Wilhelm Verwoerd has spent most of his life wrestling with his surname and what it represents. His grandfather, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, is widely known as the 'architect of apartheid' in South Africa because of the brutal policies he introduced as a government minister and then prime minister of the country in the 1950s and 1960s. But Wilhelm turned his back on his family's apartheid politics and is committed to tearing down its racist legacy. His book is called: Verwoerd: My journey through family betrayals.

This episode was first broadcast on 14th December 2019.

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Presenter: Andile Masuku

Producer: Deiniol Buxton

(Photo: Wilhelm Verwoerd. Credit: Wojciech Klimala)

In 2017 Ed Jackson had everything to look forward to. A professional rugby player, the 28-year-old had just signed another two-year contract with the Welsh team Dragons, and he and his girlfriend Lois had got engaged and were planning a fabulous wedding in Italy the following year. All of that changed in a split second when Ed mistakenly dived into the shallow end of a swimming pool. He hit his head with such force that he dislocated and fractured two vertebrae at the base of his neck. Paralysed from the neck down, he was told he would never walk again, but Ed quickly found the positives in his situation and says he considers himself "lucky". It's an attitude that has taken him further than you could ever imagine. Ed has written a book about his life called Lucky, and his charity is called Millimetres 2 Mountains.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: June Christie

(Photo: Ed Jackson. Credit: Ross Silcocks)

Haben Girma is a Harvard Law School graduate, an attorney, she's been invited to the White House... and she's Deafblind. Haben has published a book called Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Becky Vincent

(Photo: Haben Girma meeting Barack Obama in 2015. Credit: White House/ Pete Souza)

While travelling through West Africa in 2018, Canadian Edith Blais and her companion Luca Tacchetto were kidnapped. They were taken to the desert in a lawless area of Mali where groups linked to al-Qaeda were known to operate. They were, initially, held together for some months. But then they were separated, and Edith found herself alone for long periods of time. As well as suffering physically with dehydration and starvation, she had to find different techniques to keep her mind strong and stay sane. A borrowed pen enabled her to write poetry, she sang songs to remind herself of her own voice, and a very special relationship with a spider helped ease her loneliness.

Edith eventually agreed to convert to Islam and was reunited with Luca. It was then they dreamt up a plan to flee their captors. Fifteen months after being kidnapped they staged a staggering escape. Edith has written a book about her time in captivity called The Weight of Sand.

Radio listeners, if you are searching for the combined podcast version of Edith's interview with Jo Fidgen - this is it!

Get in touch: [email protected]

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: Katy Takatsuki

(Photo: Edith Blais. Credit: Sara Mauve Ravenelle)

Lily Ebert was just a teenager when war broke out across Europe. Born into a large Hungarian-Jewish family, she was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp after Germany invaded Hungary in 1944. She survived the ordeal, along with two of her younger sisters. All three went on to build lives after the war; marrying, having large families – but never speaking of the horrors they had experienced.   

  

But after suffering a bereavement in the 1980s, Lily started to revisit her experiences – and began to speak out. Now, at the age of 97, with the help of her great-grandson Dov she has become an unlikely TikTok star, sharing her story with a new generation of followers online. Lily and Dov spoke to Emily Webb about Lily's experiences during the war - and the viral tweet that brought her internet fame.  

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Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Zoe Gelber

Picture: Lily Ebert and Dov Forman

Credit: Tereza Červeňová

Jeanne Gustavson met Steve Watts as an undergraduate at university in Chicago, but her family disapproved of their interracial relationship. The pressure became too much, and Jeanne broke up with Steve, but she never forgot him, and decades later she tracked him down. Steve was living with disabilities in a nursing home, but they realised they were still in love. Jeanne fought to get Steve back to her home so she could care for him there, and now, four decades after the start of their relationship, they're living under the same roof for the first time. Jeanne and Steve spoke to Emily Webb.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Harry Graham

Picture: Jeanne and Steve this year

Credit: Jeanne Gustavson

At the age of 16 Amina was happy and in love with a local boy in Jordan. She dreamt of their wedding and future together. But then she discovered a secret about her sister, which brought 'shame' on her family and her father went to violent extremes to protect his family's so-called honour. Emily Webb hears this harrowing story through Amina's words and Norwegian journalist Lene Wold, who spent time with her to write a book called 'Inside an Honour Killing.' This episode was first broadcast in May 2019.

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Image: Two women walking through an archway wearing hijabs

Credit: ashariat/Getty Images

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Maryam Maruf

Dr Waheed Arian spent his early childhood in Kabul, Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan conflict. He and his family would often hide in cellars to escape the fighting and they were soon forced to flee to a refugee camp in Pakistan. He contracted tuberculosis and during his treatment was inspired by a doctor who gave him his first ever medical textbook and a stethoscope. Aged 15, he arrived alone in the UK and worked three jobs while studying. His hard work earned him a place to study medicine at Cambridge University, but his ambitions hung in the balance as the trauma and memories of his early life came back to haunt him. He's written a book about his life called In the Wars and his charity is called Arian Teleheal.

Precious objects or artworks are at risk of theft, vandalism, even terror attacks in some cases. Protecting them is quite a task. Outlook's Alessia Cerantola went to meet one of the people doing just that - an Italian man called Alessandro Goppion who's been given the job of protecting some of the most valuable objects in the world, including the Mona Lisa painting. This report was first broadcast in February 2018.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Presenter: Datshiane Navanayagam

Producer: Katy Takatsuki

Picture: Dr Waheed Arian

Credit: Dr Waheed Arian

Almost every day for 40 years, expert diver Jim Abernethy has been swimming with sharks at a patch of shallow crystal-clear ocean in the Bahamas known as Tiger Beach. At any given moment Jim can be surrounded by 30 or more tiger, reef and lemon sharks. But Jim has a unique relationship with these underwater predators who swim up to him for affectionate nose-rubs. He tells Outlook's Clayton Conn about removing fishing debris from their mouths with his own hands and his mission to change the world's perception of these endangered sea creatures.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Presenter: Clayton Conn

Producer: Clayton Conn and Mariana Des Forges

Picture: Jim Abernethy with a tiger shark

Credit: Clayton Conn

Grace M. Cho grew up Korean-American in a small town in Washington state. Her mother, Koonja, was a Korean woman who met Grace’s white-American father – a merchant marine – on a US military base in the aftermath of the Korean war. Charismatic and determined, Koonja did everything she could to 'fit in' in their town: she threw a party for Grace and her brother’s teachers to help them integrate at school; she learned to cook American food; and she also founded a thriving woodland-foraging business that led to her being nicknamed “the blackberry lady” by the locals. Still, Grace never felt the family was truly accepted, and they often experienced harassment. When Grace was 15, Koonja suffered a psychological breakdown that would, years later, be diagnosed as schizophrenia. Struggling to help, Grace turned detective and uncovered her mother’s traumatic history in Korea. But it was through cooking – and recreating Korean recipes Koonja had not tasted for decades – that Grace and her mother were able to find comfort and connection. Grace's memoir is called Tastes Like War.

Get in touch: [email protected]

Presenter: Anu Anand

Producer: Laura Thomas

Picture: Grace M. Cho

Credit: Patrick Bower