大象传媒

Libby Purves meets archaeologist Deirdre O'Sullivan of the Greyfriars Research Team which discovered and excavated Richard III; pilot Mark Vanhoenacker; Frances Ross the great-granddaughter of engineer Sebastian de Ziani Ferranti and Penny Horner and Howard Jameson who co-founded the Jermyn Street Theatre.

Deirdre O'Sullivan is an archaeologist at Leicester University. A specialist in medieval archaeology and friaries, she is academic advisor to the Greyfriars Project which discovered and excavated the remains of Richard III. The Bones of a King is the official behind-the-scenes story of the excavation of Richard III based on the research of the specialists involved in the discovery. The Bones Of A King - Richard III Rediscovered by the Greyfriars Research Team with Maev Kennedy and Lin Foxhall is published by Wiley-Blackwell.

Mark Vanhoenacker is a long haul pilot who operated his first commercial flight in 2003. Formerly a management consultant, becoming a pilot was his childhood dream. In his book, Skyfaring - A Journey with a Pilot, he shares his love of flying from new ways of map making and the poetry of physics to the names of winds and the nature of clouds. Skyfaring - A Journey with a Pilot is published by Chatto and Windus.

Dr Frances Ross is the great-granddaughter of Sebastian de Ziani Ferranti, an engineer, whose contribution to World War One is the focus of a new exhibition, the Innovation Race. Following the establishment of the Ministry of Munitions in 1915 when Britain was experiencing a major shell crisis, Ferranti converted his Oldham factory from domestic goods to shells and fuses. The Innovation Race: Manchester's Makers Join the First World War is at the Museum of Science And Industry (MOSI) in Manchester.

Penny Horner and Howard Jameson are co-founders of the Jermyn Street Theatre. They staged their first production in the basement of 16b Jermyn Street - formerly a restaurant - in 1994. The theatre is now established as one of London's leading off-West End studio theatres, showcasing new work and forgotten classics from Ibsen's Little Eyolf to the Ivor Novello musical Gay's The Word. The Heart of Things by Giles Cole is at Jermyn Street Theatre.