Distinguished friends
- Maria Adebowale-Schwarte
- Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia
- Rajesh Agrawal
- Riz Ahmed
- Sughra Ahmed
- Keith Ajegbo
- Claire Alexander
- Kitty Arie
- Julian Baggini
- Zelda Baveystock
- Haidee Bell
- Richard Beswick
- Dinesh Bhugra
- Karan Bilimoria
- Geoffrey Bindman
- Karen Blackett
- Nicholas Blake
- Ian Blatchford
- David Blunkett
- Hina Bokhari
- Mihir Bose
- Alain de Botton
- John Bowers
- Stephen Briganti
- Des Browne
- Mukti Jain Campion
- Paul Canoville
- Gus Casely-Hayford
- Michael Cashman
- Saimo Chahal
- Reeta Chakrabarti
- Shami Chakrabarti
- Stephen Claypole
- Robin Cohen
- Linda Colley
- David Crystal
- Angélica Dass
- Prakash Daswani
- Sandie Dawe
- Navnit Dholakia
- Sherry Dobbin
- Ibrahim Dogus
- Lloyd Dorfman
- Alf Dubs
- John Dyson
- Damien Egan
- Graeme Farrow
- Shreela Flather
- Daniel Franklin
- Edie Friedman
- Manjit Singh Gill
- Teresa Graham
- Ann Grant
- Susie Harries
- Naomie Harris
- James Hathaway
- David Hencke
- Sophie Herxheimer
- Afua Hirsch
- Michael Howard
- Clive Jacobs
- Kevin Jennings
- Adrian Johns
- Shobu Kapoor
- Malik Karim
- Jackie Kay
- Ayub Khan-Din
- Francesca Klug
- Tony Kushner
- Kwasi Kwarteng
- Kwame Kwei-Armah
- David Kynaston
- Brian Lambkin
- Mark Lewisohn
- Joanna Lumley
- Michael Mansfield
- Sue McAlpine
- Neil Mendoza
- Nick Merriman
- Abigail Morris
- Hugh Muir
- Tessa Murdoch
- Sandy Nairne
- Bushra Nasir
- Susheila Nasta
- Eithne Nightingale
- John O’Farrell
- Kenneth Olisa
- Kunle Olulode
- Julia Onslow-Cole
- John Orna-Ornstein
- Herman Ouseley
- Sameer Pabari
- Ruth Padel
- Panikos Panayi
- Bhikhu Parekh
- Nikesh Patel
- David Pearl
- Caryl Phillips
- Mike Phillips
- Trevor Phillips
- Sunand Prasad
- Kavita Puri
- Charles Rix
- Trevor Robinson
- Aubrey Rose
- Michael Rosen
- Cathy Ross
- Salman Rushdie
- Jill Rutter
- Philippe Sands
- Sathnam Sanghera
- Konrad Schiemann
- Richard Scott
- Stephen Sedley
- Maggie Semple
- Babita Sharma
- Nikesh Shukla
- Jon Snow
- Sonia Solicari
- Robert Soning
- David Spence
- Danny Sriskandarajah
- Stelio Stefanou
- Dick Taverne
- Jane Thompson
- Robert Tombs
- Rumi Verjee
- Patrick Vernon
- Edmund de Waal
- Iqbal Wahhab
- Yasmin Waljee
- David Warren
- Iain Watson
- Debbie Weekes-Bernard
- Henning Wehn
- Nat Wei
- Janet Whitaker
- Gary Younge
Presenting the history of Britain’s immigrants - and emigrants – it’s really the story of who we are. I was born and grew up in Sri Lanka where my father worked for a trading company, so I am also part of Britain’s history of trade, colonies and the Commonwealth. I think this is an important and timely project and am delighted to be able to support it
Sandie Dawe
Sandie Dawe CBE spent 30 years in the tourism industry, most recently as chief executive of VisitBritain. She led the national strategy to maximise the tourism benefits of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, played a leading role in the UK Government’s ‘GREAT’ global marketing campaign, and saw tourism numbers reach record levels.
Sandie is passionate about bringing history to life and reaching as broad an audience as possible, whether they be overseas visitors, young children and their families, or those who feel excluded by dint of education, relevance or affluence.
Since leaving VisitBritain in 2014 Sandie’s non-executive roles reflect her interests and experience – they include the National Lottery Heritage Fund, London & Partners and Kids in Museums. She is currently a Commissioner of Historic England and a Trustee of Culture Perth & Kinross.
In 2008 Sandie was awarded an MBE and in 2015 a CBE for services to the tourism industry.