My Alter Ego - Ignatius Sancho

Can you imagine who you might have been if you had lived at a different point in history? That's exactly what the presenters of My Alter Ego have been asked to do. Each programme in the series is presented by someone whose life, career, or mind-set shares some similarities with a character from history. Programme 1: Mobo award winning musician, Soweto Kinch, tells the forgotten story of Ignatius Sancho. Supposedly born on a slave ship bound for the West Indies in the 1720s, Ignatius was orphaned and brought to London. There he was given to three spinster sisters and grew up as a child-slave. However he had a curious mind and a love of learning and these attributes combined with sheer force of personality, meant he broke through into London's literary and artistic circles forging friendships with the actor David Garrick and the author Laurence Sterne. He became a prolific letter writer, and a gentleman composer, while running a grocery shop which attracted many of his aristocratic and artistic friends. Soweto Kinch has long been fascinated by the life of Ignatius Sancho, and even though he was born almost two hundred years after Sancho into a very different world, he recognises certain parallels with his own life: his engagement with education, his passion for music and his relationship with his heritage. Illustrated with readings from Ignatius's letters and musical compositions, Soweto explores the life of Ignatius Sancho in My Alter Ego. Producer: Karen Gregor.