The Lost Ones

In 1924, a woman entered the capital of Tibet after having travelled thousands of kilometres on foot. It was the first time a foreigner had crossed the border of the sacred city. This mythical feat, one of many by Alexandra David-Néel, made the reputation of this explorer, writer, anarchist, feminist and traveller.

He was both the most adored and the most feared of the Italian aviation aces during the Great War. Addicted to risk, he joined the utopian enclave of Fiume in 1919, with commander Gabriele d'Annunzio. Guido Keller, the dandy, the eccentric, took part in the spectacular and delirious experiment of creating a dream society.

Prospector Jakko Isola went to the icy wilderness of northern Finland in the hope of finding gold. What he found instead was inner peace in the beauty and tranquillity of the far North. That is until he finally did uncover gold…

On the shores of the Red Sea he was known as the Sea Wolf. The extraordinary story of the man who had been everything: Writer, sailor, privateer, arms and hashish dealer.

A talented tennis player winning the US and French Opens, Gottfried von Cramm was such a champion that Hitler wanted to make him the poster boy for the Nazis. But the gay von Cramm had other ideas.

The Marchioness Casati was admired throughout Europe for her incredible parties and expensive tastes. She was an eccentric patron of the arts, and her face appears again and again in the works of all the notable painters of her day. But she would rip through her inheritance by the age of fifty and end up wondering the streets of London, going though rubbish bins.

In 1930, New York was bewitched by a new sound, seemingly coming out of thin air: the theremin, invented by the Russian engineer Lev Sergeyevich Termen. He created the first electronic instrument in history, and won praise from both Lenin and Stalin. But he was a double agent, and things would turn sour fast.

Victor Lustig was a brazen liar who loved the high life. In 1925, he pulled off the biggest con of all - literally. Convincing a group of industrialists that he was selling the Eiffel tower for scrap metal, he skipped town with the downpayment in his pocket. But his life of crime eventually catches up with him.

Reporter, photographer, poet: Annemarie Schwarzenbach shone in the night sky of the 20th century, her life bright and brief. Horrified at the rise of facism and the outbreak of war, she fled to travel the world with her lover. Morphine and writing become her refuge.

He was the Mozart of the mind. One of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, Monsieur Chouchani was an enigma. He lived as a tramp with almost no possessions. He was self-taught, spoke ten languages, and inspired love and loyalty among the greatest and the best.