Doodles and squiggles aren't wasting time at all – in fact they can kick start creativity and imagination. Most of all, doing them can be lots of fun! It was by drawing cartoons that Norwegian artist Oistein Kristiansen got started on his path. One day, his dad saw him drawing and remarked on how good the illustration was. Oistein was thrilled with the praise and knew he wanted to dedicate his time to doing what he loved the most. In his early days, Oistein would draw caricature cartoons of people on the street. With hard work, he began working as a cartoonist for newspapers and magazines, including Vogue, Elle and Mad Magazine. Oistein later began a career in television, where he hosted his own show, and he has recently become a YouTube star. Not only does Oistein draw cartoons, but he is also very crafty, constructing creatures out of cardboard boxes and fashioning animals of any objects that he can get his hands on. His advice to kids is to just start making things with their hands, and, once they start, their creativity will be unlocked.

 Following his passion and doing something he loves has become an occupation for Paul A. Young. He first trained as a chef, and became a patissier (a pastry chef) for celebrity chef Marco Pierre White; creating beautiful desserts, cakes and patisserie. With a childhood love of chocolate as his inspiration, Paul opened his first chocolate shop in 2006 in London. A Master Chocolatier is a bit like a mad scientist, although in this case the crazy experiments are for developing new flavours, textures and patterns. Paul's award winning chocolates include all sorts of intriguing flavours, from Marmite truffles, port and stilton truffles, dark sea-salted rochers, hazelnut pralines, passion fruit and raspberry ganaches and sea salted caramels. Delicious! If you're wondering how he comes up with new ideas, Paul says he's always open to them, and even has a book that he writes everything down in. He then plays around in the kitchen, spending time where all he does is mix up ingredients and see what comes out!

Do you like to cook or bake? Or maybe watch your mom or dad while they're getting dinner ready? Have you ever thought that baking cakes or cooking might be a good way to earn a living? There are world-famous schools, like Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and London, where you can learn how to make a chocolate soufflé or other delicious foods. There are also schools where you can learn to make a great pizza. Going to a chef school or college is one way to become a restaurant chef. But Jamie Thickett didn't do that. He started out washing pots in a restaurant in Scarborough, in northern England. From there, he worked at various other restaurant positions, moving up the ladder and learning how to cook, until he was hired as a head chef. That job led him to London, where he was named head chef for Dehesa, one of Salt Yard Group's restaurants, and later head chef for Opera Tavern. Today, he is the head chef for Veneta, a new restaurant inspired by the food and recipes of Venice, Italy. But what is the job of a head chef? He or she doesn't do the day-to-day cooking at the restaurant's stoves. Instead the head chef is responsible for hiring the cooking staff, creating new recipes and developing the menu, supervising the various cooks, and making sure the kitchen runs smoothly. They have to work long hours — well into the night, and often on the weekends and holidays.

Imagine you get the chance to go on a Grand Adventure … walking across the Arctic to the North Pole, or walking to the South Pole, or maybe climbing to the very top of Mount Everest. Which adventure would you choose? If you're Adrian Hayes, you pick all three, and then do all three in world record time. Mr. Hayes has held the Three Poles Challenge world speed record, after he walked to the North Pole, and the South Pole, and climbed Mount Everest—in nineteen months and three days. It's called the Three Poles Challenge because explorers try to reach the two farthest-apart points on earth, and the very highest point. Mr. Hayes tried out lots of different jobs on the way to becoming an adventurer. He worked as a bricklayer, a farmer, and a builder's worker. He sang and played guitar in a rock band. He was a paramedic with the Special Air Services before going to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. As a British officer in the Brigade of Gurkhas, he served in Hong Kong and Brunei, and later, with the Royal Army of Oman. And he learned to speak Arabic and Nepali. After leaving military service and working as a sales director, Mr. Hayes began his climbing and trekking adventures. He followed up the Three Poles Challenge by crossing 1,600 kilometers of the Arabian Desert, on foot and on camel. This area is called the Empty Quarter and it's the largest "sea" of sand in the world. In 2014, he and his team reached the top of K-2, the world's second tallest mountain. K-2 "was my biggest challenge," he says, because it is "way steeper" than nearby peaks, and its weather conditions are much worse. Climbing is his favorite adventure, he adds, because you're in a different world. You have to stay really focused and think only of your next move. Mr. Hayes is the first Briton and only the third person in the world to reach the summit of the two highest mountains and to trek to both the North and South poles. His advice for kids who wonder what adventures they might have? "Write down your goals for the year," a few months at a time. Figure out what your skills are. And if you're not sure, ask your teachers or parents!

