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Dominique Olivier
Dominique Olivier
Concorde: an Icarian tale
The Concorde promised to change air travel forever. In the end, it became a luxury way to literally buy yourself time - until disaster struck. In this tale of Supersonic boom to bust, Dominique Olivier explains why air travel still takes so long these days.
Dominique Olivier
The Nazi who was tried as a pirate
The scale and nature of Adolf Eichmann’s crimes placed them outside the reach of conventional legal frameworks. To hold him accountable, one court turned to a centuries-old doctrine designed to prosecute those who were considered enemies of all humanity. Dominique Olivier tells the astonishing story of how one Nazi almost got away.
Dominique Olivier
Bad taste is still taste
A film widely labelled as "the worst ever made" has spent two decades selling out midnight screenings. This raises an awkward possibility: maybe the line between “bad” and “good” is less stable than we like to think. Dominique Olivier introduces you to the cultural phenomenon that is The Room.
Dominique Olivier
From spelunker to spactacle: the Floyd Collins story
A desperate bid to create Kentucky’s next cave attraction spiralled into one of America’s first media frenzies. Floyd Collins went underground in a bid to attract tourists and ended up as the spectacle they came to see. Dominique Olivier tells this extraordinary tale.
Dominique Olivier
The problem with obedience
One of history's most unsettling experiments shows us that ethics tend to fall by the wayside when people are "following orders".
Is this inherent flaw in humanity an area where AI might have the moral upper hand? Dominique Olivier explores this concept by taking us through Stanley Milgram's famous experiment from the 1960s. As always, the history books teach us a valuable lesson.
Dominique Olivier
The money that makes the medallist
If you’ve ever watched an Olympic podium ceremony and thought, “Wow, must be nice,” you’re not alone. But the truth is far less glamorous than the gold glinting under those stadium lights. Behind every medal is a paper trail of budgets, grants, sponsorships and support staff invoices. Somewhere in a government office, there's a spreadsheet that makes the Minister of Sport choke on a coffee. Dominique Olivier explores the money that makes the medallist.
Dominique Olivier
The Pony Express: you can’t outrun progress
From galloping horses to "typing..." bubbles, we’ve spent centuries chasing faster ways to communicate. Clarity, it turns out, hasn’t kept the same pace. Still, a difficult recent WhatsApp exchange reminded Dominique Olivier that it used to be much harder to send a message. This is the tale of the Pony Express.
Dominique Olivier
When bad art becomes good tourism
From Ecce Homo to Ecce Mono, this is the story of how a mildly shocking attempt at art restoration became an internet meme and subsequently a tourism opportunity for the town of Borja. Dominique Olivier tells this tale of the journey from failure to fame.
