Lives Less Ordinary

After 188 days without setting foot on land, the Avontuur finally arrives in Horta, in the Azores. But it's by no means certain whether the crew will be able to get off the ship. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan.Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

As the crew of the Avontuur fight their way out of the Gulf of Mexico and battle a hurricane that delays their journey back across the Atlantic, ship’s cook Giulia faces the spectre of food and gas shortages with ingenuity and a determination to get back home. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan.Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

The crew of the Avontuur begin to wonder whether they will ever be able to get off the ship. As they become resigned to their new life of being completely confined to the ship, things become increasingly surreal.Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan.Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Unable to step off the ship, tensions are rising amongst the crew of the Avontuur and coping mechanisms begin to emerge. When the dry store is raided and boxes of biscuits go missing, ship’s cook Giulia is forced to turn detective.Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan.Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

In the middle of the Atlantic, the crew of the Avontuur receive a satellite email with news from land that throws everything they’d been counting on to the winds. Their mission and schedule are in disarray, but turning back isn’t an option. So ship’s cook Giulia and the rest of the crew find ways to cope with the uncertainty. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan.Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

The Avontuur begins the second leg of its journey, setting out from Tenerife to cross the Atlantic. At work in the galley preparing breakfast, ship’s cook Giulia Baccosi learns that the night watch noticed an unusual little light, far off on the horizon. It’s been there through the night. It’s too far from shore to be a fishing boat, so what is it?Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Narration written by Laura Thomas Artwork by Joe MageeFor Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and editor, Munazza Khan.Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

15 people, 188 days at sea, one extraordinary ship: how the Avontuur was locked out at sea during the Covid-19 pandemic.What would you do if your world shrunk to 300 square metres, and you had no say over who you shared it with? If you were on a ship, at sea, far from loved ones - and didn’t know when you’d be able to set foot on land again, and get home?When ship’s cook Giulia Baccosi accepts a last-minute job aboard sailing cargo ship The Avontuur, she’s looking for more than a job. She’s seeking adventure and community, too. After saying goodbye to her partner, Giulia settles into life on board and the responsibilities of feeding the Avontuur’s crew of fifteen. But before Giulia and the crew know it, everything they’re counting on will be thrown to the winds.Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Narration written by Laura Thomas Artwork by Joe MageeFor Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

A corporate high-flyer ended up living in a forest after a spiral of debt, shame and secrecy.After avoiding a mounting debt to his landlord, Australian Mic Whitty’s life started to crumble. Instead of facing his responsibilities, he tried to gamble and steal money to better his fortunes. As his mental health deteriorated, wracked by guilt and shame, he was determined to pay everyone back. Then he disappeared from his old life and ended up homeless, living in a forest. Through a stroke of luck, a kind librarian, and a 100-year-old war diary with a bullet hole in it, Mic would emerge from the woods with a new purpose and a shot at redemption. This programme contains references to suicide. If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, you can find support at befrienders.orgPresenter: Mobeen Azhar Producers: Edgar Maddicott and Elena AngelidesLives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.   Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784   You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Robin Green is an American writer who has been dizzyingly successful, but she describes herself as a 'clueless girl'. At times, she didn't even realise she could actually write. In the early 1970s when Robin was in her 20s, she had an interview with Rolling Stone magazine's creator and editor Jann Wenner. She initially thought it was for a secretarial role, but instead, he hired her as a writer - and the only woman on the editorial masthead. What followed were Robin's raucous, wild, rock 'n' roll years. She interviewed the likes of David Cassidy, Dennis Hopper and Bobby Kennedy Jr, who she recalls sleeping with on his dorm-room water-bed. After failing to produce a story on him, her time at Rolling Stone ended and Robin began to question her future. It was then that she met the love of her life, an aspiring writer called Mitch. But their relationship fell apart and she spent a decade going from one thing to another.Nearing 40, Robin had an epiphany while watching daytime television and her career as a writer took a dramatic turn. She picked up her pen, and with Mitch, they began writing for the TV show Northern Exposure. They became extraordinarily successful writing partners, winning multiple Emmys, including for their work on The Sopranos - where, once again, Robin was the only woman in the room for most of her time there. When Robin was almost 60, Mitch proposed and now married, they created their own hit show - Blue Bloods.Robin has written a memoir, The Only Girl: My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone.Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Sarah KendalLives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.   Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784   You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Artist Kubra Khademi was so enraged by the constant sexual harassment faced by women in Afghanistan that she created a bespoke suit of armour, forged out of metal with exaggerated breasts and buttocks. The idea came from an experience she had many years earlier, as a little girl, walking along a street and encountering a male stranger who would sexually assault her - at the time she wished she was wearing "iron underwear" to protect her. In March 2015 Kubra wore her custom-made armour and decided to walk down Kabul’s busiest street. The reaction to her performance was life-changing - she received death threats and was forced to flee her home.Kubra’s now living in France where she's a successful artist, recognised for her work celebrating the female body.Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Maryam MarufLives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.   Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784   You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice