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Witness History: A Somali sailor in 1920s Britain

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06/10/2021 GMT

A Somali sailor in 1920s Britain

BBC World Service - Witness History, A Somali sailor in 1920s Britain

How Ibrahim Ismaa'il escaped poverty in Somalia to live in the British countryside.

In the early 20th century, many Somali seafarers made their way to Britain on merchant ships, establishing communities in cities such as Cardiff. One of them, Ibrahim Ismaa'il, made his way to the UK from the port of Aden. He then struck up an unlikely friendship with an eminent anthropologist who lived in an alternative community in the Cotswolds. The anthropologist later recorded Ismaa'il's remarkable life-story. Chloe Hadjimatheou reports.

PHOTO: A British liner in the port of Aden in the 1920s (Getty Images).

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