left corner. Like
TV Arrives in South Africa Read More »
Oral history and written memory combine to tell us who we truly are. Years ago, I was filming on the banks of Lake Victoria when I met a Luo fisherman. I’ll call him Ochieng. But it was what he showed me about his life that mattered, and it is something I will always remember. We
The memory of our generations Read More »
I covered the marches on Monday and Tuesday. This is the story of those days. A thin haze of smoke rises against a blue winter sky. Men are standing around a fire made of eucalyptus logs, trying to warm themselves in the cold winter morning. Women and children are mostly sitting on their bundles of
South Africa’s Xenophobia – Rage and Pain Read More »