Outlook Mixtape: Handcrafted Tales

Morad Tahbaz was a conservationist working in Iran, when he was arrested on false charges of espionage. He spent most of the first two years in solitary confinement, picturing the shapes of animals in the cracked walls as a way to cope psychologically. When he was eventually given pens and paper, he was able to escape his concrete reality by drawing the wildlife he loved. He writes about his experiences in his book Green Parrots: A Memoir of Survival in Iran's Evin Prison.

David Aguilar from Andorra was born without the lower part of his right arm as a result of a rare condition called Poland syndrome. He would get cruel comments from children at school, so would escape to his room and spend hours playing with Lego. One day, aged just 9, he created an arm for himself using the bricks. He continued to experiment and by 17 he'd created the world's first fully-prosthetic Lego arm. His invention went viral on social media, set a new Guinness World Record, and gained him global support and recognition. David now studies bioengineering and has started building prosthetics for other children missing limbs. He and his father Ferran have written a book about his life so far called Piece by Piece.

Anika Orrock is an illustrator and cartoonist – interests she inherited from her beloved grandfather Ray Orrock, a cartoonist and well-known writer in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. On the wall of her grandparents' house hung a personalised Peanuts comic strip, addressed to Ray and signed by the legendary cartoonist and Peanuts creator, Charles M. Schulz. Anika loved and studied the comic strip throughout her childhood, but when Ray became sick, he decided to auction it to pay for his hospice care. He sold it cheaply to someone online who said it would be a lifelong dream to own it. But years later after Ray had died, Anika discovered it had been a scam. Anika was furious, went hunting for it, without luck - and was forced to let it go. Then, after a chance conversation a few years later, she ended up being reunited with it.

(Photo: A transparent 60-minute cassette tape with a white label bearing the words: The Outlook Mixtape. Credit: Getty Images)

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Presenter: India Rakusen

Producer: Harry Graham