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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: Magic, Balloonist, Bullet-Proof Vest

Socotra Island; Balloon descent into the earth; Attacking Sam Sarkar's bulletproof vest

30/11/2014

Magic, Balloonist, Bullet-Proof Vest

BBC World Service - Outlook, Magic, Balloonist, Bullet-Proof Vest

The magical genes of Socotra island, hot-air ballooning in a cave, bullet-proof vest test

Execution witness, extreme balloonist, woman who had a child with an undercover cop, Socotra: the hidden land, testing a bullet-proof vests.

Christine Towery's brother was executed by lethal injection in 2012, after spending 20 years on death row in the USA. He had been convicted of murder, having killed a man in 1991. Christine talks about how her life was dominated by Robert's case and how she regularly visited him in prison before attending his execution. 

Ivan Trifonov is an extreme balloonist. The 70-year-old Austrian has piloted hot-air balloons on all seven continents, and holds four world records, including being the first person to balloon over the North and South Poles. Recently he flew a hot air balloon underground, deep into a huge cave in Croatia. 

Briton Jacqui had a child with an undercover policeman, but only found out his true identity more than 20 years later. In the 1980s, a special police squad had been set up to infiltrate protest groups. Jacqui was a protester and became involved with one member of the squad who called himself Bob Robinson. They had a baby together. But unbeknown to Jacqui, Bob Robinson was really called Bob Lambert, who was married to another woman and had two other children. 

Socotra is a Yemeni island off the horn of Africa. For centuries it was cut off from the modern world and islanders developed a strong belief in magic. They lived entirely off their land in an economy based on sharing. Many men worked as fishermen. Today, that way of life is being challenged by the spread of Islam and by dwindling fish stocks that are forcing islanders to find other work. The Spanish film-maker Carles Cardelús spent months living with the people of Socotra and made a documentary. 

Bullet-proof vest manufacturer Sam Sarkar is a British-Asian businessman.  He was born in India, but moved to the UK to study. After serving in the Royal Navy, he set up his own business manufacturing bullet proof vests. When Sam wanted to expand into the US he came up with a dramatic way of showing how well his vests work. He filmed himself getting shot and stabbed by his business partner. 

(Picture: Socotra island, balloon descent into the earth, attacking Sam Sardar's bullet proof vest. Credits: Carles Cardelús, Ivan Trifonov; Sam Sarkar)

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