Thirty-six years ago, Kailash Satyarthi quit his job. He was an electrical engineer in India and had a family but he knew that millions of kids in his country were too poor to go to school. Instead those children had to work many hours a day in terrible places where they were often hurt or even killed. And many kids earned no money at all because their parents sold them to factory owners or farm managers. Around the world, the numbers are pretty terrible. Some 168 million children go to work each day instead of going to school, and 80 million of them work in very dangerous conditions, making clothes, electronics, even chocolate. Mr. Satyarthi decided to do something about that, even though he was just one person out of 1.2 billion Indians. He started Bachpan Bachao Andolan, the Save the Childhood Movement. Today he has helped rescue some 86,000 children from slave labor and is a world leader for children's rights—to go to school and to live in peace. In 2014, Mr. Satyarthi won the Nobel Peace Prize, and shared the honor with a Pakistani girl, seventeen-year-old Malala Yousafzai. The Nobel committee recognized "their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education." Because of Mr. Satyarthi's campaigns, including the Global March Against Child Labour, new guidelines on child labour have been adopted by the International Labour Organization. And 172 countries have signed the agreement to help their own children. When people travel to India and Pakistan, they often buy one of the beautiful rugs the countries are famous for. But many of those rugs are made by little kids, so twenty-two years ago, Mr. Satyarthi started GoodWeave International. The organization labels, monitors, and certifies that rugs with its label have been by people old enough to do grown-up work. As the Nobel Prize committee says, Mr. Satyarthi has shown "great personal courage … focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain."

If you've ever tried to sew something, maybe for a school activity or a craft project, you know it's not easy to cut the cloth correctly, then wrestle it through the sewing machine in good order. And sewing your entire project by hand takes loads of time and patience. Stephen Hitchcock doesn't mind the extra work. He's a bespoke tailor, whose shop is on Savile Row, the London street where generations of tailors have cut and created clothing by hand. A bespoke tailor makes each jacket, suit, or trousers for the buyer himself—measuring, cutting the pieces of cloth, and sewing the garment to fit that man. Mr. Hitchcock was born into the business. His father, John Hitchcock, was a cutter and tailor for fifty-two years for Anderson & Sheppard, Savile Row tailors since 1906. Stephen started as an apprentice at Anderson & Sheppard, working for five years to learn to put together all the parts of a jacket, until he was invited to learn cutting with his father and Alan Pitt, another experienced tailor. Four years later, in 1999, he opened his own shop, moving back to Savile Row in 2009. If you want to order, or "commission," a suit from Mr. Hitchcock, he will personally take your measurements, cut paper patterns to use for the garment's various pieces, then cut the cloth itself. His suits are "soft tailored," which means there is little or no extra padding or stiff inner material to give the garment a specific shape. He sees all the orders through himself, and as each suit takes many hours of work, he only makes three suits a week, about 150 commissions a year. In contrast, large clothing manufacturers can make up to 1,300 suits a day in their factories! Mr. Hitchcock doesn't follow trends in his custom work. No skinny lapels or really tight trousers will appear on his cutting board. "I am not a fan," he told an online interviewer. "People will look back … [and] they will say, 'what was I wearing!" "

Finn interviews Peter Gabriel, musician and humanitarian, at Bush Studios, London. When Peter Gabriel was young, his mother taught him how to play the piano. By fourteen, he had his first musical gig, and was on the way to making "noises for a living," he says. "On a good day, people pay me!" In 1967, he and several of his schoolmates founded the rock band Genesis. Mr. Gabriel sang lead vocals and played the flute, often wearing costumes on stage. Then in 1975, he surprised everyone by leaving Genesis to start a very successful solo music career. His interest in all kinds of music would lead him to singers, songwriters, and musicians far from the United Kingdom. So he and his friends decided to start a music festival featuring musicians from everywhere. Their first WOMAD Festival — World Music, Art and Dance — was held in 1982. Today, WOMAD festivals have been held in over thirty countries. Mr. Gabriel's interest in world cultures and communities didn't stop with a music and arts festival. He was talking one day with Richard Branson about how the oldest members of a community are often the ones who guide the group and help resolve disputes. This led to a question. Could the wise older members of our "global village" work with conflicts and major problems? They took their idea to several of those world leaders, including Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandela brought together other leaders. In 2007, The Elders was born. Today the ten-member group includes honorary Elders Bishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Musicians often make online videos and use technology to promote their work. Mr. Gabriel started WITNESS, an organization that trains human rights activists how to use video and other internet technology to expose human rights abuses. In 2006, he was given the Man of Peace award by the Nobel Peace Laureates for this, and his other human rights, work. But Mr. Gabriel's humanitarian interests don't stop with his fellow human beings. During a visit to the Language Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, he was accompanied musically by Kanzi, a bonobo, at his own keyboard. Kanzi, and his sister Panbanisha, learned to communicate in English, using symbols on a language keyboard. Kanzi now lives in the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary. What was it like to work with a great ape on keyboards? It was "almost like meeting your ancestors and playing music with them!"

