Main content

Outlook Mixtape: Rare orchids, manga love and Liverbirds

The stories we love from Outlook this week: Looking for rare orchids in a warzone, a benjo player in Balochistan and Britain’s first all-female rock 'n' roll band.

The stories we love from Outlook this week.

Tom Hart Dyke's obsession for plants led him to the Darien Gap in Central America, in search of an orchid to name after his granny. But his mission was cut short when he was kidnapped at gunpoint.

Daniyal Ahmed was mesmerised by a video clip of an elderly musician playing the benjo – an obscure stringed instrument with typewriter keys. Eventually he set off to Balochistan to try to find him.

When Japanese manga artist Eri Nanato was diagnosed with autism and ADHD, she and her husband, Satoshi, decided to create a manga inspired by their experience.

Within just a few years of forming an all-female rock'n'roll band as teenagers in 1960s Liverpool, The Liverbirds were a commercial hit with adoring fans as far away as Japan. Surviving band members Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders reminisce about their chaotic rise to fame.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

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

(Photo: Cassette tape. Credit: Getty images)

Available now

41 minutes

Last on

Sat 20 Apr 2024 02:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 19 Apr 2024 11:06GMT
  • Fri 19 Apr 2024 17:06GMT
  • Fri 19 Apr 2024 21:06GMT
  • Sat 20 Apr 2024 02:06GMT

Contact Outlook

Contact Outlook

Info on how we might use your contribution on air

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected