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Dr Yasmin Khan explores an extraordinary collection of ships' passenger lists to trace the changing story of migration from the Indian subcontinent to Britain over three key decades.

Yasmin returns to the passenger lists to unearth the stories of those travelling on the great ocean liner the Batory, in the 1950s. The decade was one of momentous change for Britain - the postwar boom and a shortage of workers encouraged people from across the new Commonwealth to make the journey to Britain. The Batory's passengers were part of this wave of arrivals, coming to seek their fortunes and they were to change the country in ways no one had predicted. The search takes Yasmin from the terraced streets of inner-city Liverpool, to the factories of the Midlands, to deep within secret government archives.

Yasmin uncovers the extraordinary story of Bachan Singh, an ambitious young man from a village in the Punjab, who found freedom in the pubs and clubs of 1950s Liverpool, before making it big in the local ice cream trade. The story of a 30-year-old on board, Ahmed Takolia, takes Yasmin to the heartlands of fifties manufacturing, the Midlands. Here she discovers an untold history of segregation in British factories, and goes on the search for the truth behind a 50-year-old urban myth. Another passenger, a bright medical student, stepped off the Batory in 1956, dreaming of playing a part in the world's first public health service, Yasmin tracks down his daughter to discover why his hopes were dashed.

The Batory's passengers, and the thousands of others from the Indian subcontinent who arrived in this decade, were the subject of intense government scrutiny. Secret files, only recently released, reveal the lengths the authorities were prepared to go to make life difficult for the newcomers and the racket in fake passports that resulted from this. Stories of courage, desperation and determination to forge a new life in a strange land give a fascinating new perspective on the early British Asian communities.