King, Bruce. Buildings

“Green buildings” that slash energy use and carbon emissions are all the rage, but they aren’t enough. The hidden culprit is embodied carbon―the carbon emitted when materials are mined, manufactured, and transported―comprising some ten percent of global emissions. With the built environment doubling by 2030, buildings are a carbon juggernaut threatening to overwhelm the climate.

Historian Dan Cruickshank is invited through the closed doors of six of Britain’s greatest private houses in an illuminating and surprising journey through our architectural history. hese fascinating buildings remain private homes and closed to the public, but their owners have allowed Dan Cruickshank to roam the corridors, tease out each home’s story – who built them, lived in them and lost them – and uncover tales of excess and profligacy, power and ambition.

The Queen has three official residences - the best known, Buckingham Palace; the oldest, Windsor Castle; and the most romantic, Palace of Holyroodhouse. Among the few working royal palaces in the world today, they serve as both family homes and as the setting for the business of Monarchy. Each has its own distinctive story - long histories that reflect good and bad times, triumph and tragedy and, of course, the lives of some of our most memorable kings and queens.

Treason has always been one of the most severly punishable crime. Every country, state, crown or government has its enemies, even when they're not at war. These battles are fought in the murky shadows and grey underworld, in obscure buildings and hidden rooms, where the prize is not territory or land…..but information.

Frankie sets off on a stand-up tour of Scotland. On four trips to four gigs, he meets a heady mix of people and places, filtering his nation's past and present through his unique mind.