Luca interviews Mike LaCorte, private detective Did you know that, right now, the world's top detective works in London? But it's not James Bond, Sherlock, or anyone from MI5. That top detective is Mike LaCorte. He was named Investigator of the Year, in September, by the World Association of Detectives. Now a company director of Conflict International, Mr. LaCorte has been a private investigator for twenty years. Private detectives or investigators do research and run investigations for individuals or businesses that need information. Mr. LaCorte speaks Spanish and Italian and has a background in business and finance. His work today includes investigation and surveillance, background checks, and undercover operations, as well as other fact-finding inquiries. Conflict International's main office is in London, with branches in New York City and Marbella, Spain. His company's surveillance work is often done in teams but he likes to remain in personal contact with a client while the investigation is going on. Then, after all the evidence is collected, the Conflict International legal team prepares it for any future court presentations. What are Mr. LaCorte's tips for following someone without being detected? Make minimal eye contact and never make exactly the same moves as your subject does. Disguises probably aren't necessary and definitely, no false noses!

Hope interviews Matthew Barzun, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, at Winfield House, London If you were the United States' or United Kingdom's ambassador to another country, what do you think your job would be? "I am the president's personal representative in the U.K.," says Matthew Barzun, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. An ambassador is a diplomat who works on many international issues, including treaties, trade, and technology, while representing his or her government. Ambassador Barzun lives in London at Winfield House with his wife and three children, and their dog, Lincoln. And while there have been many official meetings, dinners, and important receptions held there, he also hosts parties where his visitors can listen to popular singers and entertainers and even wear jeans! Mr. Barzun has been U.S. Ambassador to Sweden where he started an outreach program to meet with people in their own towns. As ambassador to the U.K., he's set up the Young Leaders UK program, which connects young U.K. citizens with American officials and visitors. Ambassador Barzun was one of the first employees of CNET Networks (now CNET), an American media website that posts information on all things tech and electronic; he's also advised and worked for other internet companies. And he is an enthusiastic collector of vinyl records which he often plays for his Winfield House guests. Before taking his new post, Mr. Barzun asked President Barack Obama what advice he would give his ambassador. "Well, Matthew, listen …" the president said. And listening is what the ambassador encourages all of us to do. Even if a conversation, in person or online, is awkward or angry, listening and trying to understand the other person's argument is often the best way to a diplomatic breakthrough! Hope interviews Matthew Barzun, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, at Winfield House, London

Jodie interviews Dany Cotton, London firefighter and new interim Fire Commissioner, at Greenwich Fire Station. If someone says you can't do something, do you say OK and quit? Or does being told "no" make you want to work even harder to do what everyone says you can't? In 1987, when Dany Cotton was 18, she saw a newspaper advertisement for the London Fire Brigade. The Brigade wanted to recruit women and minority Londoners to become firefighters. Could a girl be a fireman? "Everyone thought I wouldn't be able to do it," she told Prospect.org, "and that it was not a job for a woman, but this just spurred me on." That year, there were about 6,000 male London firefighters and 30 women. Learning to do the job wasn't easy. Some of her fellow firefighters were suspicious or nasty or both. Several men at her first post transferred out and her supervisor said he didn't think she should be there. Then three months into the job, she was on a team of firefighters who responded to a terrible train crash. Nineteen-year-old Dany did her job and won the respect of her fellows. Her firefighting skills were recognized in 1998 when she was the first woman to become a Station Officer. In 2002, she was named Public Servant of the Year; in 2004 she was the first woman to be awarded the Queen's Fire Service Medal. And in 2012, she became an Assistant Commissioner. This year, the London Fire Brigade is 150 years old. In January, Ms. Cotton will become the interim London Fire Commissioner, the first woman in the Brigade's history to have the position. She still wants to make sure anyone who is told "no, you can't do that," has a chance to try, even though some people still think women shouldn't be firefighters. But when firefighters arrive at an emergency, she says, nobody asks who they are or where they come from. They are the ones running in where everyone else is running away. Jodie interviews Dany Cotton, London Fire Brigade firefighter and new interim London Fire Commissioner, at Greenwich Fire Station.