BBC World Service - Outlook

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  • Lateralthinking1
    • Jan 2025

    BBC World Service - Outlook

    A World Service programme but so good it is worth mentioning here. The remit of "Outlook" is "to present extraordinary personal stories from around the world". The edition today included a really thought provoking interview with Rodney King. His book "The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption" has recently been published.



    There was also on this programme a short item on people whose lives have been changed by learning a foreign language. A woman well into her sixties decided to take up Russian and, having become fluent, moved to Russia to start a wonderful new life there. She is now in her eighties and living very happily. A young homeless man was set a challenge by a television station to become fluent in Arabic in five months and has succeeded. He hopes to move soon to the Middle East and find employment.

    In other recent editions, there have been the true stories of a Greek doctor helping those who can't afford medical care, an Ecuadorian immigrant who's leading a rebellion against Spanish banks, an American mother on the trauma of having her son sent to prison aged thirteen, the librarian who risked his life to save antique books during the siege of Sarajevo and the Jewish teacher who taught a blind autistic Palestinian girl to be a concert pianist. Recommended listening.

    True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives
  • Lateralthinking1

    #2
    I am shocked to hear of the death of Rodney King coming so soon after the interview on "Outlook". He was not a saint and had many demons but then his life was extraordinary in so many ways. I started listening to the programme with some cynicism but quickly became impressed. He had, of course, shown courage in his intervention against the riots undertaken in his name. He was though also bright and capable of reflection, humility and maturity. Setting aside his understandable addictions, he came across as having almost an Obama like quality. That really surprised me. There were some parallels, I think too, with the late Gil Scott-Heron who had a similar combination of troubles and wisdom. Certainly I came away feeling that he still had plenty to give, for these are important figures in communities and they have the capacity to effect positive change, but sadly in his case that wasn't to be.

    Obituary - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18478979

    Listen Again - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00s5p4m#synopsis
    Last edited by Guest; 17-06-12, 22:48.

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