Love Stories: Told by you

Available for over a year

Love stories, as told by you... Fiona Smiley Wright got in touch about an extraordinary romance that was hiding right under her nose for most of her life, growing up in Northern Ireland. It wasn’t until her parents passed away that Fiona and her three brothers discovered years of love letters between them, while separated by war. Fiona tells Asya the tale of a silver cigarette box that her mother Elizabeth gifted to her father Tom, a surgeon, before he departed for Singapore during World War Two, and how it was crucial in ensuring their love survived. Karo Caran and Victor Tsaran grew up in neighbouring countries, Poland and newly independent Ukraine. They tell Asya how, in the mid-90s, they met and fell in love on a year-long computer course for blind and visually-impaired students in the US. After returning to their respective homes and posting audio letters on floppy disks to each other, the technology failed - so they decided to take on the arduous journey across the border to see each other. Dutch maths teachers Bart Zevenhek and Nieky Liesker were both single and not looking for love. But on Valentine’s Day in 2000, a practical joke set up by their students planted a seed that blossomed into romance. They join us from their forest house in Amsterdam to recount the tale. In the summer of 1983, Hana Keplova, a talented singer studying at Prague University, stayed in a family home in England en route to taking part in a choral festival. Over breakfast she meets Andrew Johnston, the twinkly-eyed son of her host family. The two became pen pals and Andrew made a surprise visit to the then-communist state of Czechoslovakia, and kept on coming back. After encounters with secret police and heated debates on long walks in the countryside, the pair slowly fell in love. They married in 1990, the year after the Iron Curtain fell. Hana and Andrew now reflect on their love story together. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Elena Angelides, Edgar Maddicott and Vibeke Venema Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: In a surreal outdoor scene, a person with a television for a head appears to propose to a person wearing a dinosaur mask, as they hold hands in a car park. Credit:Stephen Zeigler/Getty Images)