Wairakei celebrates 50 years
In the 1950s New Zealand was desperate for electrical energy. A succession of droughts had found the country’s much vaunted hydro-electric generation capacity wanting....
They’re changing guards at Buckingham Palace . . .
This month HRH Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60 years of marriage to HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Dr Kerry Rodgers thought it appropriate...
Unravelling mysterious Chankillo
Tucked away in the Peruvian Andes, some 400km north of Lima, is a large, 2300-year-old ancient ruin named Chankillo.
A plan view of the concentric...
Westminster’s chiming clock
Tucked away at the north-eastern end of London’s Houses of Parliament is that ultimate British icon — Westminster’s Great Clock Tower. The name of...
ING House, Amsterdam
This is certainly what Internationale Nederlanden Groep, aka ING Group, did in 1998. They called in Amsterdam based-architects Roberto Meyer and Jeroen van Schooten...
Kawau’s Cornish pumphouse
Just two years after Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson RN did his thing at Waitangi, a thin copper lode was discovered on Kawau Island. Four years...
M. Eiffel’s Eyesore
In 1887 Gustave Eiffel got the nod from the Paris authorities to begin construction of his tower. It was intended as no more than...
Istanbul’s glorious Hagia Sophia
When the votes were in for the New Seven Wonders of the World, Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia failed to figure among the magnificent seven, although...
That awesome wall of China
The Great Wall of China is the world’s longest man-made structure. It runs for over 6350km more or less along the border between northern...
The simple dignity that is Avebury
Avebury has always affected me deeply. I saw its standing stones first in 1973. It wasn’t their immensity, nor their simple grandeur — rather,...