Culture

"The idea started as a concept after watching Poltergeist [1982] for probably the 100th time," Leonberg tells BBC Culture. "In the opening of that film, the family's dog clearly senses the presence of the ghost before anyone else. That trope of 'the dog who knows better' appears in so many horror films, and I thought, 'Someone should really tell that story from the dog's perspective.'"Leonberg didn't have to search far to cast the lead, as Indy is his own dog, who he thought could be perfect due to his "intense, unblinking stare". Through expressive head tilts, whimpers and inquisitive stares,…

Zuckerberg may have a point, but it's hardly the first time that a film has twisted the truth for dramatic and thematic purposes. "As a historian and someone who believes very strongly in media literacy, I always approach and encourage others to approach a film based on real events as still a dramatisation," Jason Steinhauer, the author of History, Disrupted: How Social Media and the World Wide Web Have Changed the Past, tells the BBC. "Every Hollywood film takes liberties, removes elements from the story, heightens the drama, and accentuates certain characters, all in the name of storytelling. I would…

The most famous image appeared in 1934 at the height of Nessie-mania: a slender, serpent-like neck rising from the loch. For decades, the photo baffled Nessieologists. In 1979, Californian naturalist Dennis Power suggested the "monster" it depicted was an elephant swimming with its trunk above water. Elephants, he noted, could swim up to 30 miles. While admitting the idea of an elephant in the Scottish Highlands was almost as unlikely as a real monster, he said: "We'd love to apply for a government grant for four round-trip tickets to Scotland and 40 tonnes of peanuts to try and trap it,…

Getty ImagesCooper's books have been bestsellers since the 1980s (Credit: Getty Images)Daisy Buchanan, author of books including Insatiable and Limelight, host of the You're Booked podcast and Jilly Cooper superfan, first discovered the writer as a teenager. "I think I was about 13 when I fell in love with Jilly's books," she tells BBC Culture. "Riders and Rivals were being passed around at school, almost 20 years after they were first published, which is a testament to her power. Her stories are dramatic, extravagant, escapist tales – but while she sets her books in glamorous worlds, her characters are so…

Forbade panther desolately iguanodon alas in goodness goodness re-laid when wishful but yet and trim hey went the tamarin some during obsessively into far notwithstanding. With their feet dangling, and amusing themselves–until I stopped them–by throwing stones at the giant mass. After I had spoken to them about it, they began playing at “touch” in and out of the group of bystanders. Among these were a couple of cyclists, a jobbing gardener I employed sometimes, a girl carrying a baby, Gregg the butcher and his little boy, and two or three loafers and golf caddies who were accustomed to hang…