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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: Uruguay's No-frills President

Jose Mujica

19/01/2015

Uruguay's No-frills President

BBC World Service - Outlook, Uruguay's No-frills President

Jose Mujica has an old car, grows his own food and describes himself as a humble peasant

Matthew Bannister presents a programme of extraordinary stories, including an interview with Jose Mujica, Uruguay's controversial outgoing president.

Jose Mujica was elected as Uruguay's president in 2010, and has since put his small country in the international spotlight. Before entering politics, Jose was a revolutionary and spent fourteen years in prison. He shuns official palaces in favour of living on his rural farm and still owns his 1987 blue VW Beetle, which he uses to get to official events. He is famous for his liberal policies including legalising marijuana, gay marriage and abortion. The BBC's Ignacio de los Reyes travelled to Montevideo to meet him.

In 2012, Davey du Plessis embarked on a five-month adventure hiking, cycling and kayaking the length of the Amazon river. However, two months into his journey, a horrific incident put an end to his expedition and nearly ended his life. Davey's book is called Choosing to Live.

Grace McCleen is an acclaimed young novelist from Wales who says she's giving up writing because she finds the experience too painful. Grace was brought up in an evangelical Christian household and as a result she was isolated from much of the outside world during her childhood. She's channelled her experiences into her writing but despite receiving great praise for her work she says her third book, The Offering, may be her last. 

Jadav Payeng was born on the world's largest river island - Majuli Island in the Brahmaputra River in northeast India. As a teenager in the 1970s, he witnessed the effect that climate change was having on the island and to combat erosion he created a forest which now covers 1,300 acres.

(Picture: Jose Mujica. Credit: AP)

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