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Leo Hornak

Leo Hornak is a former reporter and producer in London for PRI's The World

Leo Hornak is a former reporter and producer in London for PRI's The World. He previously worked at BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme and BBC 2’s Newsnight.Leo also make radio documentaries; his report on the US green card lottery was made into an hour long story for This American Life. He occasionally venture into print — in the past  The Sunday Times, the Independent and Timeout Mumbai have been kind enough to accept my scribblings.Leo's work has won prizes at the One World Media Awards and the New York Festivals.And, Leo is also a founder of In The Dark- a non-profit devoted to screening strange and wonderful pieces of radio in strange and wonderful venues. 

‘Love you, then, well’: London’s National COVID Memorial Wall pays tribute to the country’s 240K lives lost to COVID-19

Sacred Spaces

Recently, in London, a stretch of wall along the River Thames has become a place of pilgrimage for many people.

People enjoy the warm weather at Ruislip Lido in London, March 30, 2021. Temperatures in parts of the UK are expected to be significantly warmer this week as families and friends are reunited and outdoor sporting activities are allowed to resume in Englan

Swimmers relish their first dip in Britain’s outdoor ‘lidos’ as lockdown relaxes 

Lifestyle
Ana Silvera singing at the Manchester Jewish Museum

Becoming Portuguese: How Brexit and 500 years of Jewish history changed one British’s singer’s life

Wrong beach? Ceasar's forces first landed in Britain in 55BC.

Wrong beach? Two British towns may not actually be where Caesar landed in 55 B.C.

Conflict
Britain's addiction to mince pies goes back centuries

Britain’s strange addiction to a medieval Christmas treat

Culture
London's forgotten dead are commemorated once a month at the Crossbones Vigil.

London has a unique vigil for its forgotten dead

Culture

On a small London backstreet, a few minutes walk from Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, a unique ceremony takes place every month. The Crossbones Vigil is unlike any other ritual for the dead in this city: It follows no particular religion, and it commemorates no powerful or famous people. It is for the people the city prefers to forget: the outcasts.

This Nov. 5, 2012 photo shows a 45-bedroom mansion in the upscale Knightsbridge neighborhood of London

Welcome aboard London’s dirty money bus tour

Culture

Anti-corruption campaigner Roman Borisovich does not run a traditional tour of London.

Alexis Turner, owner of London Taxidermy, says the motive for the heist remains a mystery.

The great British taxidermy heist: The animals are back, but the theft is still a mystery

Arts

Over the centuries London has had more than its fair share of bank robberies, diamond thefts and even train robberies. This month, police solved something a little more exotic: the great British taxidermy heist.

Lemmy's job is not to hunt pigeons, but to deter them

London’s pigeon problem has a simple solution: a hawk

Environment

Fifteen years ago, the center of London was densely populated, not just with people, but with pigeons. But something has changed. One of the reasons can be found every morning in Trafalgar Square.

The Swan Theatre in London, one of the a generation of playhouses that appeared in the 16th century

Guess what? Shakespeare didn’t start the theater scene in England.

Arts

Shakespeare’s London theater was only one of many open at the turn of the 17th century. A new project is aiming to rediscover some of those forgotten masterpieces.