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Ten years ago Don Shirley and his friend Dave Shaw were diving in Bushman's Hole, South Africa, one of the world's deepest submerged freshwater caves, when they made an unexpected discovery - the body of another diver. Resolving to bring the lost diver home, they mounted a recovery operation to retrieve the body, but things began to go wrong when at 250 metres Don's equipment failed and he found himself in a 12 hour struggle for survival underwater, in the dark.

Abdul Ahad Mohmand is the only Afghan to have gone into space. It was 1988, in the last days of Russia's hold on Afghanistan - the country was at civil war at the time - and Abdul was given the chance to visit the Mir space station with a Russian commander. But their attempts to return to earth didn't go according to plan.

Ramtin Ghazavi grew up under Iran's strict Islamist government. One day, an Italian tourist overheard him singing in his father's shop and helped launch his international career. He now sings at the world-renowned La Scala Opera House in Milan.

What difference does it make to writing a novel if you're deaf? Sara Novic has been thinking a lot about this while writing her first book. She started to lose her hearing as a young child and by the age of eight, couldn't hear anything. She now communicates mainly through American Sign Language, but also lip-reads. She told Jo Fidgen how her hearing loss has affected her relationship with the written word.

Picture-L: Don Shirley (R) and wife Andre Shirley (L). Credit: Roger Horrocks
Picture-R: Abdul Ahad Momand (R) and Flight Engineer Valery Polyakov (L) on the Soyuz spacecraft. Credit Roskosmos