Jost Haas, now in his 80s, is the last person in Britain making artificial eyes exclusively from glass. He began as a glassblowing apprentice at 15 and has worked from his home in outer London since 1968. Patients sit with him for two or three hours while he blows, shapes and paints a custom eye, matching the iris colour and even adding tiny veins. Some travel hours to see him, returning every few years. He describes his work as craftsmanship with a caring role, since the gentle roar of the gas burner often lulls patients to sleep. Glass eyes are chosen by some people for comfort or because of plastic allergies, and the trade combines craft, medicine and quiet psychological support.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.