When we were kings: the truth about my father

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Growing up in small-town America in the 1970s David Wright Faladé, the son of a white mother and black father, found living in a heavily racialised society a tightrope walk. He understood he was the descendant of slaves on his father’s side, but a revelation when he was 16 set him on a path of discovery that would throw into question his own place in the world and bring him face to face with the secrets of his forefathers. He’s written about his experience in the New Yorker article, The Truth About My Father. Jonathan Cavendish is a producer of movie blockbusters including Bridget Jones’ Diary and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. But it was his own family’s story that held plenty of untapped drama. His father Robin became paralysed from the neck down after contracting polio when Jonathan’s mother Diana was pregnant with him. The story that followed would leave a lasting legacy for people with disabilities and Jonathan would go on to immortalise it on the silver screen in his film Breathe, starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy. This was first broadcast in 2017. Get in touch: [email protected] Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Edgar Maddicott (Photo: David Wright Faladé. Credit: Courtesy of David Wright Faladé)