On a flat-topped hill overlooking the sprawling city of Los Angeles, the grass has been worn bare by thousands of eager feet.

BBC: The road to Hollywood, California

More than 100 flat-topped table mountains can be found here...

UNESCO: Culture

From a high vantage point, there are infinite views of treetops and thick bush stretching over deep valleys, intersected with sheer slabs of flat-topped, saffron-coloured cliffs fringed with green.

BBC: The perfect trip: New South Wales

In this desert region of flat-topped mountains, russet hills, gravel plains and swathes of scrubland, the black rhino are not tagged or tracked by satellite, nor are their movements restricted by the boundaries of a huge game reserve.

BBC: Saving rhinos in Namibia

Aside from this jarring image, Tirin Kot is a bucolic-seeming place, a market town of flat-topped adobe houses and little shops on a low bluff on the eastern shore of the Tirinrud River, in a long valley bounded by open desert and jagged, treeless mountains.

NEWYORKER: The Taliban��s Opium War

The scowling men in long dark coats and hats, led by the severely elegant John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), march into some grand Midwestern bank, take over the place, throw the cash in bags, and make their getaway, jumping onto the running boards of flat-topped black Fords.

NEWYORKER: Public Enemies

The modern accoutrements that travellers expect such as flat-screen TVs, duvet-topped beds and high-speed wi-fi are all in place.

BBC: Business trip: Quito

Further into this space, wide, bleached-wood steps lead to a flat platform level that can be topped with cushions and used as beds.

WSJ: Modern Homes: To Doze, To Design in Hong Kong