World in Action, produced by Granada Television, is one of Britain's longest running current affairs programmes. First launched in 1963, World in Action was the first weekly current affairs programme in Britain to pioneer pictorial journalism on film and to risk taking an independent editorial stance. British settlement in Rhodesia began in the 1830s, and Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company assumed control in 1890s. Britain took over administration from the Company in 1923 and granted self-government to white colonists. Southern Rhodesia federated in 1953 with Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland with a view to achieving independence as a unified country. The Federation dissolved in 1963, and the three constituent countries pursued separate paths to independence. Britain rejected independence for the white Southern Rhodesia regime 1964, and the government unilaterally declared independence (UDI) in 1965 as Rhodesia. British colonial rule was briefly reimposed in 1979 in order to achieve a settlement, and independence was granted in 1980 under black majority rule as Zimbabwe.
From the guide to the Granada Television: World in Action transcripts: Rhodesia, 1963, 1963, (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)
