Airships were once kings of the skies. Transporting passengers across continents at speed and in luxury, they were the future of longdistance travel. With the tragic loss of the Hindenburg in 1937, the airship dream suddenly died, in one of the few examples of a technology vanishing with nothing to replace it. But with modern technology and materials, and myriad modern roles to perform, could the dream at last become reality?

Nick Rogers, a transport operations professional and a Member of the London Assembly, watched an airship fly over his school at the age of eight and has been hooked ever since. Nick is a former council member of the Airship Association and is the host of the forthcoming podcast ‘Up Ship! The Airship History Podcast’. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx