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The sailor and the secret

Guy Oliver had a secret that he couldn't reveal while he was in the Royal Navy, but it didn鈥檛 stop him from realising his lifelong dream of becoming a top interior designer.

As a young man, Guy Oliver was in the British Royal Navy, but he always harboured a desire to be a designer. He also carried another secret which, if discovered, would ruin his naval career. Neal Razzell hears his story.

Rainer Schimpf is a dive tour operator and conservationist who for the past two decades has been documenting the wonders in the waters off South Africa's Eastern Cape. Earlier this year he had a close encounter with a whale - in fact a bit too close an encounter as he ended up in its mouth.

In the early 1970s Monica Macias was born in Equatorial Guinea, the daughter of the President, Francisco Macias Nguema. Her father was a notorious figure, described as one of the most brutal dictators the African continent has ever seen. But Monica never really knew him because at the age of six, she was sent to live in North Korea - a country under the authoritarian control of Kim Il-sung, a friend and ally of her father. Kim Il-sung would become a father figure to Monica, overseeing her life for the rest of her childhood. She tells Emily Webb that it was only when she left North Korea that she started questioning the things she'd been taught, and the North Korean leader who had been so kind to her.

(Image: Guy Oliver onboard one of the yachts he redesigned. Photo courtesy of Guy Oliver.)

Available now

53 minutes

Last on

Thu 11 Apr 2019 03:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Wed 10 Apr 2019 11:06GMT
  • Wed 10 Apr 2019 15:06GMT
  • Wed 10 Apr 2019 17:06GMT
  • Thu 11 Apr 2019 02:06GMT
  • Thu 11 Apr 2019 03:06GMT

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Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else鈥檚 life and expect the unexpected