Original version

BBC World Service Australasia

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

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

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service East Asia

Outlook: Translating for a Hostage-taker

Magazines & Reviews

Military abseiling from a helicopter attempting to end the hostage crisis during the Mumbai attacks

17/01/2019 GMT

Translating for a Hostage-taker

BBC World Service - Outlook, Translating for a Hostage-taker

PV Viswanath was called in to translate when his friends were caught in a siege in Mumbai

The professor who was called upon to talk to a gunman during the Mumbai attacks

On the 26th November 2008 gunmen stormed the Indian city of Mumbai. It was the start of a brutal siege that killed over 150 people and injured many more. Professor PV Viswanath found himself in the middle of one of the hostage negotiations that day. He was nearly 8000 miles away in New York City.

In North London there's a musician with some slightly bizarre muses. When Cosmo Sheldrake composes a song, he doesn't always use traditional instruments. Instead he uses fish, pigs or even stars. Outlook's Mariana Des Forges went to investigate.

André Leon Talley is an icon in the fashion world. His early jobs include working for Andy Warhol in New York in the 70s.  He went on to become editor-at-large at the most famous fashion magazine in the world: Vogue. He is now the subject of the documentary The Gospel According to André. His story begins in a church in Durham, North Carolina. 

(Image: Military abseiling from a helicopter attempting to end the hostage crisis during the Mumbai attacks
Credit:  Satish Bate/Hindustan Times/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

Translating for a Hostage-taker

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service