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My symphony to a soccer ‘bad-boy’

Osmo Räihälä is a Finnish composer whose obsession with Everton FC and Scottish striker, Duncan Ferguson would reach its crescendo on the most important night of his career.

Osmo Tapio Everton Räihälä is a Finnish composer who is crazy about Everton football club. Growing up almost two thousand miles away wouldn’t stop him from living and breathing everything Everton, so much so that as a young composer he took drastic measures to keep his fledgling music career on track.

One such inspiration came in the towering figure of the club’s Scottish centre forward, Duncan Ferguson who, though blessed with talent, was often in trouble both on and off the pitch. Their lives and fortunes would be end up being entwined but on the night Osmo was debuting his most famous work about Ferguson, the football gods weren’t following the score.

We hear more stories of people going to great lengths to pursue their loves: first an Iraqi engineer whose obsession with all things Korean burns as brightly as it did when she first discovered their TV dramas as a teenager, and we’re in the undergrowth with Mexican bug-expert, Dr Isaí Madriz, whose joy of insects will change the way you look at them forever.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

(Photo: Duncan Ferguson celebrates after he scored his first goal for Everton in the Merseyside derby. Credit: Albert Cooper/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

Available now

41 minutes

Last on

Tue 22 Feb 2022 03:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 21 Feb 2022 12:06GMT
  • Mon 21 Feb 2022 18:06GMT
  • Mon 21 Feb 2022 23:06GMT
  • Tue 22 Feb 2022 03:06GMT

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Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

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