A Very Expensive Poison
E804198
A Very Expensive Poison is a nonfiction book by journalist Luke Harding that investigates the 2006 poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko and explores the broader implications of Russian state-sponsored assassinations.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| A Very Expensive Poison canonical | 2 |
| A Very Expensive Poison (stage play) | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9508022 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Very Expensive Poison Context triple: [Luke Harding, notableWork, A Very Expensive Poison]
-
A.
Le Poison
Le Poison is a poem by Charles Baudelaire, featured in his collection "Les Fleurs du mal," that explores themes of intoxication, desire, and destructive passion.
-
B.
Poisoner in Chief
Poisoner in Chief is a nonfiction book by Stephen Kinzer that chronicles CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb’s central role in the agency’s secret mind-control experiments and MK-Ultra program during the Cold War.
-
C.
Murder at the Vanities
Murder at the Vanities is a 1934 pre-Code musical mystery film that blends backstage Broadway glamour with a murder investigation.
-
D.
The Deadly Affair
The Deadly Affair is a 1966 British spy thriller film, adapted from John le Carré’s novel "Call for the Dead" and directed by Sidney Lumet.
-
E.
Another Man's Poison
Another Man's Poison is a 1951 British film noir thriller starring Bette Davis, known for its dark psychological drama and twist-filled plot.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Very Expensive Poison Target entity description: A Very Expensive Poison is a nonfiction book by journalist Luke Harding that investigates the 2006 poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko and explores the broader implications of Russian state-sponsored assassinations.
-
A.
Le Poison
Le Poison is a poem by Charles Baudelaire, featured in his collection "Les Fleurs du mal," that explores themes of intoxication, desire, and destructive passion.
-
B.
Poisoner in Chief
Poisoner in Chief is a nonfiction book by Stephen Kinzer that chronicles CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb’s central role in the agency’s secret mind-control experiments and MK-Ultra program during the Cold War.
-
C.
Murder at the Vanities
Murder at the Vanities is a 1934 pre-Code musical mystery film that blends backstage Broadway glamour with a murder investigation.
-
D.
The Deadly Affair
The Deadly Affair is a 1966 British spy thriller film, adapted from John le Carré’s novel "Call for the Dead" and directed by Sidney Lumet.
-
E.
Another Man's Poison
Another Man's Poison is a 1951 British film noir thriller starring Bette Davis, known for its dark psychological drama and twist-filled plot.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf | nonfiction book ⓘ |
| adaptationMedium | theatre ⓘ |
| adaptedBy | Lucy Prebble ⓘ |
| author | Luke Harding ⓘ |
| authorAffiliation | The Guardian ⓘ |
| authorOccupation | journalist ⓘ |
| basedOn |
2006 poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko
ⓘ
real events ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| explores |
implications for UK-Russia relations
ⓘ
impunity of state security apparatus ⓘ use of radioactive substances as weapons ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
investigation into Litvinenko’s death
ⓘ
operations of Russian security services abroad ⓘ role of Russian state in political killings ⓘ |
| genre |
investigative journalism
ⓘ
political nonfiction ⓘ true crime ⓘ |
| hasAdaptation |
A Very Expensive Poison (stage play)
ⓘ
linked to:
A Very Expensive Poison
|
| hasISBN | 9781783350943 ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mediaType |
ebook
ⓘ
print ⓘ |
| nonfictionTopic |
espionage
ⓘ
international relations ⓘ national security ⓘ nuclear materials ⓘ |
| notableFor |
analysis of Russian extraterritorial assassinations
ⓘ
detailed account of Litvinenko poisoning ⓘ |
| originalTitle | A Very Expensive Poison ⓘ |
| pageCount | 384 ⓘ |
| placeOfPublication |
London
ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
|
| publicationYear | 2016 ⓘ |
| publisher |
Guardian Faber Publishing
ⓘ
linked to:
Guardian Books
|
| setting |
London
ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
Russia ⓘ |
| subject |
Alexander Litvinenko
ⓘ
FSB ⓘ Russian intelligence services ⓘ
linked to:
Russian intelligence community
Russian state-sponsored assassinations ⓘ Vladimir Putin ⓘ poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko ⓘ polonium-210 poisoning ⓘ |
| timePeriodDescribed |
2006
ⓘ
early 2000s ⓘ |
| writtenBy | Luke Harding ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: A Very Expensive Poison Description of subject: A Very Expensive Poison is a nonfiction book by journalist Luke Harding that investigates the 2006 poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko and explores the broader implications of Russian state-sponsored assassinations.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: A Very Expensive Poison