The Outlook Podcast Archive

Dr Karen Nyberg has many talents. She's an engineer and astronaut, but she's also an avid quilter, so when she joined the International Space Station in 2013, she took her sewing kit with her. She created a nine-inch, star-themed quilt square in orbit which inspired over two thousand other quilters to do the same. Karen tells Jo Fidgen about the challenges of quilting in zero gravity and of leaving her three-year-old son and husband - also an astronaut - behind on earth. She's now designed a collection of fabrics called Earth Views based on photographs she took from Space.

The archive clips you heard came courtesy of NASA. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: June Christie

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(Photo: Dr Karen Nyberg with her quilt square in space. Credit: NASA)

In March 2017 Amin Dzhabrailov was dragged out of the hair salon where he worked and bundled into the boot of a car. It was the start of an unprecedented crackdown targeting LGBT people in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Amin says he was taken to a warehouse and tortured alongside other gay men before being outed to his family, who were encouraged to kill him. After his release he knew his life in Chechnya was over and he had to escape - what he couldn't have guessed was where his next steps would take him. Two years later he would go public with his story, defying Chechnya's feared leader and becoming the first Chechen victim of the crackdown to do so. Warning: This programme contains descriptions of torture.

Producer: Kevin Ponniah Presenter: Emily Webb

Picture credit: Amin Dzhabrailov

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Ted Brown is a black LGBT rights pioneer who helped organise the UK’s first Gay Pride march in 1972, featuring a mass ‘kiss-in’ that, at the time, would have been considered gross indecency, which was against the law. When Brown realised he was gay, homosexuality was illegal in Britain - the only person he came out to was his mother. She cried and told him he’d have to battle not just racism but homophobia too; both were rife in society at the time. At one point Brown felt so dismal about his future that he considered taking his own life. But inspired by the Stonewall Riots, he found hope in Britain’s Gay Liberation Front and became a key figure in fighting bigotry in the UK. He tells Emily Webb his moving life story.

If you need support with issues relating to sexuality or gender, help and support is available from BBC Action Line - just search for bbc.co uk/actionline

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Picture: Ted Brown (left) with his partner Noel and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell (right) at the first Pride march in London, 1972 Credit: Courtesy of Ted Brown

Beyoncé, mermaids and Satan? Outlook Weekend is in Nigeria looking at the mysteries and misconceptions surrounding the traditional Yoruba religion – and what it takes to be a modern devotee of this ancient faith. Reporter Laeila Adjovi travels to the city of Ibadan to meet one of youngest women to become a traditional Yoruba priestess. Her name is Omitonade and her world is defined by deities, divination and mobile phones. This episode was first released on 20th January 2019.

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Presenter: Laeila Adjovi Producer: Maryam Maruf

Picture: Omitonade Ifawemimo Egbelade Credit: Laeila Adjovi