Kate Ewart-Biggs was just eight years-old, when her father, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the former British Ambassador to Ireland was assassinated by the IRA, just two weeks after the family arrived into the country. Looking back on that day in 1976, Ewart-Biggs says she spent “a lovely morning” with her father, before he left their home to attend an official meeting. Minutes later, the explosion from a bomb which detonated underneath her father’s car could be heard as she played in their front garden. Following the death of her mother to cancer more than a decade later, Kate left Britain and took off to Africa, where she lived and worked for many years. She also spent time in Brazil working with street children and disadvantaged groups. It was these experiences which ultimately reshaped her view of the world and paved the way for her current role as Deputy Chief Executive of the British Council. In this episode, she tells Kathy Sheridan about the work and global reach of the British Council, her life growing up in a diplomatic family and the brief time she spent in Ireland before her father was murdered. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.