Basil Davidson Basil Risbridger Davidson MC ( 9 November 1914 – 9 July 2010 ) was a British historian , writer and Africanist , particularly knowledgeable on the subject of Portuguese Africa prior to the 1974 Carnation Revolution . He wrote several books on the current plight of Africa . Colonialism and the rise of African emancipation movements were central themes of his work . He was an Honorary Fellow of the School of Oriental and African Studies ( SOAS ) in London . Biography . Born in Bristol , England , Davidson was a reporter until 1939 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 Budapest to establish a news service as cover . In April 1941 , with the Nazi invasion , he fled to Belgrade , Yugoslavia . In May , he was captured by Italian forces and was later released as part of a prisoner exchange . 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 . He parachuted into Bosnia on 16 August 1943 , and spent the following months serving as a liaison with the Partisans , as he would describe in his 1946 book , " Partisan Picture " . Davidson moved east into Srem and the Fruška Gora . He was nearly captured or killed several times . SOE higher - ups sent him to Hungary to try to organize a rebel movement there , but Davidson found that the conditions weren ' t ripe and crossed back over the Danube into the Fruska Gora . The Germans encircled the Fruška Gora in June 1944 in a last attempt to liquidate the Partisans there , but Davidson and the others made a narrow escape . After the Soviets moved into Yugoslavia , Davidson was airlifted out . Davidson had enormous appreciation for the Partisans and Tito . From January 1945 Davidson was liaison officer with partisans in Liguria and Genoa , Italy . He was present for the surrender of the German forces in Genoa on 26 / 27 April to these same partisans also known as the CLN . After the war , he was Paris correspondent for " The Times " , " Daily Herald " , " New Statesman " and the " Daily Mirror " . From 1951 , he became a well - known authority on African history , an unfashionable subject in the 1950s . His writings emphasised the pre - colonial achievements of Africans , the disastrous effects of the Atlantic slave trade , the further damage inflicted on Africa by European colonialism and the baleful effects of the nation state in Africa . 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 . He was the recipient of the 1970 Haile Selassie I Prize Trust award for his works on African history . The prize of a Gold Medal and Eth $ 40 , 000 was presented to him at a ceremony in Addis Ababa by Emperor Haile Selassie on 2 November 1970 . In 1976 , he won the Medalha Amílcar Cabral . He received honorary degrees from the Open University of Great Britain in 1980 , and the University of Edinburgh in 1981 . For his film series " Africa " , he won the Gold Award , from the International Film and Television Festival of New York in 1984 . He also won various other awards . Death . Davidson died on 9 July 2010 , aged 95 .