We’re The Only Plane In The Sky
The story of the eight hours President George W Bush and his team spent in the air in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th attacks, told through the testimony of those present on board.
A Lost World of Shipwrecks Is Found
A trove of extremely well preserved vessels has been found in the Black Sea, some a thousand years old.
The Wreck
The dramatic tale of the sinking of a passenger steamer in the Atlantic, 150 miles from Boston, the personal consequences for those involved, and efforts by treasure hunters to find the wreck.
Europe’s Famed Bog Bodies Are Starting to Reveal Their Secrets
This is the story of Tollund Man, found in a peat bog in Denmark in 1950. He was in remarkable condition given that he had died 2,300 years previously – his face wearing a cryptic half-smile, much of the rest of his body intact, and a noose tied tight around his neck.
The Reckoning
A piece revisiting a celebrated series of documentaries about the Ganiga tribe in Papua New Guinea and their fractured interactions with Australian prospectors. The author looks at how the story has progressed in the thirty years since The New York Times said of the first instalment_Ñ_Òwatching it feels like taking an inspired crash course in economics and cultural anthropology.
Thus spake Albert
A piece looking at the prevalence of Albert Einstein aphorisms in the public consciousness_Ñ_at an extraordinary level even for someone of his stellar reputation. The story examines his sayings and how they were in some cases applied in his own life and times.
The Bloody Family History of the Guillotine
This piece examines the history of the guillotine and of France’s hereditary role of executioner – both inextricably entwined with the events of the French Revolution.
The Daimons’ Wisdom
A biographer of Machiavelli looks to Florentine history for lessons in the battle to preserve the rule of law in the face of tyranny.
Queens of Infamy: Anne Boleyn
An irreverent but warm reappraisal of Anne Boleyn and “Tudor England’s big-sleeved game of thrones”.
The Week the World Almost Ended
As tensions rise around North Korea’s bellicose rhetoric, a look back at the time during the Reagan Presidency when a misunderstanding nearly led to nuclear apocalypse.