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Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

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

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

Outlook: Snapping Strangers, Dr Who, Funny Man

Brandon Stanton; A Dalek; Saad Haroon

13/11/2014

Snapping Strangers, Dr Who, Funny Man

BBC World Service - Outlook, Snapping Strangers, Dr Who, Funny Man

Saad Haroon, the second funniest man in the world, author Uwe Tellkamp and Slum rapper

Saad Haroon, the second funniest man in the world, Author Uwe Tellkamp, Rapper Nimesh Patel, Humans Of New York project, Actor Haluk Bilginer and the global appeal of Dr Who.

Saad Haroon has been voted the second funniest man in the world. The comedian was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and despite his family's protests, decided to devote his life to making people laugh. Now based in the US, Saad's biggest achievement to date came at a competition called Laugh Factory: Funniest Person in the World. He came second. 

German author Uwe Tellkamp used his family's experiences of living in the East German city of Dresden and the country's repressive communist regime as the basis of his prize winning novel The Tower. Uwe wanted to study to be a doctor, but to get permission to do that he had to agree to extended service in the East German army. He became a tank commander and was sent to prison for refusing to break up a demonstration.  

Rapper Nimesh Patel - known as 'Nimo' - grew up in east Los Angeles. He had a successful career in finance, but when he found success as a rap musician, he turned his back on the trappings of Western status, and took up a simple life, working with slum children in India. 

American photographer Brandon Stanton goes up to complete strangers on the street and asks them to share their life stories. It all started when he lost his job in finance and decided to give more time to his hobby, photography. He moved to New York City and set out to photograph 10,000 strangers on the streets. Today his project Humans Of New York has become a best selling book. 

Haluk Bilginer is a Turkish film and TV actor. He stars in the movie Winter Sleep which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival 2014.  His lifelong mission is to establish independent theatre in Turkey, but he has also played Robin Williams' famous character, Mrs Doubtfire. 

Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction TV programme in the world. It has been going for 51 years and the lead character has been played by many actors across the years. So why does it have such strong global appeal? 

(Picture: Brandon Stanton; a Dalek from Dr Who; Saad Haroon)

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