Well I’ll say this for my satnav – it’s taken me to places I’d never have seen without it. In the old days if I wanted to get from A to B, I’d get out my road atlas and plot what seemed to be the most obvious route between the two. I’d have no idea whether I’d picked the best … Read More

At a recent climate change conference David Attenborough told world leaders, ‘Time is running out. The continuation of civilisations and the natural world is in your hands.’   Now like many people I try to take seriously my responsibility to look after the planet – I recycle everything I can, I compost my peelings and tea bags, and last year … Read More

Had Thomas Brinley renewed a patent he might have become very rich and very famous. It was 1961 and he had invented the world’s first digital timepiece. He took out a patent on his invention to stop anyone from copying it, but sadly didn’t have the facilities to fulfil an order to produce 20 of the clocks in time for … Read More

Given my fear of heights the last place I’d ever be found is walking along the latest Chinese tourist attraction – a skywalk in East Taihang province. Perched over a kilometre above sea level the transparent floor is just 3cm thick. Before venturing out every tourist has to decide whether they think the floor will hold their weight, or whether … Read More

It appears that John Allen Chau lost his life attempting to bring the Good News of Jesus to a remote tribe on North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean. Why did he bother and was he right to try to do so?   When I became a Christian some of my friends said that while they were pleased that I … Read More

No doubt your inbox has been as full as mine has this week with exciting Black Friday deals from every retailer you’ve ever placed an order with, as well as plenty you haven’t! Let’s face it, we all love paying less than the asking price and with Christmas just around the corner who can resist? With about a third of … Read More

You probably won’t have noticed but the kilogram isn’t quite what it used to be. Since 1889 the perfect platinum-based kilogram, known as Le Grand K, has been held in a safe in Paris. It sets the standard for every other kilogram in the world. The only problem is that it’s been losing weight as it slowly deteriorates with the … Read More

Sometimes being rich doesn’t guarantee you everything you want. Sometimes you need to be tall as well. Tom Cruise is famous for playing the action hero in the Mission Impossible film franchise. So in 2012 he seemed the natural choice to play Jack Reacher when Lee Child’s books hit the big screen. The only problem was that in the books … Read More

The poet Steve Turner once penned these lines:   History repeats itself. Has to. No one listens.   One hundred years ago the guns finally fell silent on the Western Front and the appalling cost of the conflict began to be counted. It was the first war in which people had been killed on an industrial scale and in which … Read More

Near the main entrance of Westminster Abbey lies The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Brought from the battlefield of the Western Front and buried ‘amongst the kings’ this unknown soldier represents the countless thousands who gave their lives in the First World War.   His body was laid to rest on 11thNovember 1920 in the presence of the Royal Family, … Read More