Basil Davidson (born 9 November 1914 in Bristol England) is an acclaimed writer and Africanist historian with leftist leanings. Before the carnation revolution, he was a particaulr expert in Portuguese Africa. November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and between the cities of Bath, Gloucester and the borough of Swindon. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: it is not encyclopedic If you disagree with its speedy deletion, please explain why on its talk page or at Wikipedia:Speedy deletions. ... A historian is someone who writes history, and history is a written accounting of the past. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... The Carnation Revolution (Portuguese, Revolução dos Cravos) was an almost bloodless, left-leaning, military-led revolution started on April 25, 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, that effectively changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a liberal democracy after a two-year process of a Left-wing semi-military...

He has written several books and movies on the current plight of Africa. Colonialism and the rise of African emancipation movements have been central preoccupations of his work.

He is an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The School of Oriental and African Studies (commonly abbreviated to SOAS) is a College of the University of London. ...

From 1939, he was a reporter for the London "Economist" in Paris, France. From December 1939, he was a Secret Intelligence Service (SIS)/MI-6 D Section (sabotage) officer sent to Bucharest to establish a news service as cover. In April 1941, with the Nazi invasion, he fled to Belgrade, Yugoslavia. From late 1942 to mid-1943, he was chief of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) Yugoslav Section in Cairo, Egypt, where he was James Klugmann's supervisor. After the war, he was Paris correspondent for "The Times," "Daily Herald," "New Statesman," and the "Daily Mirror."

Awards

Davidson's book "The Lost Cities of Africa" won him the 1960 Anisfield-Wolf Award, for the best book that dealt with racial problems in creative literature. His work on African history won the 1970 Gold Medal from Haile Selassie. In 1976, he won the Medalha Amilcar Cabral. He received honorary degrees from the Open University of Great Britain in 1980, and the University of Edinburgh in 1981. For his film "Africa," he won the Gold Award, from the International Film and Television Festival of New York in 1984. He has won various other awards. Haile Selassie Haile Selassie (Power of Trinity) (July 23, 1892 – August 27, 1975) was the last Emperor (1930–1936; 1941–1974) of Ethiopia, and is a religious symbol in the Rastafarian movement. ... Affiliations EADTU, MSACS Website www. ...

Selected Books

• . Let Freedom Come: Africa in Modern History
• . The Black Man's Burden;
• . A History of Africa
• . Lost Cities of Africa
• . African Kingdoms
• . African Civilization Revisited: From Antiquity to Modern Times
• . Partisan Picture
• . Golden Horn (novel)
• . Special Operations Europe: Scenes From the Anti-Nazi War (1980)

His works are required reading in many British universities. He is globally recognized as an expert on African History. He currently lives in Somerset, England and frequently travels to Africa.