Que História! podcast returns to BBC News Brasil with second season of incredible stories

Produced, edited and presented by BBC News Brasil’s London-based journalist Thomas Pappon, each new episode of the new series will be published every Friday until 18 June 2021.

Thomas Pappon says: “It was really inspiring to see the success of the first Que História! series. We hope very much that this new collection - be it about a potion that brought ‘dead people’ back to life in Haiti, or about the surprising impact of Jorge Amado’s books and Dorival Caymmi’s songs in the former Soviet Union - will entertain fans of podcast listening, and keep them coming back for more incredible stories.”

The first season, which started in January 2020, had more than 200,000 downloads on podcast platforms and more than one million views on YouTube.

The new season of the Que História! series opens with The SOS In A Halloween Toy - the story of how an SOS message found in a Halloween decoration kit led to the closure of more than 300 forced labour camps in China, and the release of 160,000 prisoners.

The following episodes of Que História! are:

• Amado And Caymmi In The USSR (first broadcast Friday 23 April 2021): The story of the success of the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado’s books in the former Soviet Union, and how the film version of his novel Captains Of The Sand had a profound effect on the generation of President Vladimir Putin, while the soundtrack song by Dorival Caymmi was known and loved across the country.

• The Diver (30 April): The cables that connected a diver working on an underwater oil rig on the North Sea floor were torn off in an accident. He survived after spending 30 minutes without breathing.

• The Christmas Truce (7 May): In the trenches of World War I, a small miracle occurred during Christmas 1914: German and British soldiers interrupted the fighting, sang Christmas carols together, exchanged gifts and played football.

• The Haitian Zombies (14 May): A Haitian man, who had been presumed dead and buried for 18 years, reappeared in his village, thanks to a mysterious potion - this and other Haitian ’zombie’ stories led scientists to unravel the secrets of the potion.

• The Mute Girl (21 May): A teenage girl in Australia woke up one morning without being able to utter a sound. With her family viewing her condition with suspicion, her life turned into hell - but 12 years later she discovered the cause of her impediment and spoke again.

• The Pianist Doctor (28 May): While out on a picnic with his family, a doctor was struck by lightning - and two weeks later he began to feel an uncontrollable urge to listen to piano music. Gradually this became an obsession affecting his family life, and he not only learned to play the piano but became a composer.

• Sucked Out Of The Plane (4 June): Survivors tell the story of an air accident, when an opening of the Boeing 747 cargo compartment door created a hole in the fuselage, leading to eight passengers being sucked out of the aircraft along with their seats, and one passenger being sucked into the jet engine.

• Lost At Sea (11 June): Steve Callahan spent 76 days adrift in a small rubber boat, lost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This American’s story is of human ability, creativity and perseverance.

• The Hairdresser (18 June): Imagine discovering that your hairdresser is your brother. That’s what happened when, following a DNA test done out of curiosity, two people made a discovery that would change their lives.

Each new episode of the Que História! podcast will go live at 06:00 Brasilia time on the website bbc.com/brasil and the BBC News Brasil YouTube channel, as well as Apple, Castbox, Overcast, and Spotify, and will be available on demand.

BBC News Brasil also connects with its audiences via Facebook, Flipboard, Instagram, Telegram, and Twitter.

BBC News Brasil is part of the BBC World Service.