'I switched off when Michael Palin said he was uncomfortable to be British': Historian ZAREER MASANI slams Python star's Channel 5 Nigeria show for 'totally incorrect' claim that Britain led slave tra

I've admired Michael Palin for half a century, dating back to his Monty Python era as one of our most witty and intelligent comedians. I've admired Michael Palin for half a century, dating back to his Monty Python era as one of our most witty and intelligent comedians, writes historian ZAREER MASANI. So it was with some sadness that I switched off halfway through Channel 5 's new series of Palin in Nigeria Most striking was the loss of Palin's characteristic wit and shrewd observation. He was accompanied by garrulous Nigerian lady Aduke Gomez, who was billed as 'a historian of slavery' Sir Michael Palin ignored the far larger numbers of slaves transported by other European slavers or the millions more who fed the Arab trade Above: Female African slaves in the 19th century What all this ignored, apart from one very cursory reference to the outlawing of slavery in 1807, was Britain's leading role in abolition and its huge expenditure in naval policing to end the transatlantic trade. Born in Britain of Anglo-Nigerian heritage, Olusoga fronted BBC programmes like 'Black and British: A Forgotten History', 'Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners' and even Desert Island Discs.