Professor David Olusoga - The Global History of the British Cup of Tea

Professor David Olusoga brings his new talk, The Global History of the British Cup of Tea, to the Assembly Hall on Saturday 7 November. It's a brand-new piece of work, and the whole thing is built around a single, everyday object: the British cup of tea. Olusoga uses art, photography, history and a fair bit of humour to trace its story, framing it as a global one rather than just a domestic habit. He maps out more than 350 years of British history, and in doing so, ties it to China, India, the Americas and beyond.

It's a wide-reaching sweep that pulls in the big moments you've probably heard of — the Boston Tea Party, the Opium Wars and the British East India Company — and shows how they're all connected to that one drink. If you've ever wondered how a leaf from the other side of the world became such a British staple, this is where you'll find the answer.

Olusoga is a BAFTA-winning public historian who's become a household name over the last few years. He's interviewed US President Barack Obama twice, made the final of the BBC series Celebrity Traitors and presented Empire on BBC2, with a new series of A House Through Time scheduled for Spring 2026. He's also written or co-authored eight books, including Black & British: A Forgotten History, which won the Longman-History Today Trustees Award and the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize.

The talk is recommended for ages 14 and over, and it doesn't end when he stops speaking — there's a Q&A afterwards, followed by a book signing. It starts at 7:30pm and runs for 100 minutes, with tickets from £23.75 plus a £1.75 transaction fee. The Assembly Hall is on Stoke Abbott Road, BN11 1HQ, in Worthing.