A man, a plan, a canal, Panama. As a palindrome, it’s pretty satisfying but the story behind the stark words is a tale of triumph and disaster on an epic scale. The man was Ferdinand de Lesseps and his plan was to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by cutting through a range of mountains and taming a jungle to construct one of the engineering wonders of the world - one that gave its name to a hat (page 8). Talking of men in hats, comedy duo Laurel and Hardy could be your partners in meeting speaking and listening goals (page 12).

Joyce Arnold