Lives Less Ordinary
BBC World Service
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About This Podcast
Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world.
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Recent Episodes
I was kidnapped by North Korea
In the 1970s and 80s, a spate of mysterious disappearances were reported along Japan’s coast. One of those was 19-year-old nurse Hitomi Soga, who was walking with her mother when they were kidnapped.…
I was forced to rob my own bank, part 2
Many years after he’d held a gun to her daughter’s head, Michelle wrote to Robert Ortiz seeking closure. It took him years to write back – and then they met.In 2000, Michelle Renee was at home with…
I was forced to rob my own bank, part 1
In 2000, armed men burst into Michelle Renee's home and held her child hostage while she was forced to rob her own bank. None of them could have predicted what happened next. Michelle Renee was at…
Kangaroo Dundee: I gave it all up to become a ‘kangaroo mum’
Chris 'Brolga' Barns fell in love with joeys and became a kangaroo 'mum'. He rescues orphaned baby kangaroos, or joeys, carrying them around in a pillowcase to mimic their mum’s pouch. While working…
I'm a champion boxer, but couldn't tell my mum
Ramla Ali's family fled Somalia and settled in the UK; she then went from overweight bullied child to champion boxer and model who later brought the sport back to her homeland.Ramla Ali was a baby…
Strangers to coworkers to friends to...sisters?
Cassandra Madison and Julia Tinetti met working at the same bar in their 20s and were struck by how similar they looked. Their adoption records didn't match, but a surprise gift later revealed the…
Taught to kill – my childhood under the Khmer Rouge
Separated from her family and trained as a child soldier, Loung Ung's unbreakable spirit helped her survive Pol Pot’s regime, which killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population.In the Chinese…
Bonus: Dear Daughter: Surviving my daughter's killing
When 19-year-old Ann from Florida, USA was shot by her boyfriend in 2010, her family were thrust into a nightmare, one that meant taking the agonising decision to withdraw her life support.In this…
I was taken as a baby…I didn’t know who I was, part 2
Jackie makes sporting history for Ireland and uncovers the truth about her past.Taken from her mother as a baby and raised in an Irish institution, Jackie McCarthy O’Brien grew up in silence, facing…
I was taken as a baby, I didn’t know who I was, part 1
A black girl in a white town, Jackie’s made to grow up silenced and alone. This episode contains outdated racial language that some might find offensive. Jackie McCarthy O’Brien was just a baby when…
Skepta’s Mum: How I raised a rap legend
Ify Adenuga grew up with strict parents. As a mum, she rewrote the rulebook and encouraged creativity in her children, with her son Skepta becoming an award-winning music artist.Ify Adenuga is parent…
Me, dad and the zombie chickens
Filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman railed against Hollywood his whole career as the founder of cult B-movie production house, Troma, while his daughter Lily-Hayes dreamt only of fitting in. Lloyd Kaufman has…
Growing up black in a white family – the truth behind my birth
M People star Andrew Lovell’s home life hid a terrible – yet beautiful – secret. It would take him decades to find out the truth.At the height of his fame, drummer Andrew ‘Shovell’ Lovell had…
Music was my salvation: the homeless man and the piano
While Francois Pierron was homeless in London he taught himself to play a public piano at St Pancras train station – from scratch. His mastery of music helped change his future.Francois had a…
Hercules: the grizzly bear who became family
Maggie Robin raised a bear cub who grew into an extraordinary companion.When Maggie Robin and her wrestler husband Andy brought home a bear cub in 1970s Scotland, their friends thought they were mad.…
Sects, lies and videotape: a Syrian story, part 2
While filming in rebel-held Syria, Loubna Mrie is falsely accused of being a spy – an accusation that spirals into a life-threatening ordeal, triggering the deepest loss of her life.In 2011, Loubna…
Sects, lies and videotape: a Syrian story, part 1
From a powerful Alawite family in Syria, Loubna Mrie trusted the Assad regime – until witnessing its violent crackdown led her to defy loyalty and secretly film the uprising.In 2011, 20‑year‑old…
The couple who foiled New Zealand’s biggest drugs plot
An ordinary couple foiled the country's biggest drugs deal, all by doing a good deed. It involves a boat, a fake funeral at sea and the criminal underworld's least able seamen.That ordinary couple of…
I bought Macclesfield FC while drunk and it saved my life
Rob Smethurst bought a bankrupt football club while his life was unravelling – then they went on to make football history and save him in the process.Entrepreneur Rob Smethurst never planned to…
Colm Tóibín: How an Irish boy with a stammer found his voice
Colm Tóibín is a celebrated Irish writer, but as a child words didn't come easily. Navigating grief as a boy when his father died, he developed a stammer. Instead of talking, Colm watched and…
Frequently Asked Questions
Lives Less Ordinary has published 225 episodes since April 2022, covering topics in Documentary, Personal Journals.
Lives Less Ordinary is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 40m.
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