Anita Arnott
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Kennel Keeper's daughter.
Yes, that's right.
So, look, she is alive.
He is alive.
He, on his tiny little chubby arm, has got this huge diamond, which we should say, actually, is the size and heft of a hen's egg.
That's how big this diamond is.
But as soon as Ranjit Singh dies and everyone else in his family has murdered each other, who notices?
The British notice, because they've had their eye on the North for a very long time as a strategic...
gem in itself because, you know, here it is between Afghanistan, the great game, the Russians, the location of it is tantalizing.
And while Ranjit Singh was alive, because his army was so strong and he was so much in control, they could not get their hands on it.
Now there is an absolute power vacuum.
A mother, a woman is in charge in the form of little Maharaja Dilip Singh's mother as the regent.
and a tiny boy, they then decide to attack.
There are two Anglo-Sikh wars.
Now, again, too much to go into right now, but it is absolutely the contention of the Sikhs that the Sikh empire was defeated because of skullduggery.
Because, you know, these Brits who came as friends, who promised to be friends and came and signed treaties, were in fact all the time...
And take this little boy.
Well, take the little boy and take the mother away from the boy and lock her in a tower and surround the little boy with men in shiny epaulettes who don't even speak the same language.
10 minutes walk or about half an hour John Logan's receipt I have seen a copy of it but you've seen the actual thing handed over to Dalhousie and it's sitting still in a country house in East Lothian you can't actually say Dalhousie without saying boo huge villain of this piece boo anyway so look the diamond is then transferred this little boy is forced to sign this document which he will spend the rest of his life
challenging saying you know what I was I was not in the age of majority how can this be a legal document you promised that you were my friend but you've taken everything this is the Queen Victoria you've taken everything from me this is this isn't right this isn't justice and I'll sue you in the courts and he tries doesn't get him very far but anyway