Outlook Mixtape: Daredevils

Available for over a year

We hear from Dierdre Wolownick Honnold, mother of the legendary free solo climber Alex Honnold. Dierdre says that her son’s daredevil streak started early in his childhood: Alex would climb any vertical object in his vicinity but she was initially reluctant to follow him upwards. So how did she end up climbing the iconic El Capitan peak in Yosemite National Park as her birthday treat? Dierdre spoke to Emily Webb in 2020. We also meet a couple who got together while riding motorbikes around a six-metre-high wooden cylinder known as the Wall of Death. Kerri Cameron had originally thought the job involved riding horses but soon after she started working alongside stunt rider Luke Fox, love blossomed among the vintage motorbikes. It goes without saying - like for almost everything in this episode - go watch them, but don't try it yourself. Kerri and Luke spoke to Anu Anand in 2017. Generations of the Smith family in the USA have perfected the art of flinging themselves through the air - as human cannonballs - with a little help from an ingenious machine. Mobeen Azhar discusses raising the Smiths' aerial craft to ever higher levels with the family patriarch, David 'Cannonball' Smith, and two of his children, David Jnr. and Jennifer, who are also renowned circus performers. Every person doing stunt work in films - falls, car crashes, that sort of thing - needs nerves of steel and great physical skills. And as the Kenyan actor Kiran Shah knows from experience, if you're the world's smallest professional stuntman you face extra challenges. Kiran has worked with some of the greatest names in Hollywood and acted in blockbusters like Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Titanic or Lord of the Rings. As he told Mobeen Azhar in 2025, despite a most thorough preparation, on set things didn’t always go to plan for him. Presenter: Asya Fouks Compilation producer: Radek Boschetty Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: A transparent 60-minute cassette tape on a white background with a white label with the words:The Outlook Mixtape. Credit: Getty Images)