Outlook Mixtape: Thunder and lightning

The Thunder was the most notorious and elusive poaching ship in the world; for ten years governments had struggled to catch it. Then, in 2014, a crew from the organisation Sea Shepherd, known for its anti-whaling activity, found it illegally hunting Patagonian toothfish in the ice floes of the Antarctic and decided to try and stop it. They pursued the Thunder for 110 days over 10,000 nautical miles before a dramatic stand-off in the Gulf of Guinea. Captain Peter Hammarstedt, from Sea Shepherd, tells Jo Fidgen about the dramatic chase. On-board recordings in this piece are from the documentary Ocean Warriors: Chasing the Thunder, courtesy of Brick City TV. This interview was first broadcast in 2020.

Laura Impallomeni was struck by lightning while travelling in Kerala in 2005. In the days that followed she was consumed by an obsessive hunger to play a musical instrument, changing the course of her life. Now a professional jazz trombonist with her own quintet, Laura reflects on the part the lightning strike may have played in achieving her ambitions. This interview was first broadcast in 2024.

Presenter: India Rakusen

Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder

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

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