Great British Bake Off star Briony Williams has said she is "not sorry" that the Edward Colston statue is at the bottom of the harbour and has hit out at her former school, Colston's Girls School, for not teaching its students about his links to slavery.
Briony, who is from Bristol and still lives here, says she and her fellow students were taught about "all the good things" he did for Bristol, rather than his links to the slave trade.
Edward Colston donated much of his wealth to the city, but acquired his money and property through the slave trade in Bristol during the 17th century.
Briony, who is best known for appearing on the Great British Bake Off in 2018, said on social media that she had to "teach herself" after the school failed to mention how Colston had acquired his enormous sum of money.
In the Instagram post, she says: "I went to Colston’s Girls’ School, I was Head Girl and I am not sorry to see that statue end up in the docks.
"Every year we would wear a bronze chrysanthemum to commemoration because that was Edward Colston’s favourite flower.
"We were told about all the good things he did for the city, founding our school being one of them.
"We were not educated about the fact that he brought 100,000 slaves over from West Africa, 20,000 of them lost their lives on the journey. They left that bit out.
"I’m educating myself and it makes me sad to my soul that we celebrated this man. What makes me even sadder is the thought of my Black classmates having to sit through it and be told to be grateful.
"People may argue that this was not the way to get the statue removed but after years of petitions, protests and nothing happened.
"I urge you to listen to Vanessa Kisuule’s poem about the statue coming down, I’ve put it in my stories and will add it to the BLM highlight, her eloquence far exceeds mine on the matter. To quote Vanessa, ‘Rust in Shame, Eddie’ #blacklivesmatter."
Colston's Girls School has been approached for comment.
