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My last chance to find our long-lost family

Phyllis Herbert grew up in an orphanage in 1930s Dublin. In 2004 when she fell ill, her daughter Sally began a mission to find their long-lost family. Could she do it in time?

For her whole life Phyllis Herbert wondered who her mother was, having grown up in a brutal Dublin orphanage in the 1930s. But when she had her own daughter Sally, she hid the details of her troubled upbringing, despite the closeness of their relationship. Then in 2004, when Phyllis' health started to deteriorate in old age, Sally knew she didn't have much time to uncover the missing pieces of her mother's life. What she found was life-changing for both of them. Sally's book is called The Missing Pieces of Mum.

Almost every day for 40 years, expert diver Jim Abernethy has been swimming with sharks at a patch of shallow crystal-clear ocean in the Bahamas known as Tiger Beach. At any given moment Jim can be surrounded by 30 or more tiger, reef and lemon sharks. But Jim has a unique relationship with these underwater predators who swim up to him for affectionate nose-rubs. He tells Outlook's Clayton Conn about removing fishing debris from their mouths with his own hands and his mission to change the world's perception of these endangered sea creatures.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

Presenter: Datshiane Navanayagam

Picture: Phyllis Herbert and baby Sally
Credit: Courtesy of Sally Herbert

Available now

41 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Wed 3 Nov 2021 12:06GMT
  • Wed 3 Nov 2021 18:06GMT
  • Wed 3 Nov 2021 23:06GMT
  • Thu 4 Nov 2021 03:06GMT

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Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected