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‘Everybody wants to be somebody. But remember: be somebody that’s nice.’
In the 1980s, Larry Woods was extraordinarily rich, unapologetically extravagant and intractably self-involved – or as he now puts it, ‘a real asshole’. Following an epiphany after a small yet eye-opening interaction with a kindly fruit-shop owner, Woods transformed himself into a man of modest means, but rich in compassion and cheer. Going by the moniker ‘Mister Sunshine’, Woods is a beloved figure on the streets of Auckland in New Zealand, where he shines shoes and lives by a creed to do good and spread kindness at every turn.
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Religion
Hear from blasphemes, sceptics and free-thinkers in this ‘tour of medieval unbelief’
52 minutes
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Ecology and environmental sciences
The ancient Hawaiian myth that sparked a modern ecological breakthrough
10 minutes
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Music
‘Dun dun dun duuun!’ Why Beethoven’s Fifth sticks in the head and stirs the heart
5 minutes
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Art
The irreverent duo who thumbed their noses at the Soviet Union and the US art world
11 minutes
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Thinkers and theories
Henri Bergson on why the existence of things precedes their possibility
3 minutes
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Ageing and death
Demystifying death – a palliative care specialist’s practical guide to life’s end
4 minutes
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Metaphysics
Why mathematical truths exist with or without minds to consider them
8 minutes
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Stories and literature
A French Creole folktale nearly lost to time is given new, gorgeously animated life
6 minutes
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Computing and artificial intelligence
Struggling to learn how to do a backflip, Nikita takes on an unusual training regimen
12 minutes