With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Channel 4's Endgame tells story of secret apartheid talks in English country house (UK)

Endgame, a "political thriller", which depicts the final days of apartheid, focuses on the talks held at an English country house in the late 1980s.

At Mells Park in Somerset, Thabo Mbeki, then a member of the African National Congress, met representatives of P W Botha's white regime.

The film, produced by Channel 4, and shot in England and South Africa, stars the Hollywood actor William Hurt as Prof Willie Esterhuyse, who represented P W Botha's government, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, the British actor, as Mbeki.

The talks were arranged by Michael Young, a British businessman, played in the film by Jonny Lee Miller, who was working for a mining company that was seeking to secure its future by ensuring stability in South Africa.

At the mining company's retreat in Somerset, Prof Esterhuyse sat down with his opponents from the ANC, led by Mbeki, the future president...
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)