Lives Less Ordinary
BBC World Service
Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.
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.
Our guests come from every corner of the globe: from Burundi to Beverly Hills, New Zealand to North Korea, Rajasthan to Rio. And their stories can be about anything: tales of survival, humour, resilience and intrigue. From the mind-blowing account of the Japanese man trapped in his own reality TV show, to the Swedish women rescued from lions by a tin of spam. It’s life’s wild side, in stereo. Lives Less Ordinary is brought to you by the team behind Outlook, the home of true life storytelling on BBC World Service radio for nearly 60 years.
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
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.
Our guests come from every corner of the globe: from Burundi to Beverly Hills, New Zealand to North Korea, Rajasthan to Rio. And their stories can be about anything: tales of survival, humour, resilience and intrigue. From the mind-blowing account of the Japanese man trapped in his own reality TV show, to the Swedish women rescued from lions by a tin of spam. It’s life’s wild side, in stereo. Lives Less Ordinary is brought to you by the team behind Outlook, the home of true life storytelling on BBC World Service radio for nearly 60 years.
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
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 25, 2024 • 37min
How to talk to guerillas
Leyner Palacios grew up around volatile armed groups, so he learned to negotiate with them.He comes from a remote forested area called Bojaya, where clusters of small villages are spread along isolated waterways. Leyner's community had to share the rivers and forests with outsiders, armed groups like the Farc and the paramilitaries, who were locked into a decades-old conflict. As a child, Leyner learned to constantly navigate checkpoints manned by volatile armed people, and he showed a talent for negotation and mediation. As the conflict heated up, and with his community under siege, these skills would become more useful than ever. Music from the 'Cantadoras de Pogue' was recorded by the Centro de Estudios Afrodiaspóricos - https://www.icesi.edu.co/vocesderesistencia/e/vol-1-cantadoras-de-pogue.phpPresenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Harry Graham
Translation: Jorge Caraballo
Sound design: Joe Munday
Editor: Munazza Khan
Mar 18, 2024 • 49min
Behind the locked door
The Austrian house where a doctor experimented on children.Evy Mages grew up in and out of foster care in 1970s and 80s Austria. But even when she started a new life in the US, she was haunted by traumatic memories of a strange yellow house high up in the Alps, where she had been placed as an eight-year-old. It took an idle internet search in her 50s to reveal that this was actually an institution called a 'Kinderbeobachtungsstation', or 'child-observation station', where vulnerable children were experimented on by a psychologist using shocking methods. She decided to step back into her past to uncover the full, disturbing truth of what happened there.Evy’s story first appeared in a New Yorker article in September 2023.Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Edgar Maddicott
Editor: Rebecca Vincent
Mar 11, 2024 • 42min
I cycled across Africa for a place at my dream university
A handwritten map is all Mamadou Barry had to guide him from Guinea to Egypt.At the age of 24 he had reached a crossroads in his life. Having failed his final year secondary school exams five times in a row, he set his sights on a different type of education. Mamadou had heard about the prestigious Al Azhar University in Egypt, but could not afford a plane ticket. So he decided to set off on an epic adventure, travelling by bike, and leaving his home in Guinea with only $55, a small bag of clothes and tools, and a map he had drawn himself.Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Rob Wilson
Translator and interpreter: Olivier Weber
Voiceover artist: Gaïus KoweneArchive was from the official YouTube channel for Will Smith
Mar 4, 2024 • 42min
Going cold turkey in a Bangkok prison
A life shaped by addiction.Australian Holly Deane-Johns had a complicated childhood. Her parents ran an escort agency from their home, and heroin addiction later took over the whole family. She was first given heroin by her mother, aged just 15. Holly ended up dealing to feed her habit, and in her early 30s was sentenced to 31 years in a notorious Thai prison, convicted of drug smuggling. Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Mary Goodhart
Editor: Rebecca VincentGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784
Feb 26, 2024 • 41min
The Pacific odyssey of a runaway rebel
Follow Ruth Shaw's tumultuous journey as she escapes her past in New Zealand, navigates love and loss across the Pacific islands, and ultimately finds solace amidst tragedy. Discover her resilience, hidden secrets, and emotional reunions in this captivating tale of a runaway rebel.
Feb 19, 2024 • 43min
Fugees Family: the football team who became my life
The extraordinary coach who started a football team but built something much bigger.One day when Luma Mufleh was driving home to Atlanta, Georgia, she came across a group of barefoot boys playing football in the street, using a raggedy old ball and rocks for goalposts. They reminded her of how she played at home in Jordan and she asked to join their game. The Fugees Family football team was born. Luma Mufleh has written a book about her extraordinary story, Believe in Them: One Woman's Fight for Justice for Refugee Children.Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Helen FitzhenryGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or Whatsapp: 0044 330 678 2784
Feb 12, 2024 • 38min
My dad was Britain's 'most wanted'
Without realising it, Nick Reynolds had been living his childhood on the run.Early one morning in 1968 he answered his front door, completely oblivious to the whirlwind about to be unleashed on his family. Most of Nick's early years had been spent carefree and happy on the shores of Mexico with his British parents. But all the while he had been growing up in the shadow of one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century. Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Eric Mugaju and Anna LaceyGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784(Photo: Nick & Bruce Reynolds. Credit: Ronnie Biggs)
Feb 5, 2024 • 42min
Trapped in an icy hell: my 72 day mountain escape
After a plane crash in the Andes mountains, Nando Parrado and his team endured 72 days of survival in freezing conditions. They used innovative methods for water and warmth, faced starvation, and ultimately had to make desperate decisions to stay alive in a gripping tale of resilience and survival against all odds.
Jan 29, 2024 • 43min
A Libyan kidnapping and the words that brought us together
Lucy Sexton was making a TV series about hostages when her father Joe was abductedLucy and her father Joe Sexton are American journalists. In 2021 Lucy was working on the TV series ‘Hostages’ when her personal and professional life collided. Joe had been abducted while on a reporting trip in Libya. What followed was a surreal week of parallels as they both tried to make sense of what was happening – Joe from a cell in Libya and Lucy from a production set in Washington. Later, they turned their experience into a joint writing project that brought them closer than ever before.Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: May Cameron
Editor: Harry Graham
Sound design: Joel Cox
Jan 22, 2024 • 40min
Discovering my mother was a Vietnamese rock'n'roll star
A chance email led Hannah Ha to uncover her mother Tam’s forgotten musical legacy.Hannah knew her mother could sing. When she took the stage at karaoke, she always stole the show. But when a chance email revealed she had once been a recording artist called Phuong Tam in 1960s Saigon, she was stunned. Hannah embarked on a two-year hunt to track down her mother’s long-lost recordings – and her rock 'n' roll legacy.Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Zoe Gelber
