In the Studio: Sophie Hannah

*** This programme contains graphic descriptions of body mutilation *** In the Nepalese Himalaya, one of the world’s rarest and most spiritually profound funeral rites is still practised: the Sky Burial. In some circumstances when a person dies, their body is offered to wild vult ...  Show more

In 1867, the US government bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars. At the time, critics questioned the value of purchasing such an inhospitable and remote territory. Yet today, due to its abundance of natural resources, America’s largest state has proved to be a signi ...  Show more

This month World Book Club comes from the Belgium capital Brussels for an Agatha Christie special.The programme visits the Bibliotheca Wittockiana to discuss one of the bestselling crime novels of all time: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie in which that shrewdest o ...  Show more

Agatha Christie put her decision to become a writer down to a lack of education and a capacity for day-dreaming. Her murder mysteries, full of ingenious plot twists, are still regarded by many as the finest examples of crime fiction and have sold in their billions in the English ...  Show more

The PlotThe story revolves around a series of murders committed by a mysterious killer known only as "ABC." The victims are chosen seemingly at random, with the only connection being their names and locations, which follow the alphabetical order. As the body count rises, Poirot i ...  Show more

Agatha Christie is the owner of numerous superlatives: best-selling novelist, influential mystery writer, criminally successful playwright. Also, did we mention she's a dame?

Her novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, written in the 1930s, endures not on ...