Dr. Christopher Kolade, veteran broadcaster, and former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the UK who clocked 90 on 28 December 2022 was an actor. He acted in the 1965 movie “Taiwo Shango,” directed by Klaus Stephan. Still photos of his role were sourced from Nina Fischer-Stephan’s collection and shared by Michael Williams on The Nigerian Nostalgia 1960 -1980 Project, FB.
Christopher Kolade, Howard Vernon and Elsie Olusola on the set of the film “Taiwo Shango” in Ilawe, 1965.
Apart from Kolade, Howard Vernon, Elsie Olusola, Segun Olusola, Kola Ogunmola, Yinka Akereke and Ralph Opara, as well as Fela Kuti’s Koola Lobitos were featured.
As contained in a story, From Germany to Nigeria Soon: Christopher Kolade Stars in 1965 Movie, published on this platform on Sunday, August 22, 2021, Kolade, is a man of many parts. He is a boardroom and management guru and veteran broadcaster. What is new about the man’s persona is being a film actor.
‘This was revealed by Oliver Stephan in Nigeria Nostalgia 1960-1980 Project. In the photograph, he revealed that here is Dr Christopher Kolade, Howard Vernon and Elsie Olusola “on the set of my father’s film Taiwo Shango in Ilawe, 1965.” It was directed by Klaus Stephan.
Stephen revealed that he is “currently supplying the movie with English subtitles from the original shooting script, as the film has survived in the German dubbing version alone.” The University of Bayreuth, according to him, is handling the project.
The movie, according to Stephan, was shown on German TV in 1965 and was afterwards meant to be shown at various international film festivals, but that never happened. “In the meantime, copyright has passed on to me, and I am curating the movie along with my mother’s photographs.”
He added sadly, though, that only the version dubbed in German seems to have survived, the original English version is apparently lost. “However, I am in possession of my father’s original English script, which would enable me to have an English version (dubbed or with subtitles) produced. As Segun Olusola has pointed out in several interviews, this movie is the first feature film produced in Nigeria and thus, I suppose, marks the beginning of Nollywood.”’
The Man, Kolade
Dr Christopher Kolade was born in Erin -Oke, Osun State, Nigeria on 28 December 1932. After his secondary school education at Government College, Ibadan, he studied at Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
He is a veteran broadcaster and was Director-General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. He was Chief Executive and Chairman of Cadbury Nigeria Plc and formerly the Nigerian High Commissioner to The United Kingdom. He taught Corporate Governance and Human Resources Management at Lagos Business School (LBS), and Leadership and Conflict Management at the School of Media and Communication (SMC).
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