Dan Hitchens

How the Georgians invented nightlife

Lavish light shows and firework displays allowed 18th century Londoners to conquer the night

An ingenious display of British engineering, costing around £2 million in today’s money: the 1814 Temple of Concord in Green Park, dazzlingly lit up and rotating on a mechanical stage. Credit: Collection of Melanie Doderer-Winkler

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I still remember the first time I saw Vang Vieng, in Laos. It was many years ago, before the Chinese began pouring money in (such is the scale of Chinese investment, Laos now has high-speed rail). I was driving one of the very few rentable 4x4s in the country, picked up in the sleepy capital

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