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Outlook: My microscopic world: Making the tiniest sculptures on earth

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Willard looking through the eye of a needle.jpg

22/02/2024 GMT

My microscopic world: Making the tiniest sculptures on earth

BBC World Service - Outlook, My microscopic world: Making the tiniest sculptures on earth

British artist Willard Wigan has a gift for constructing the world in miniature

After being bullied at school, Willard Wigan developed an unusual hobby – making houses for ants. Today, his sculptures are the smallest in the world.

Growing up in Birmingham in the UK during the 1960s, Willard Wigan did not have it easy. He struggled at school and his teachers were cruel, routinely humiliating him in front of his classmates. To escape, he took refuge in his garden, where he developed an unusual hobby - making houses for ants. As he got older, his creations got smaller, but it would be years before his rare and unusual gift was noticed. Today, his microscopic sculptures are the smallest in the world. He spoke to Outlook's Zoe Gelber.

Ida Davidsen is a master when it comes to constructing open-faced sandwiches. Ida comes from generations of sandwich makers and in her restaurant she makes 250 types of them. She learned the art of peeling shrimp and piling them high on bread at a young age. She's fed many celebrity customers including the Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin who was served a sandwich made in his honour shaped like a Sputnik spacecraft. This interview was first broadcast in January 2020.

Presenter: Asya Fouks

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Photo: Willard Wigan with his microscope. Credit: Paul Ward)

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