Challenging history
Ithink houses are special in our lives. They’re the most intimate places in our lives. They’re the places where we live much of our lives, and where we are really ourselves’: Professor David Olusoga, Professor of Public History at Manchester University.
The house: the perfect vehicle for social history
‘I think that anyone who has lived in an old house has found themselves, at some point – when decorating, discovering layers of paint or wallpaper on the walls. And in doing so you are reminded of that reality: that your house was once someone else’s house. And I think that anyone who has ever had that feeling has loads of questions – so I think the series answers a very common question, which is to understand those very intimate histories of the places that we live.’
While many of us don’t live in extremely old properties, ‘We’re a country in which the majority of houses are quite old: 19th century, between the wars, and after the war too I should say,’ explains David. ‘Houses occupy probably more of our attention and our focus than is true for most countries. So I think houses are special for the British… and the fact that these are the stories of ordinary people, not kings or queens, prime ministers or generals, I think people go along with that, relate to that. So the house is
