Adam Nicolson focuses on the controversial work of whale hunters as he tries to understand why the population of the water-dwelling mammals was so drastically reduced in the 20th century. In the first of two programmes, the writer discovers how whaling was commercialised to supply a growing demand for products such as umbrella stays and oil-burning street lamps - before industrialisation took hold and the inventions of Norwegian Svend Foyn revolutionised the practice.
Adam Nicolson focuses on the controversial work of whale hunters as he tries to understand why the population of the water-dwelling mammals was so drastically reduced in the 20th century. In the first of two programmes, the writer discovers how whaling was commercialised to supply a growing demand for products such as umbrella stays and oil-burning street lamps - before industrialisation took hold and the inventions of Norwegian Svend Foyn revolutionised the practice.
