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The rollercoaster king: the man behind the UK’s fastest thrill-ride

12/30/2024 • 45 min

John Burton was just 27 when he was put in charge of creating Thorpe Park’s biggest-ever project. Once too scared to go on rides himself, how did he become the architect of so many daredevils’ dreams? By Tom Lamont. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod Play episode

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A cool flame: how Gaia theory was born out of a secret love affair
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10 years of the long read: The disastrous voyage of Satoshi, the world’s f…
The cement company that paid millions to Isis: was Lafarge complicit in cr…
Journalist or Russian spy? The strange case of Pablo González
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Has poppymania gone too far?
Slash and burn: is private equity out of control?
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Hidden traces of humanity: what AI images reveal about our world
The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US
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‘Places to heal, not to harm’: why brutal prison design kills off hope
The trial of Björn Höcke, the ‘real boss’ of Germany’s far right
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‘For me, there was no other choice’: inside the global illegal organ trade
How oligarchs took on the UK fraud squad – and won
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Morality and rules, and how to avoid drowning: what my daughters learned a…
The shapeshifter: who is the real Giorgia Meloni?
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Strange and wondrous creatures: plankton and the origins of life on Earth
No god in the machine: the pitfalls of AI worship
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Ukraine’s death-defying art rescuers
As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I was deeply disturbed …
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‘A diagnosis can sweep away guilt’: the delicate art of treating ADHD
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From the KKK to the state house: how neo-Nazi David Duke won office

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