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The crumbling old house that hid a treasure trove of art

Thomas Schultz set out on a pretty standard business venture - buy, do up and sell a cottage. But what he found in the garage would change his life.

In 2006 Thomas Schultz and his business partner Lawrence Joseph made a business plan. They were looking for a property to buy, do up and sell. Thomas had his eye on a little cottage near his home in Bellport, a small coastal village to the east of New York City. It was old, dilapidated and needed a lot of attention. But when he crawled through the broken garage door he found something entirely unexpected - 7,000 pieces of art, stacked in piles, rolled up canvasses and strewn across the floor. It turned out to be the work of an unknown artist called Arthur Pinajian and a discovery that would change Thomas' life.

Search online to find out more about Arthur Pinajian.

At the end of January, Brazil lost a music icon. Elza Soares has been described as one of the country's greatest singers of all time. Her career spanned six decades and her death produced an outpouring of tributes. To mark the extraordinary life of Brazil's Queen of Samba, we're replaying an interview she gave to Outlook's Harry Graham in May 2019.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar

(Photo: Thomas Schultz in front of an Arthur Pinajian oil painting. Credit: The Estate Collection of Arthur Pinajian)

Available now

41 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Tue 1 Feb 2022 12:06GMT
  • Tue 1 Feb 2022 18:06GMT
  • Tue 1 Feb 2022 23:06GMT
  • Wed 2 Feb 2022 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