Hunting for icons in the underworld, part 1

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tasoula Hadjitofi uncovered a shady network looting her country's most sacred relics

In 1974 Tasoula's country, Cyprus, was torn in two by war. Distraught and unable to return home she ended up in the Netherlands where some years later a shadowy art dealer approached her with some astonishing news. Religious artefacts sacred to her faith that had adorned the churches she prayed in as a girl had been chiselled away, and were now being sold on the black market. And so began Tasoula's decade-long search for the stolen relics. But she would first have to learn from the criminals in order to catch them.

Presenter: Emily Webb Producer: Edgar Maddicott Sound Design: Joe Munday Editor: Harry Graham

Transcript

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0:00.0	On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation.
0:06.9	It was an extraordinary news story.
0:09.1	The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny,
0:13.7	mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared.
0:18.0	One of the great mysteries in English criminal history.
0:20.7	We're still looking for Lucan.
0:22.1	It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime.
0:25.9	I'm Alex Fontunzelman.
0:27.3	This is The Lucan Obsession.
0:29.2	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:31.7	Take a walk in somebody else's shoes with podcasts from the BBC World Service.
0:37.5	Unmissible stories from around the globe.
0:40.3	Search for the documentary, lives less ordinary, and amazing sports stories, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
0:48.2	Are you ready for some magic?
0:53.7	My father took out of his pocket five shillings and he wrote on it, Bon Voyage, and he looked at me in the eyes, and he said,
1:06.4	You're on your own. I count on you. That was carrying on my shoulders, the name of my family, the name of
1:15.1	my country. Basically, go and don't come back unless you are successful. This is the moment
1:24.4	Tasula Hadjitofi left home. She was 16 and it wasn't in the way she wanted.
1:29.8	Her heart was broken and so was her country, Cyprus.
1:33.7	Scarred by conflict, a line cut right through the Mediterranean island.
1:38.2	And more was to come.
1:39.9	Cyprus was dotted with ancient Orthodox churches,
	...

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