This Really Happened In Africa

Part two picks up on the morning of the twenty two million dollar coronation. Broken air conditioning, four thousand guests, an emperor an hour late. Bokassa takes the crown off its cushion and puts it on his own head, the way Napoleon did. That night at dinner he leans over to the French minister beside him and says the sentence that follows him for the rest of his life.We cover the coronation, what happened after it, and why and how Bokassa became the world's shorthand for African madness. Main Source: Dark Age: The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa by Brian TitleyCREDITSA Kiata Studios productionHosted by Temidayo Abass, Victor Anih and Korede IzoboWritten and researched by Temidayo Abass.Recording and mixing engineer Oluwasegun "Olay" OlayinkaOriginal trailer music composed by Oluwaloni Familoni and Oluwasegun "Olay" OlayinkaVocals (Trailer music) by Babajide Oyekunle, Oluwaloni Familoni, Temidayo Abass, and Korede Izobo.

In 1977 a man crowned himself Emperor of Central Africa. And France paid for it. In this episode, we break down the story behind it.Jean-Bédel Bokassa was six years old when a French concession company beat his father to death in a town square. One week later his mother took her own life. The same country that did this then educated him, named him, and gave him twenty-two years in its army.Part one takes him from the Lobaye basin to the French colonial army, through the coup of 1966, the Napoleon obsession, the diamonds and hunting concessions that bound him to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the uranium, and the deal in which France agreed to pay for an imperial coronation in one of the poorest countries on earth.Main Source: Dark Age: The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa by Brian TitleyCREDITS A Kiata Studios production Hosted by Temidayo Abass, Victor Anih and Korede Izobo Written and researched by Temidayo Abass. Recording and mixing engineer Oluwasegun "Olay" Olayinka Original trailer music composed by Oluwaloni Familoni and Oluwasegun "Olay" Olayinka Vocals (Trailer music) by Babajide Oyekunle, Oluwaloni Familoni, Temidayo Abass, and Korede Izobo.

In January 1941, the Earl of Erroll was found shot dead in his car outside Nairobi. He was the most infamous womanizer of Kenya's Happy Valley set, a circle of British aristocrats who traded England's rules for a highland paradise of adultery, cocaine, morphine, and endless parties, built on land taken from the people who lived there.When Erroll fell for Diana, the young wife of the newly arrived Sir Jock Delves Broughton, the affair spiraled toward murder. This episode traces the whole descent: who these people were, what really happened the night Erroll died, the trial that captivated a world at war, and the question that outlived everyone involved. Who killed Lord Erroll?Contains descriptions of drug use, sexual content, suicide, and racism. Listener discretion advised.

Out of prison and out of options, Blay-Miezah invents the Oman Ghana Trust Fund, a fake multi billion dollar fortune tied to Kwame Nkrumah. Investors hand over their savings, presidents take him seriously, and somehow he keeps walking free.We cover the forged documents, the bounced checks, his run for president, his years hiding in London, and the 60 Minutes investigation that finally exposed him.Listen to Part 1 first if you haven't already. This is how a man with nothing convinced the world he had everything.

In 1975, a man walked out of a Ghanaian prison with nothing but a story, and that story would go on to swindle millions across three continents. Meet John Ackah Blay-Miezah: the "Kerosene Boy" from a small village in western Ghana who charmed his way into the company of presidents, diplomats, and billionaires.This week on This Really Happened In Africa, we trace how one man's obsession with a stolen kingdom, a dead president's legacy, and a web of beautiful lies made him one of the greatest con artists the world has never heard of.Main Source: Anansi's Gold: The Man who Swindled the World by Yepoka Yeebo Roving Heights- https://rhbooks.com.ng/product/anansis-gold-the-man-who-swindled-the-world/ Amazon- https://www.amazon.com/Anansis-Gold-Outfoxed-Washington-Swindled/dp/1635574730 Follow us: https://linktr.ee/thisreallyhappenedpod HOSTS: Temidayo Abass, Victor Anih & Korede Izobo RESEARCH & WRITING: Temidayo Abass VIDEO EDITING: Elijah Adediran ORIGINAL MUSIC: Oluwasegun 'Olay' Olayinka & Oluwaloni Familoni AUDIO RECORDING: Oluwasegun 'Olay' Olayinka for Synergy Studios MIXING & MASTERING: Oluwasegun 'Olay' Olayinka A Kiata Studios Production