Dear Friends Please find attached to this email an invitation to an event to launch my new book The Motherland Calls- Britain's Black Servicemen & Women 1939-45 (The History Press) at the BFI Southbank (National Film Theatre) on Friday 16 November from 2-4pm. I will be introducing screenings of two outstanding, enjoyable and informative BBC TV programmes about ...

Soft Lights and Sweet Music Elisabeth Welch on Screen with Stephen Bourne Saturday 29 October 2011 @ 2:30pm-5.00pm Elisabeth Welch’s biographer, Stephen Bourne, will share his personal memories of the stage and screen legend. Born in New York, Elisabeth settled in London in 1933 and became the most famous Black woman in pre-war Britain. Her 70-year career included work ...

Black British History went through something of a coming out party in the late 1990's and early naughties. Real interest arose in the contributions of Black people in Britain and The Internet brought forth a whole plethora of sites and snippets of information all with the aim of finally setting the history books straight. However, during ...

In 1991 Stephen Bourne and his adopted aunt, Esther Bruce (1912-94), collaborated on her autobiography Aunt Esthers Story. This is now recognised as one of the first books to document the life of a Black working-class Londoner. In 2007 Bourne assisted in the production of a short documentary, also called Aunt Esther's Story, with no money, ...