How a video game helped the British Library bring lost history to life

Published

3 years ago

October 30, 2022

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From a Disney comic book starring Scrooge McDuck to a never-ending reel of scenes from India’s most expensive TV series, the British Library’s latest exhibition is eclectic to say the least.

Billed as a tribute to Alexander the Great’s legacy, this is as much an exhibition about storytelling as it is one man, culminating in a display of how technology can bring such legends to life.

Born in Macedon in 356BC, in reality Alexander travelled so far as northwest India, his vast empire from Greece to Egypt recorded here across paintings, tablets, and scriptures that would look right at home in any of the world’s greatest museums.

His legend, though, knew no such geographical limits. Whether the son of a serpent magician (Nectanebo, not Voldemort), or a brave warrior who stared down a mighty dragon, George-style, mythical stories starring Alexander began during his lifetime and have survived throughout the years since.

Bringing such adventures together is the Ebstorf map. First made in Germany around 1300, it was the largest world map in existence from the Middle Ages until it was destroyed during the Second World War.

It boasted more than 2,000 entries across more than 30 parchment sheets, hundreds of which were illustrated, including more than a dozen explicitly related to Alexander – including some of his fictional escapades.

A new interactive version has been created for the library by students from visual effects school Escape Studios, the producer of young talent which has worked on films including Star Wars and games like Assassin’s Creed.

Displayed akin to an opening credits sequence from Game Of Thrones, it presents landmarks and milestones from Alexander’s real and imagined lives, just as the original map did, but now in 3D.

“A mix of real places, physical locations, and sheer fantasy,” is how Yrja Thorsdottir, the library’s digital content exhibition curator, describes it.

She tells Sky News that the new map is a case of how technology is allowing curators to “bring lost things to life”.

‘Technology allows us to bring lost history back’

Perhaps the most striking example of that is saved for last.

Upon his death aged 32, the likely cause of which continues to divide historians, Alexander’s body was transported from Babylon to Egypt and placed inside a long-lost mausoleum at Alexandria.

The exhibition – unafraid to jump from ancient manuscripts to films and even anime – culminates with a detailed reconstruction of the tomb from the video game Assassin’s Creed Origins, scaled up and projected on to the walls.

“We’ve lost the tomb, we’ve lost the map, technology allows us to sort of bring them back,” says Ms Thorsdottir.

Assassin’s Creed has made its recreations of history’s great cities something of a calling card since it debuted, way back in what now feels positively ancient 2007.

From Constantinople to Athens, each choice has required a world larger in scope – yet still greater in detail – than any that came before.

“Our colleagues who made the first Assassin’s Creed (set in the Holy Land during the Crusades) did an excellent job and paved the way for what it has become,” Thierry Noel, in-house historian at developer Ubisoft, tells Sky News.

“But as it became such a well known franchise, it became obvious there would be more and more need to recreate bigger worlds, to be more accurate, to find more information, and that’s why the team I lead was born.”

‘It’s about creating an experience’

Origins, released in 2017 and set in Egypt from 49 to 43BC, was the first entry to benefit from Mr Noel’s team, who scour museums, libraries and historical locations around the world to bring them to life digitally.

“We used everything we had to imagine how the tomb could have been,” he says.

Such research is what led to the collaboration with the library, as his team took inspiration from a prior exhibition of Anglo-Saxon art during development of 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, set in England during the time of Vikings.

For some players, such locales may only ever act as a sandbox within which to carry out brutal murder. The idea of such a game being leveraged at an institution like the British Library may sound to some – like many of the stories passed on about Alexander – like fantasy.

But to those behind this exhibition, they present opportunities for storytelling that are here to stay.

“It’s about engaging people in different ways,” says Adrian Edwards, head of printed collections.

“An element of an exhibition like this is theatre, it’s about creating an experience.

“The level of detail they invest in now to visualise these places from history, it gives you a real sense of what it might have been like.”

Alexander the Great: The Making Of A Myth is open at the British Library until 19 February 2023.

Entertainment

Dame Joanna Lumley warns of ‘crisis hidden in plain sight’ – with 1.5 million older people set to spend Christmas alone

Published

12 hours ago

December 2, 2025

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Dame Joanna Lumley has warned of a “crisis hidden in plain sight”, with 1.5 million older people set to spend Christmas alone.

Age UK spoke to more than 2,600 people and found 11% will eat dinner alone on 25 December, while 5% will not see or speak to anyone the whole day.

Applied to the overall population, the findings suggest 1.5 million people will eat alone at Christmas, according to the charity.

Dame Joanna said the “silence can be deafening” for those left isolated and called it “a crisis hidden in plain sight”.

The actor and campaigner is now joining other luminaries including Dame Judi Dench, Brian Cox and Miriam Margolyes to back Age UK’s campaign against loneliness.

The charity says its volunteers made more than 70,000 minutes’ worth of calls to people during Christmas week last year and is urging people to donate.

‘A tragedy we don’t talk about enough’

Age UK said it also supports coffee mornings and festive lunches to give lonely people the chance to enjoy in-person interaction.

Dame Judi said: “For so many older people, Christmas can be a time of silence – days without conversation or company.”

Succession star Brian Cox called the issue “a tragedy we don’t talk about enough”.

He said: “Far too many older people are left spending the season in silence, when it should be a time of warmth, connection and joy.”

Margolyes, of Harry Potter fame, added: “Growing older shouldn’t mean disappearing into the background, we need to be seen, heard and celebrated.

