Outdoor gyms provide an opportunity to work out for those who cannot afford regular gyms and fitness equipment. I do love it when money is invested in getting people outdoors, but many will not use such equipment correctly because at outdoor gyms there are no professionals to show you how to use the equipment. I believe public funds could be spent in a better way. To my mind, more money should be put into getting people fit through gym subscriptions or personal trainers. I’ve been training clients for 15 years, and I believe that outdoor gyms can’t replace sessions in regular gyms, where you’re shown what to do.

In a popular video game the main character can get into any locked car at any time. Well, this concept has inspired a group of New York artists to create an unusual project. They are selling specially designed keys for $20 each, which all unlock the same car. However, the location of the car is a mystery. To find the car, people who buy the keys can call a hotline which gives clues on the car’s current whereabouts in New York City. When a key holder approaches the mystery car, a green LED light on the key turns on. The specific appearance and model of the vehicle have not been revealed, but it’s thought to be a popular, turbopowered classic. If you find the car, it’s yours to drive, at least for a while. But you are not its owner, you are only a temporary user. One thing is certain: sooner or later another key holder will claim it from you.

Three 

Today, my guest is Ben Jones, a shipwreck hunter and a former detective. Ben, tell us how your experience as a police investigator relates to your present occupation.
Old sunken ships are in some ways like crime scenes. You need to examine the clues you find on the seabed. Then you put the elements together to reconstruct the circumstances that led to a disaster. In many ways, I’m still a detective, but my investigations take place underwater. My previous experience in documenting crime scenes has turned out to be a great asset. What I miss is the possibility of conducting an interrogation, for example when a witness unexpectedly reveals some valuable information. With historic shipwrecks, there’s nobody to tell you what really happened. A key thing police investigation has in common with shipwreck hunting these days is that it can’t be done without high-tech. You need sophisticated equipment to find sunken ships. 

What about the most memorable shipwreck hunt you’ve been on?
It is hard to pick the most memorable one because I’ve been very lucky in having led quite a few remarkable searches. I will always remember the Lucona because it was my first major search. However, the most exciting moment was when we discovered the wreck of HMAS Sydney off the coast of Western Australia in March 2008. Not many people gave us a chance of ever finding it as they likened the search to a “needle in a thousand haystacks”. When the wreck popped up on our computer screens, after only 68 hours of searching, we all went a bit crazy jumping around like little children on Christmas morning! It was the single most exhilarating moment in my career. 

For me, personally, being the first to see the wreck of a ship which sank decades or centuries ago is a reward in itself. But for many shipwreck divers the most exciting part is the opportunity to collect different artefacts, especially from military ships. One famous shipwreck is the USS San Diego, which sank off the coast of Long Island in 1918. In 1962 the US Navy sold it to a company which planned to collect metal from the wreck for recycling, but local organizations fought against this and the project was eventually abandoned. For 40 years divers explored and recovered artefacts from the shipwreck, making it one of the most popular dive locations in the USA. However, in 2006 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it became illegal to collect artefacts there. 

I’m sure you’ve learned in your geography lessons that 70 per cent of our planet is covered by water, but most people don’t realize that 80 per cent of this remains unexplored. In other words, there are tons of crazy things hidden in the deep, still waiting to be found. Surprising geological formations, entire cities and treasures. Have I stirred your imagination? An estimated three million shipwrecks lie at the bottom of the sea. Each of them has its own unique story. Perhaps one of them is waiting for you to discover.