Shrabani Basu | |
---|---|
Born | Kolkata, India |
Occupation | Journalist, writer and historian |
Education | |
Genre | History |
Notable works | Victoria & Abdul: The true story of the Queen's closest confidant |
Children | 2 |
Website | |
Official website |
Shrabani Basu is an Indian journalist and historian, and the author of several books including Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant (2010), which was based on the friendship between Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim. It was subsequently adapted into the film Victoria & Abdul (2017). Earlier she authored Spy Princess: The life of Noor Inayat Khan (2006), following which she founded the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust and campaigned for a memorial to Khan, which resulted in the erection of a bust in Gordon Square, London. In 2020, she unveiled a Blue Plaque outside Khan's London home on Taviton Street.
After compiling the stories of Indian men sent to Europe in 1914, she published For King and Another Country (2015), a book describing some of India's contributions in the First World War. Later she wrote a book about how Arthur Conan Doyle proved the innocence of an Indian lawyer, George Edalji, in the Midlands; The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji and the case of the foreigner in the English village (2021).
Shrabani Basu was born in Kolkata and grew up in Dhaka, Kathmandu and Delhi. She studied history at St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and gained a master's degree from Delhi University. [1]
Her career in journalism started in 1983, when she became a trainee journalist for The Times of India in Mumbai. [2] In 1987 she moved to London and worked for the Calcutta-based newspaper Anandabazar Patrika and The Telegraph. [3]
Basu studied Jean Overton Fuller's biography of Noor Inayat Khan, interviewed Khan's relatives, and extracted data from her SOE personal files, to write Spy Princess: The life of Noor Inayat Khan . [4] It was published in 2006. [5] Following her campaign for a memorial for Noor Inayat Khan in 2010, a bust in her memory was subsequently erected in Gordon Square, London, near Khan's house. [6] Princess Anne unveiled the memorial in 2012. [7] In 2020, Basu unveiled a Blue Plaque that was installed by English Heritage outside Khan's London home on Taviton Street. [8] As of 2021, Spy Princess is being adapted into a TV series, written by Olivia Hetreed, and in consultation with Basu. [9]
In the 1990s, during her research on the history of curry, she came across the story of Abdul Karim. After carrying out historical research on the subject she wrote Victoria & Abdul: The true story of the Queen's closest confidant , a book based on the friendship between Queen Victoria and Karim. It was then adapted into the film Victoria & Abdul (2017), which featured Dame Judi Dench and Ali Fazal. [10] [11]
Her book The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer, was released in 2021. [12] [13] It describes the story of a young Indian lawyer, George Edalji, who hired Arthur Conan Doyle to prove his innocence. [5] [14]
After compiling the stories of Indian men sent to Europe in 1914, she published For King and Another Country (2015), a book describing some of India's contributions in the First World War. [15] [16]
Her dedications made in her books show that Basu's father was Chitta Ranjan Basu. [17] She has two sisters, [18] and two daughters. [19]
Irene Adler is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A former opera singer and actress, she was featured in the short story "A Scandal in Bohemia", published in July 1891. Adler is one of the most notable female characters in the Sherlock Holmes series, despite appearing in only one story. While not technically a criminal and bearing no malice towards Holmes, she outsmarts him and evades his traps. Sherlock Holmes refers to her afterwards respectfully as "the Woman".
Mumtaz Mahal was the empress consort of Mughal Empire from 1628 to 1631 as the chief consort of the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World, was commissioned by her husband to act as her tomb.
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, GC, also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, was a British resistance agent in France in World War II who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially those occupied by Nazi Germany.
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George Ernest Thompson Edalji was an English solicitor and son of a vicar of Indian Parsi descent in a Staffordshire village. He became known as a victim of a miscarriage of justice for having served three years' hard labour after being convicted on a charge of injuring a pony. He was initially regarded having been responsible for the series of animal mutilations known as the Great Wyrley Outrages, but the prosecution case against him became regarded as weak and prejudiced. He was pardoned on the grounds of the conviction being an unsafe one after a campaign in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took a prominent role.
Jean Overton Fuller was a British author best known for her book Madeleine, the story of Noor Inayat Khan, an Allied SOE agent during the Second World War.
Arthur & George (2005) is the tenth novel by English author Julian Barnes which takes as its basis the true story of the "Great Wyrley Outrages".
Major Joseph Antoine France Antelme OBE, no. 239255, was one of 14 Franco-Mauritians who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a World War II British secret service that sent espionage agents, saboteurs and guerrilla fighters into enemy-occupied territory.
Pirani Ameena Begum was the wife of Sufi Master Inayat Khan and the mother of their four children: World War II SOE agent Noor-un-Nisa (1914–1944), Vilayat (1916–2004), Hidayat (1917–2016) and Khair-un-Nisa (Claire) (1919–2011).
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a Thanksgiving Service at Westminster Abbey, and a banquet to which 50 European kings and princes were invited.
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The Girl Who Couldn't Quite is a 1950 British drama film directed by Norman Lee and starring Bill Owen, Elizabeth Henson and Iris Hoey. It is based on the 1947 stage play of the same name by Leo Marks.
Mohammed Abdul Karim, also known as "the Munshi", was an Indian attendant of Queen Victoria. He served her during the final fourteen years of her reign, gaining her maternal affection over that time.
Sir James Reid, 1st Baronet, was a British doctor who served as physician-in-ordinary to three British monarchs, Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V.
Victoria & Abdul is a 2017 British biographical historical drama film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Lee Hall. The film is based on the book Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant by Shrabani Basu, about the real-life relationship between Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her Indian Muslim servant Abdul Karim. It stars Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Michael Gambon, Eddie Izzard, Tim Pigott-Smith, and Adeel Akhtar. The film had its world premiere at the 74th Venice Film Festival and was theatrically released on 15 September 2017 in the United Kingdom. It has grossed over $65 million worldwide.
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Sir John William Tyler FRCS (Edin.) CIE was a British surgeon and superintendent of the central prison in Agra, India, a position he held for 14 years. While superintendent he developed the prison as an important manufacturing centre for high-quality carpets. In 1886, he escorted 34 Indians, mostly prisoners, to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 in London, where their craftsmanship in weaving carpets was displayed. At Queen Victoria's request, he recruited the servant Abdul Karim, later known as "the Munshi", who served her for the last 14 years of her life.
Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant is a book about Queen Victoria and her Munshi Abdul Karim, researched and written by Shrabani Basu, published by The History Press in 2010, and adapted to produce the feature film Victoria & Abdul in 2017.
Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan is a book that traces the life of children's story writer and decorated British secret agent of the Second World War, Noor Inayat Khan. It was researched and written by Shrabani Basu, and first published in the United Kingdom in 2006 by Sutton Publishing. The book has a foreword by M. R. D. Foot and contains information from her formerly secret personal Special Operations Executive (SOE) files, released in 2003.