“That’s what Age UK is striving for – they’re changing how we perceive age.”

The charity’s chief executive, Paul Farmer, said: “Your donation could bring comfort, friendship, and care to an older person facing loneliness this winter.

“From friendly, weekly calls to local lunch clubs, we’re here to make sure no one spends winter alone. But we can’t do it without you.”

Entertainment

Salman Rushdie on Charlie Kirk’s murder, surviving his own assassination attempt – and AI

Published

1 day ago

December 1, 2025

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Salman Rushdie on Charlie Kirk's murder, surviving his own assassination attempt - and AI

Sir Salman Rushdie has told Sky News that Charlie Kirk’s murder was a “consequence of US gun culture”.

In an interview with Sky News lead presenter Wilfred Frost, Sir Salman said he thought the assassination of Mr Kirk, a conservative US activist, was an “appalling act of violence”.

“But it seems to me to be a characteristic or a consequence of America’s terrifying gun culture,” said the Booker-prize-winning author, who survived an attempt on his life at the Chautauqua Institution in New York in 2022.

“When you have a situation where there are more guns in private ownership than there are people in the country, I mean, guns are everywhere.

“When children are brought up being taught by their parents how to use guns, and guns are being left in the home in unlocked cabinets, it’s a country in which violent gun-related crime happens almost every day. And this is one of the most brutal examples of it.”

The Indian-British author also addressed the attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump, saying: “Well, I guess I’m happy that it failed. Beyond that, I don’t have a lot to say about it.”

Sir Salman was attacked by Hadi Matar, who stabbed him in the head, neck, torso and left hand, leaving him with damage to his liver and intestines as well as blind in one eye. Matar was jailed for 25 years in May.

He wrote about the attack and his recovery in his 2024 memoir Knife. His new book, Eleventh Hour, is a return to fiction.

Discussing the book and writing in general, he suggested that he doesn’t think AI would be able to capture emotion, humour and creativity like humans can.

“The couple of little experiments that I’ve carried out with AI suggest to me that at least this far, it doesn’t have a sense of humour. And it’s not original,” he said.

“What it can do is to duplicate things that have been fed into it. But good art is original, and I don’t think that AI has an original bone in its body.”

Watch the full interview, including Sir Salman’s comments on book bans and freedom of speech in the US, during Mornings with Ridge and Frost on Sky News.

Entertainment

British Independent Film Awards winners revealed

Published

2 days ago

November 30, 2025

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British Independent Film Awards winners revealed

Biker romance Pillion has picked up the top prize at the British Independent Film Awards.

The film’s first-time feature writer and director Harry Lighton was also named best debut screenwriter at the ceremony, held at the Roundhouse in Camden, London, on Sunday evening.

Starring Harry Melling as sweet and timid Colin, and Alexander Skarsgard as rugged biker Ray, the film picked up four prizes in total – including craft wins for best costume design and make-up and hair.

Tom Basden and Tim Key took home the BIFA awards for best joint lead performance and best screenplay, for their debut feature The Ballad Of Wallis Island. Also starring Carey Mulligan, the film tells the story of a faded folk musician and his former partner who reluctantly reunite for an eccentric fan.

Elsewhere in the acting categories, Robert Aramayo was honoured with the best lead performance award for his portrayal of Tourette’s campaigner John Davison in I Swear, with the supporting performance award going to Jay Lycurgo for his role in pressure-cooker school drama Steve, also starring Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy.

Newcomer Posy Sterling’s portrayal of a mother fighting for custody of her children in Lollipop earned her the breakthrough performance award, while the best ensemble performance prize went to the cast of Warfare – including Will Poulter, Kit Connor, Joseph Quinn and Charles Melton.

This year’s ceremony also celebrated cinema itself, with the inaugural cinema of the year award going to The Magic Lantern Cinema in the Welsh coastal town of Tywyn.

The BIFA for best international independent film was awarded to Sentimental Value, Joachim Trier’s intimate exploration of family, memories and the reconciliatory power of art.

Behind the camera, Akinola Davies Jr was named best director for his debut feature My Father’s Shadow, a story of two brothers who first come to understand their father at a pivotal moment in both his life and Nigerian history, while The Douglas Hickox Award for best debut director went to Cal McMau for prison drama Wasteman.

And in the documentary categories, Myrid Carten’s exploration of mental health and addiction within her family, A Want In Her, picked up three BIFAs – best feature documentary, The Raindance Maverick Award, and best debut director for a feature documentary.

Elsewhere, Emily Watson, star of films including Gosford Park, Punch-Drunk Love and War Horse, and TV series including Chernobyl and Dune: Prophecy, was awarded the outstanding contribution to British film prize.

Production company Warp Films – behind films such as Dead Man’s Shoes and This Is England, as well as the recent critically acclaimed series Adolescence – was honoured with the BIFA special jury prize for its “unflinching and uncompromising” commitment to telling “raw and relevant stories”.

Founded in 1998, the BIFAs aim to celebrate, promote and support talent and creativity in British independent film.

Previous winners of the best independent film award include Kneecap, the semi-autobiographical story of Irish-language rappers Kneecap, and Oscar winner The Favourite.

This year’s ceremony was hosted by comedians Lou Sanders and Harriet Kemsley, with Carey Mulligan, Stephen Merchant, Ruth Wilson, Billy Crudup and Celia Imrie among the star presenters.