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Literary hoaxes and an underground cathedral

Howard Hughes' fake autobiography and other literary hoaxes and the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquir谩

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the 麻豆社 World Service.

Our guest is literature lecturer Dr Hetta Howes on major literary hoaxes around the world.

We hear about Howard Hughes' fake autobiography, the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquir谩 in Colombia and how the Indian musician Ravi Shankar taught George Harrison the sitar.

Plus, the Indian woman who led her country's first delegation to the United Nations, the Premier League's first female photographer and how Toy Story revolutionised animation.

Contributors:
Clifford Irving - American author who faked an autobiography of Howard Hughes.
Dr Hetta Howes - a senior lecturer in English Literature at City St George鈥檚, at the University of London.
Jorge Enrique Castelblanco - Colombian engineer behind the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquir谩.
Ravi Shankar - Indian sitar maestro.
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit - led India's first delegation to the United Nations in 1946.
Magi Haroun - the Premier League's first female photographer.
Doug Sweetland - animator on Toy Story.

(Photo: Clifford Irving leaving the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, followed by news crews in 1972. Credit: Bettmann Archive / Getty Images)

This programme has been updated since the original broadcast, with concert dates and song writing credits corrected.

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1 hour, 1 minute

Last on

Tue 2 Dec 2025 00:06GMT

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