Transcript for The Happy Pod: The opera singing rescue dog

This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Vanessa Heaney, and in this edition uploaded on Saturday 25 May, we meet Georgia, the singing Greyhound. who found her voice and a love of opera after being rescued. The man who nearly became the first black astronaut finally makes it into space six decades later.

Also in this podcast, we meet the man who took on multi-billion dollar mining companies to protect an Indian forest and one.

And... Listen to Julia, the goat whisperer. Our first story covers an animal that makes me very happy. Dogs. I have a beloved Black Labrador called Olive who's known as the favorite child in my family, but this story is about a rather special Greyhound who sings. This is six-year-old Georgia and her take on Mozart's Arya Queen of the Night, along with her big human sister, eight-year-old Hannah on piano. Georgia was a racing dog until a serious accident on the track three years ago. She has now amassed a huge following on Instagram, including me. She was rescued by the Albro family in Perth in Western Australia. I caught up with Hannah and of course Georgia, along with Mum Jess.

That's so lovely. I understand that Georgia is asleep at the moment, but I wondered if you might play something for us, Hannah. Hello there. Georgia, I hope you are listening, even if you're asleep, and I wondered if you might sing for us, our listeners would love that.

on cue, that's so lovely. Hannah, she certainly woke up when was in full voice. Did she have a favorite type of music? Is there something she likes more than others?

And what do you think is her talent as she got an area that you think she's particularly good at?

A lot of people might associate Greyhounds with racing, but George's story shows us that these dogs make wonderful companions. Could you tell us about her role in your family and in your life?

Hannah, I wanted if you might play us one of your favorite pieces and see if Georgia wants to join in too. Georgia, I hope you're still there.

Thank you so much, Hannah. What a duo. Hannah, I wanted if there was anything else you wanted to share.

8-year-old Hannah Elbro, her mom Jess and their beloved Greyhound Georgia. We would really love to hear from you about your talented pets. What can they do? Please do get in touch, send us an email or a voice note. And if you'd like to see more videos of Georgia singing, she's Georgia the Grey on Instagram. Now, our next story is a case of better late than never. A man who originally trained to be an astronaut back in the 1960s has finally made it into space, becoming the oldest person ever to do so. Ed White, who's 90 years old, and a former Air Force pilot, was almost chosen as the first black astronaut, but didn't make the final cut. Jessica Wilkins has more.

We're going to stay with space now. Have you ever wondered about the future of space travel? Well, some children around the world have been drawing what they think the spaceships they might travel in will look like. Thousands sent in their designs and a few lucky winners had them turned into drones by Lego designers and they blasted off into the skies of New York for a display of what the organizers called unidentified playing objects. I spoke to 7-year-old Gillian from the US, 13-year-old Jason Hong Kong and 10-year-old Sebastian from Denmark who told me about their designs.

I'm now going to say hello to Jillian.

Hi, Jason. How did you tell us about your design please, Jason?

Yes, how did it make you feel when you saw your design up in the sky and as a drone.

And would you go? Would you go on the moon in the dinosaur? Would you like to go there too? Yeah.

And would there be people living on them, do you think all would it just be dinosaurs? I think dinosaurs. And do you think that you might go to space one day when you're older? Are you interested in maybe going to space being an astronaut?

Jillian, Jason and Sebastian talking about their drone designs for Lego. We've been asking for your stories of meeting people you know in unexpected places, and lots of you have been in touch, including Leo.

Now, if you have a story of a chance meeting, please do send us an email or a voice note. The address, as ever, is global podcast at BBC.co.uk. And thanks very much to those who have already sent theirs in, we're playing to run them in the next coming weeks. Coming up in this podcast.

Garnish art project. He was just 17 months old.

Now to the story about a man who took on the coal industry to save a forest, and one. Alok Schukler fell in love with a hasty-o-orania forest in Central India, home to thousands of tribes people endangered animals and rare plants. So much so he dedicated his life to stopping multi-billion dollar companies uprooting the trees in their search for coal. Twelve years later, after online campaigns, protests in the capital and tree sit-ins, he has saved a huge area of the forest, known as the lungs of Chattisgarh, and been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the Green Nobel Prize. I spoke to Alok with a help of his friend and interpreter, Priyanshu Gupta, and asked why the forest is so special.

So, Priya, he was very surprised and shocked to hear that such a beautiful natural salt forest will be destroyed for coal mining.

The forest is not just special to you, tell us about the other people and the animals and the communities that live there.

Did you ever think that you would, you would have to give up? How did you keep going?

So it's a huge achievement. You've managed to save a lot of forest and you've brought together so many people as well as the people who live in the communities in the forest to do this. This must be an amazing feeling.

Obviously, it is a very happy moment that one has been recognized globally.

burdened with a sense of responsibility.

Alok Schokeler and his interpreter, Priyanshu Gupta, time for a few other stories we've spotted this week. Perhaps the sound of Diego Elias, becoming South America's first ever squash world champion. The 27-year-old claimed victory over the former world number one, Mustafa Asselt, in the men's final. Speaking at the tournament in Cairo, Elias said it was going to be a big deal for his fans in Peru.

A man who is renovating his wine cellar in Austria has made an extraordinary discovery. Not a bottle of vintage red or white, but the remains of at least three prehistoric mammoths. Andreas Pernastorfer made the fine whilst renovating his cellar. He told the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, ORF, that at first he thought it was just a piece of wood left by his grandfather. But then he remembered that in the past his grandfather had found teeth, and he thought it might be a mammoth. archaeologists estimate the bones of between 30,000 and 40,000 years old. The French post office has rolled out a scratch and sniffed postage stamp to celebrate the world famous baguette. The stamp which costs just over $2 shows the distinctive loaf of bread decorated with a blue, white and red ribbon. The ink used on the stamps contains micro capsules which provide the bakery fragrance when scratched. Stamp collectors need to act quickly though as there's a limited print run. Now, in the art world, many artists wait years for some sort of recognition of their talent. In the case of Vincent Van Gogh, fame didn't come until after his death. But for one Ghanaian artist, it's all come a little bit sooner than expected as Rebecca Wood reports.

Watch this space. That was Rebecca Wood reporting. Now, we started with an animal thing like a human, so we thought we'd end with humans sounding like animals. Over the past few weeks, we've heard from a nine-year-old boy who sounds like a seagull, and a five-year-old girl who does a great impression of a lion. So, of course, we asked you for your animal noises.

Brilliant. Backlit made the happy-port team really laugh, but it also left us with many questions, so we asked Julia to tell us more, including how she first learnt she could sound like a goat.

fabulous. Thanks so much, Julia. Well if you think you or your children can do better, please do send us a recording. And that's all from us now. Remember, if you'd like to be part of the happy pod, we'd also love to hear any stories you think will make us smile. As ever, the address is globalpodcast at BBC.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Callen McClain. The producers were Holly Gibbs and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Vanessa Hene. Until next time, goodbye.