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Dominique Olivier
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.
Dominique Olivier
What does Barbra Streisand have in common with Swedish pirates?
Humans are curious creatures. Tell us something is forbidden and suddenly it’s the only thing we want to see. Hide information and we’ll dig for it. Try to erase something and we’ll screenshot it, repost it, remix it, and turn it into a meme before the PR company has finished drafting the apology statement. Dominique Olivier explains the root of the "Streisand effect" and other examples just like it.
Dominique Olivier
The plant that monopolised Christmas
A festive staple with a surprisingly cutthroat backstory, the poinsettia’s rise to Christmas royalty is tangled up with colonial meddling, corporate monopolies, and a global plant arms race. This is the unlikely tale of how a fragile Mexican shrub became one of the most powerful products in the modern holiday economy, as told by Dominique Olivier.
Dominique Olivier
The man who sold a country that didn’t exist
This is the tale of the rise and fall of a nation that existed only on paper, and the man who convinced thousands that it was real. Dominique Olivier entertains and shocks you with the story of Gregor MacGregor, one of the most extraordinary frauds in history.
Dominique Olivier
The South Sea bubble: a financial crash to remember
If you’ve been watching the current frenzy around artificial intelligence - the breathless predictions, the overnight billionaires, the declarations that civilisation is either saved or doomed - you may feel a faint sense of déjà vu as you read Dominique Olivier's tale of The South Sea Company bubble. It even caught out Sir Isaac Newton!
Dominique Olivier
A succulent crime story
How did a lockdown hobby turn into an ecological emergency? In the stillness of the Karoo, poachers aren’t after gold or ivory, but thumb-sized succulents so coveted that entire species are vanishing into the black market.
