Lives Less Ordinary Podcast
The most incredible true stories from around the world, told by the people who lived them. Step into someone else鈥檚 life and expect the unexpected.
Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the 蜜芽传媒 World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Step into someone else鈥檚 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鈥檚 life鈥檚 wild side, in stereo.
Lives Less Ordinary is brought to you by the team behind Outlook, the home of true life storytelling on 蜜芽传媒 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:
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Episodes to download
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My way out of the woods
Last Monday
A corporate high-flyer lived in a forest after a spiral of debt, shame and secrecy
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Sex, love, Rock 'n' Roll... and The Sopranos
Sun 20 Jul 2025
Robin Green went from being a 'clueless girl' to the only woman in the writers' room
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Why I wore iron underwear on Kabul鈥檚 busiest street
Sun 13 Jul 2025
Kubra Khademi鈥檚 protest against sexual violence brought an Afghan street to a standstill
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Kidnapped at four: How I found my way home
Sun 6 Jul 2025
A promise to return to his mother helped Antonio Salazar-Hobson through his darkest hours
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The penguin that followed a teacher home
Sun 29 Jun 2025
Tom Michell on the lessons he learned from his adopted rescue bird
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Meeting the monster: My 14 days with Joseph Kony
Sun 22 Jun 2025
Judith Obina helped bring peace to Uganda with a secret weapon: Joseph Kony鈥檚 mother
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The Grandmother of Juneteenth, still battling for change at 98
Sun 15 Jun 2025
Opal Lee walked to Washington to demand a new national holiday marking the end of slavery
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The man who woke up in the future
Sun 8 Jun 2025
When Dr Pier Piccioni woke up after a car accident, 12 years of his life had been erased
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The mortician, the "werewolf" and the keeper of brains
Sun 1 Jun 2025
Alexandra Morton-Hayward unlocks the secrets of the human brain but her own betrays her
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Jos茅 Mujica: Guerilla, president and occasional romantic
Sun 25 May 2025
The surprising life story of the ex-President of Uruguay who died this month
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The true story behind Brazil鈥檚 Oscar winner,聽I鈥檓 Still Here
Sun 18 May 2025
Marcelo Rubens Paiva was 11 when armed men took his father away
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The blind Holocaust survivor who caught a fugitive Nazi
Sun 11 May 2025
Lothar Hermann found out his neighbour was 鈥榓rchitect of the Holocaust鈥� Adolf Eichmann
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Searching for green in a concrete world
Sun 4 May 2025
After losing loved ones to violent crime, Kwesia X found peace in nature
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Painting faces in search of myself and my mum
Sun 27 Apr 2025
Separated from his mum as a boy, Juano Diaz drew her face over and over again
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The former wrestler who wants your brain
Mon 21 Apr 2025
Wrestling with Hulk Hogan and The Rock, Chris Nowinski鈥檚 dream job ended after an injury
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Swimming blind: my journey to self-acceptance
Sun 13 Apr 2025
Melanie Barratt, first blind woman to swim the Channel; she did it with her mum鈥檚 ashes
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The painful secret I hid from my twin
Sun 6 Apr 2025
When Alex lost his memories his identical twin helped him restore them, or some of them
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Introducing Dear Daughter
Wed 2 Apr 2025
A bonus episode of Dear Daughter - stories of family and parenting from around the world
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Rewind: An author, his cellmate, and a new beginning
Sun 30 Mar 2025
How a book-loving prisoner showed a young Alex Wheatle the path to self-belief
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My hunt for the Gutenberg 鈥� the rare book that solved a family mystery
Mon 24 Mar 2025
Michael Visontay鈥檚 unexpected link to the Gutenberg Bible, the world鈥檚 most coveted book
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Rewind: The spy who wanted to bring down apartheid Part 2
Mon 17 Mar 2025
ANC spy Sue Dobson infiltrated the South African government. Then her cover was blown.
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Rewind: The spy who wanted to bring down apartheid Part 1
Mon 10 Mar 2025
Another chance to hear one of our favourite episodes, a story of spycraft in South Africa
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Held hostage by al-Qaeda: my desert odyssey
Mon 3 Mar 2025
Edith Blais was kidnapped by armed militants and held captive in the Sahara for 450 days
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The unmaking of a child soldier
Mon 24 Feb 2025
As a boy, Ishmael Beah was forced to kill. How do you turn a soldier back into a child?
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The WW2 spy and the little leaf that saved her
Mon 17 Feb 2025
In a desolate concentration camp, Odette Hallowes discovers a tiny symbol of hope
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How鈥檇 you get so rich? A dream to change my family鈥檚 fortune
Mon 10 Feb 2025
Reggie Nelson knocked on the poshest doors in London and asked a million-dollar question
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The DNA request that revealed my child had gone missing
Mon 3 Feb 2025
Cathy Terkanian turned sleuth when told the baby she鈥檇 had to give up, had disappeared
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My 'miracle baby', born 15 months after I lost my love
Mon 27 Jan 2025
When her partner died, Ellidy Pullin chose an unconventional path to motherhood
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Stolen as a baby, I called my abductor 鈥楳om鈥�
Mon 20 Jan 2025
A mysterious fire, a missing baby, and a secret that would rip two families apart
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Black boy joy: defying stereotypes on the London stage
Mon 13 Jan 2025
Ryan Calais Cameron鈥檚 stories and characters shattered convention in UK theatre
