Blood, gold and secrets at the Olympic pool.

Greg Louganis is one of the most celebrated divers in the US, and a record-breaking athlete. But Greg is also famous for one of the biggest shocks in Olympic history – cutting his head on a diving board, and the revelations that followed. This podcast was first released on the 17th November 2018.

Presenter: Sofia Bettiza

Producer: Maryam Maruf

Image: Greg Louganis

Credit: Pascal Rondeau Allsport/Getty Images

Sam Mills is a British writer who has always turned to fictional characters for answers in her life. Whether that was Roald Dahl's Matilda when she was younger or Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway as an adult, they've always been the language she's used to interpret her situation.

As a child, Sam didn't understand why her dad would disappear for long stretches of time so she'd tell her classmates he'd been abducted by a gang and was being held hostage. These were stories inspired by some of her favourite authors. When she was 14 years old she found out what was really happening, her father had schizophrenia.

Sam's favourite storybooks continued to help her to process the world and when she became her father's primary carer, they became a lifeline.

Sam has written a book about her experience called Fragments of My Father.

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Alice Gioia

Picture: Pages of a book

Credit: BBC

Rufus Wainwright was once described by Elton John as 'the greatest songwriter on the planet'. He's the son of two North American folk music legends – Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle but went on to forge his own prolific career. He's got 12 albums under his belt including the Grammy-nominated Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall where he sang Over the Rainbow with his mother Kate on stage, a song they’ve performed since his childhood. Rufus was especially close to his mum, early on in his songwriting career he looked to her for advice and approval, and her support helped him through a destructive crystal meth addiction. They sang together often, right up until she died from cancer in 2010.

Rufus' latest album is called Unfollow the Rules.

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Maryam Maruf

Picture: Rufus Wainwright with his mother Kate McGarrigle

Credit: Getty Images

Elizabeth Anionwu spent her earliest years in a British children’s home. Her mother, a promising Cambridge University student, got pregnant by accident following a relationship with a Nigerian law student at the same university and was forced to give her baby up.

Although Elizabeth’s mother was loving and always kept in touch, Elizabeth’s childhood was unsettled. For many years she was the only mixed-race child in the children’s home, and when she left the institution, to live first with her mother and stepfather, and later with her grandparents, Elizabeth never felt wholly accepted.

Despite her academic potential, Elizabeth’s family ended her schooling at 16. She quickly found a job as a nursing assistant, and from there went on to train as a nurse. It’s a profession on which she has had a huge impact, championing the rights and care of patients with sickle cell anaemia and becoming Britain’s first sickle cell nurse specialist. Now Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, she’s regarded as a pioneer in her field, but it was only later in life that she felt a true sense of belonging. A question to her mother about her father’s identity set a chain of events in motion that would lead to a treasured reunion – not just with her father, but with a wider Nigerian family who treated her from the start as one of their own.

It's Outlook's 54th year on air and to celebrate, we're letting our listeners take over today's programme.

Margo Perin is an Outlook listener with a story of her own. As a child in the USA she was constantly on the move, with a new surname and address every few years. Unsure of what her father really did for a living, her childhood was shrouded in mystery. It wasn't until she was much older that she'd come to understand her family's secrets, and why they were on the run. She spoke to Outlook's Emily Webb.

Peter van Straten is another listener who sent a remarkable story our way, this time about a friend of his Mandisa Gushu. Mandisa grew up in a dysfunctional home in one of the poorest parts of South Africa. After naming herself at the age of six, she managed to make her way through school and nursing college and is now working at a hospital in the UK.

We always love to receive stories from our listeners. If you have a story you want told, or know somebody else who does, email us at [email protected]

Picture: Margo Perin

Credit: Margo Perin

Daniel Lofredo Rota is an Ecuadorian DJ and musician on a quest to unravel a decades-old family mystery. His eccentric grandfather has left a clue: a grimy, battered suitcase filled with old tapes. Inside are songs, secret loves, and the resurrection of a long-lost record label. This episode was first broadcast on 21 October, 2018.

Check out Daniel's Soundcloud page - Quixosis - if you want to listen to all the songs featured in this programme.

Produced and presented by Maryam Maruf

Image: Records from the Caife catalogue

Credit: Courtesy of Daniel Lofredo Rota

Dr Rachel Clarke spends her working life in the company of people who are dying, and she says they’ve taught her everything she needs to know about living. She works in palliative care for England’s National Health Service, providing support for people at the end of their lives. She adores her job - she's written a book about how much she gets out of it. But when her beloved father became terminally ill, she had to face his decline as a daughter, not a doctor.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: Katy Takatsuki

Photo credit: Sarah Oscroft

Lien de Jong was a young girl living in The Hague in the Netherlands when the Second World War broke out. The country was occupied, and her parents took a desperate decision to protect their child, sending her to live with the Van Es family, passionate anti-Nazis who raised Lien as their own. After the end of the war Lien remained with her adoptive family. Her biological parents had been murdered in Auschwitz, and she had nowhere else to go. But the trauma of the war took a heavy toll on Lien, and over time she became increasingly estranged from the Van Es family. Then, years later, she received an email from Bart Van Es. He was the son of Lien's adoptive brother, and he wanted to tell her story. Lien and Bart spoke to Outlook's Jo Fidgen.

Photo: Nazi Germany occupies the Netherlands

Credit: Getty Images/Three Lions

Roman Dial is a science professor and explorer who's travelled to some of the toughest places on Earth. His son Cody Roman was raised to love the wilderness too, and used to join his father on expeditions around the world. As he grew older, he went on adventures of his own. But in 2014, whilst trekking in the Costa Rican jungle, Cody Roman went missing. Roman Dial began a two year search for his son. He spoke to Outlook's Jo Fidgen.

Born in a Rio de Janeiro favela, Elza Soares overcame poverty, child marriage and public scandal to become one of her country's most beloved singers. She started out in the smokey nightclubs of Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s and with her unique raspy voice and the intensity of her dancing, she quickly became a hit on the club scene. In the 1960s a highly publicised relationship with a footballing legend briefly made her a national hate figure, but she came back and now into the seventh decade of her career she continues to be a Brazilian icon. She spoke to Outlook's Harry Graham.

Photo Credit: Roman Dial

In January 2020, Dagmar Turner was woken up in the middle of her brain surgery and handed a violin. It was her idea. She was an amateur but committed violinist and was willing to go to drastic lengths to keep playing the instrument. Dagmar had been diagnosed with a brain tumour in her right frontal lobe. It was dangerously close to areas of her brain that were responsible for coordinating delicate movements in her left hand - essential for her musical talent. So she sought the help of Dr Keyoumars Ashkan – he was a respected neurosurgeon but also an accomplished musician, so he understood her love of music. Dr Ashkan agreed to perform an incredibly rare procedure where Dagmar would play the violin during surgery so that he and his team could remove only brain tissue that would not damage her music skills.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: Becky Vincent

Picture: Dagmar Turner with her violin during her brain surgery

Credit: King's College London