“I’m really hitting all the coasts,” O’Neil said. “I’ve got the North, East and South under my belt, and now I’m about to have the West too.” In Alaska, O’Neil will partake in a master’s program in ...

As long as north, south, east and west have existed, they have not just directed the world but defined it. In Four Points of the Compass, historian Jerry Brotton goes in search of their origins to ...