Outlook Weekend: The Performance of My Life
A high wire walk across Niagara Falls and a Chinese ballet dancer who defected to America
In 2012 Nik Wallenda made history by becoming the first person to walk across a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Nik is the seventh generation of the acrobatic dynasty known as the Flying Wallendas.
In the world of boxing, the name Frank Maloney has long packed a punch. As a top manager and promoter, he took several fighters from obscurity to stardom. In 2014, Frank made a revelation which took all his former colleagues by surprise. He announced that he was transgender and had begun to live life as a woman called Kellie.
Li Cunxin was born in 1961 in Chairman Mao's communist China at a time when millions of people in the country were dying of starvation and disease. A twist of fate gave Li the chance to escape a bleak future and become one of the world's most celebrated ballet dancers.
Image: Theatre stage
Credit: LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images
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The Outlook Podcast Archive
True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives