D.B. Cooper – Robin Hood, or Dumb Fantasist?

On November 24, 1971, a man in his forties bought himself a plane ticket.

The Mysterious Death Of Edgar Allan Poe.

October 7, 1849 Edgar Allen Poe, the patron-saint of Gothic prose, dies. A far-cry from the talented, eloquent writer we all all know him to be – Poe dies a haggard, frail shell of a man. Four days before, he had been seen at Ryan’s Tavern in Balitmore, crashing into furniture in an apparently-drunken stupor

Knowledge is Power: The Tilly Smith Story

The seawater on Maikhao beach was beginning to froth. Like a fresh pint of beer, the bubbles in the ocean formed a white, cream-like foam on the top of the surface. Tilly Smith was ten years old at the time. She was on a Christmas holiday with her parents – for once, Christmas day was

The Man Who Saved the World

Stanislav Petrov was a Russian military officer whose career parallelled with the peak of the Cold War. There was major beef unfolding between the USSR and the United States – both sides were involved in a perpetual dick-measuring contest to see who was the true dominant force in the world. By 1983, things were getting

The Assassination of Andres Escobar

”Life doesn’t end here” – Andres Escobar proclaimed after his Colombia side were knocked out of the 1994 World Cup at the first hurdle. It had been a long road to get here, one rife with hardship and challenges – Colombia’s reputation had been dragged through the mud in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to

”Follow Your Passion” is Terrible Advice

I was stood on stage at graduation last summer and a man dressed in a gown and mortarboard looked at me square in the eye. ”You’ve done the hard work, now it’s time you follow your passion”. I nodded, thanked him, and pretended I knew what that was. You see, I had heard the phrase

Are Smartphones Ruining Our Lives?

Back in 2008, I received my first ever phone – the LG Chocolate. I was amazed – it was slick, small, streamlined, sophisticated, had a camera, and could even go on the Internet. I mean, the Internet browser was painfully slow, sure. However, the pure novelty of being able to go online without a computer

Joseph James DeAngelo – Serial Killer, Serial Coward.

Joseph James DeAngelo has pleaded guilty to the crimes that terrorised a state, and left an entire generation scarred for life. It’s a cathartic conclusion to a long and winding road – one that seemed dead-end for years. People had given up hope at one point in time. His arrest, and plea, have finally began

Fight the Power: The Fred Hampton Story

If 1968 was the year the world changed, the following year was its even darker, more sinister sequel. The Hippie dream was fading – and fading pretty fucking quickly. The Vietnam War was still ongoing, the Summer of Love had come and gone, and both Kennedy brothers had been shot dead. The attitude of the

Edward Bernays : The Power of Marketing Emotion

The average human is exposed to thousands of adverts every single day. Think of some of the famous slogans and catchphrases you’ve seen over the years (let me know any of particularly memorable ones in the comments!) and I bet your brain will be flooded with adverts from both today and yesteryear. But you only