The Secret History of Writing

The hunt for the origin of writing reveals the link between ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the letters we use every day.

The ability to put words on a page makes civilisation possible. Throughout history, the changing way people write has been a factor in the rise – and fall - of empires.

For more than a century, the world has seemed to be moving to a single universal script - the Latin alphabet. But that means more than changing words. It means changing identity.