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In this episode Marlboro Man's outrageous takeover bid for inhaler company Vectura, A- Levels come to the end of the road, and a look behind the ring at boxing the business.  From the archives a cautionary traveller's tale from a wintry Istanbul and do you remember land borders?

In this episode we’re getting slightly spiritual. We chart the decline of the father of Celtic soul, Van Morrison, ask what is happening to Manchester’s skyline, visit the 50’s modernist masterpiece, Coventry Cathedral, and bring you an unlikely David & Goliath story from the world of Big Oil. From the archives, more highlights from “Band of Scholars”. This time we go back to January 1944 on the India/Burma border and a vivid account of a clash with Japanese forces by my father’s contemporary at Oxford, Kenneth Ingham. 

In this episode two contrasting good news stories from Ghana, a surprising side of Rupert Murdoch, a novice ornithologist spots a rare bird in North Wales, and the welcome revival of long form journalism. From the archives, a medley of short travel stories from South East Asia.

In this episode we give some personal historical context to Labour’s disastrous showing in the recent UK elections; we mark the death of Bernie Madoff with a look inside a Ponzi Scheme; travel to some of the UK’s remote and mysterious tidal islands and ask who was the artist known as William Black?  From the archives, it’s three years since my father died and I thought I would share some highlights from “Band of Scholars” a book I wrote about his and three of his contemporaries’ experience of active service in the Second World War. 

In this episode we take a sideways look at the 60th anniversary of the first manned space flight; we ask what Deliveroo’s disastrous stock market listing tells us about the business, and what is happening to our ash trees?  From the archives we meet a man called Tony Ganley and hear about his remarkable life.

This episode is about the arts: films, books and bookshops and we mark the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence with a look at this extraordinary country. From the archives it’s a business theme this month as we take an unusual trip to MacDonald’s and go to Switzerland for a peak behind the Rosti Curtain.

This episode is about ethical investing. What does it mean, how do you get started. We look at the practicalities of equity crowdfunding and at an unethical business that is trying to behave ethically.  Changing gears, literally, we glimpse the cosmos on the hills of North Wales, put some context on the latest events in Myanmar and the art of obituary writing by one of its greatest exponents, Ann Wroe. From the archives some off cuts from life in Britain -The Great British Jellyfish Survey and a couple of other curiosities.

This episode is loosely about heroes: Barack Obama, the prodemocracy activists in Hong Kong and Joe Wickes and Mark Cavendish. Also as we start to emerge from a global health and economic crisis a look back at the archives from the Credit Crunch of 2008/9. And because Seville Oranges are in the shops, my adventures in marmalade making.