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Outlook: From Hollywood to Homeless

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David Reather

25/05/2017 GMT

From Hollywood to Homeless

BBC World Service - Outlook, From Hollywood to Homeless

David Raether went from doing his dream job to living rough on the streets of L.A

David Raether went from doing his dream job as a scriptwriter to living rough on the streets of L.A.

In the 1990s David Raether had everything - a beautiful wife, eight children and his dream job working as a scriptwriter on the popular American sitcom, the Roseanne show.  But after taking a career break, David found it difficult to get back into the job market and he ended up losing everything -  eventually he became homeless.  He tells Manuela Saragosa how he has managed to get back on his feet.  He has written a book about his life called Homeless: A Picaresque Memoir From Our Times.

Like horses, mules were a core part of military campaigns for hundreds of years, transporting artillery, ammunition, food, and medicine. They rarely got much recognition for it, but in Italy a couple of weekends ago, they did. In the northern town of Treviso, there was a big parade to remember those who died in World War One. And this year, the star of the show was a mule, 38-year-old Iroso, the last living mule to serve for the Italian army.

When it comes to testing your physical limits, perhaps there is no greater challenge than climbing Mount Everest. So when Indian twins Nungshi and Tashi Malik announced that they would take up the Everest challenge, their mother was understandably very anxious. Yet they became the first female twins to reach the top of Everest, and the first siblings and twins to climb the seven highest summits in the world, all before the age of 25.

In South Africa, there is one man who has made it his life's mission to protect bees. The insects' population has been in steep decline and Zimbabwean-born Farai Chinomwe has taken to urban beekeeping to help regenerate their numbers. It was a chance encounter with some bees five years ago that led him to set up hives across Johannesburg. Reporter Gavin Fischer met Farai and his bees.

(Photo: (L) Norm MacDonald and David Raether (RHS)  in the writers' room with picture featuring members of the American tv sitcom Roseanne. Credit: Mike Gandolfi. (R) David Raether with kind permission from David Raether)

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