6. One Million Pages
Assume Nothing10 Mar 2025

6. One Million Pages

Strange packages arriving from the US - and a terrible death prompts a woman to take action for her family.

In this series, casually scanning old newspaper archives, Ophelia Byrne comes across an odd headline: “Hush hush process in Ballyclare firm.”

The newspaper was printed in 1967. “Strictly no photographs” was the order issued at the opening of the new factory.

“90 guests steered clear of a top-secret process.” All workers “will have to sign an oath of secrecy.”

What, she wonders, is this factory making?

Ophelia doesn’t know it when she starts out, but her subsequent investigation into this company, Turner and Newall, will take her from a small town in Northern Ireland across the Irish Sea to places like Rochdale, Leeds and London.

It will bring her to one million documents released for a transatlantic trial – papers which show cover-ups and even corporate espionage.

The product, of course, is asbestos. You may think you know the story – it’s a dangerous substance.

But Ophelia marries previous journalistic investigations to new documents which reveal what government agencies knew about its risks, and when.

She combs through company correspondence which the manufacturers claimed did not exist, and clearly never imagined would become public. This is the story of Killer Dust, from mountains of the material in mines still operating in countries today, to the skyscrapers of Manhattan, and the terraced streets of the north of England.

It is the story too of the people who fought and died for the truth to expose the reckless pursuit of profit in the making of one of the most dangerous building materials on the planet.

Presenter/ Producer: Ophelia Byrne Studio Engineer: Gary Bawden Executive Editor: Andy Martin

Episoder(196)

Episode 1: The House

Episode 1: The House

June 1989. A family in West Belfast claim they are being tormented by a violent presence that seems determined to drive them from their home. The local press cover it extensively, neighbours gather ou...

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Episode 2: The Book

Episode 2: The Book

In June 1989, a family in West Belfast claimed they were being tormented by a violent presence that seemed hellbent on driving them from their home – what really happened?Reggie has discovered that th...

26 Okt 202415min

Episode 1: The Search

Episode 1: The Search

Journalist Gordon Adair is waiting on a call from a contact – a former IRA prisoner who has spent nearly 30 years trying to locate the remains of Captain Robert Nairac. The Army officer was abducted ...

26 Aug 202426min

Episode 2: The Contact

Episode 2: The Contact

Journalist Gordon Adair has had a secret contact for a long time, a former Republican prisoner who ended his involvement with paramilitaries in the late 1970s. Now – the contact has agreed to go on re...

26 Aug 202422min

Episode 1: A Noise in the Night

Episode 1: A Noise in the Night

When Belfast-born sound mixer Peter Devlin leaves a recorder running overnight while working on a movie in Greystone Mansion, Beverly Hills – he captures a bizarre, unexplained sound. After hours of s...

15 Jun 202412min

Episode 2: The Wild West

Episode 2: The Wild West

The police close their investigation into the deaths of Ned Doheny and his secretary Hugh Plunkett, deciding it is a clear case of murder-suicide, but not everyone is convinced. A rookie detective wit...

15 Jun 202415min

Episode 3: Black Gold in Mexico

Episode 3: Black Gold in Mexico

Sent south by a railway company in search of oil, Doheny and Canfield head into the jungles west of Tampico on horseback and soon discover vast tracts of untapped land. They quickly build a vast oil e...

15 Jun 202414min

Episode 4: The Teapot Dome Scandal

Episode 4: The Teapot Dome Scandal

When the United States wants to increase its military presence at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, a lucrative deal worth millions presents itself to Doheny thanks to an old friend from his Wild West prospect...

15 Jun 202415min

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