Outlook Mixtape: A princess, a penguin and a beatboxer

In 1981 Scottish ballerina Anne Allan was working as a professional dancer. Out of the blue she received a phone call with an unusual request - could she give Diana, the Princess of Wales dance classes? It was to be the beginning of almost a decade of secret dance lessons, and what started out as private weekly classes soon turned into a special friendship, with the dance studio becoming a sanctuary for the young princess.

Tom Michell was teaching at a school in South America when he rescued a penguin from an oil slick. The penguin refused to return to the wild, it just followed Tom around. So he took it to the boarding school in Argentina where he lived and worked. The penguin became a part of his and the school's life - with a remarkable influence on everyone who came into contact with it. Tom’s story is now the subject of a film starring British comedian Steve Coogan.

When Elaine Lim discovered the world of beatboxing as a teenager in Singapore, she was hooked. She soon became a regular on the male-dominated scene, doing battles and trading sounds with other beatboxers. After school she joined the army to fund her university studies ­– but the pressure of trying to be something she wasn’t eventually caught up with her, she left to begin an international performing career and founded a successful beatboxing school.

Presenter Saskia Collette

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(Photo: Cassette tape. Credit: Getty Images)