Like the cavalry of old, they raced on to rescue a stricken kingdom from itself. But what did the Lambakanna dynasty really achieve – and why were they overthrown? ,

In Sri Lanka, the expert is there right next to you - on the train, in the street, everywhere in fact. But what happens when you seek one in a doctor’s waiting room?

If you are English, do you really need sex? Can you not encounter la petite mort simply upon waking up?

Is May the moment to forsake madness and put aside all but the best supporting gods?

“To be or not to be,” is the refrain of several Sri Lankan government departments – but how can they – or that - free you from suffering? From cravings? From any need to cling to things?

Is life really what you best hear when you're absolutely still? And if so, does knowing the names of different trees help at all?

Unlikely though it sounds, there is a Perehera still grander than that of the annual Kandy Perehera – but what has it got to do with Eve and her serpents?

She was the pin-up of her times – but was it about the island’s first queen that caused so much disquiet, even now, and where might you still find her?