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:
/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice
Episodes to download
-
![]()
The mystery of the tartan twins
Mon 6 Feb 2023
A baby left in a car, another in a telephone box. It would take decades to find out why
-
![]()
Breaking my addiction to war
Mon 30 Jan 2023
Fergal Keane's work as a war correspondent was destroying him, but he couldn't stop
-
![]()
The fearless former nun fighting for India's seamstresses
Mon 23 Jan 2023
From convent to marriage to factory floor, Thivya will stand up for herself, and you
-
![]()
Learning to live with the voices in my head
Mon 16 Jan 2023
Debra started hearing voices aged five. Comforting at first, they soon took control
-
![]()
Rebel gunmen in Ugandan skies
Mon 9 Jan 2023
Pilot Firoz Khimji witnessed his country's wars from above. Then conflict came for him.
-
![]()
Coming out as India鈥檚 first gay prince
Mon 2 Jan 2023
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil risked everything when he faced his parents and society
-
![]()
The secrets of a slave ship in an Alabama swamp
Boxing Day 2022
Journalist Ben Raines went in search of a sunken ship with a dark history
-
![]()
Searching for my sister, the "keeper of memories"
Mon 19 Dec 2022
Nakuset blocked out painful memories of being removed from her indigenous Canadian family
-
![]()
Guns, guards, snarling dogs: a child migrant鈥檚 story
Mon 12 Dec 2022
Javier Zamora travelled alone from El Salvador to the US when he was just nine years old
-
![]()
The Palestinian tapes, part 2
Mon 5 Dec 2022
Disco, protest and poetry 鈥� Hanan and Riad鈥檚 story of making the Intifada album
-
![]()
The Palestinian tapes, part 1
Mon 28 Nov 2022
Mo鈥檓in Swaitat鈥檚 magical discovery of lost family music and a mysterious yellow cassette
-
![]()
I hit puberty, then burned down my family home
Mon 21 Nov 2022
At 18 Nikki Owen set fire to the family home 鈥� and she didn鈥檛 know why
-
![]()
He knocked on my door and said: 'I believe you'
Mon 14 Nov 2022
How the friendship of a stranger helped Betsy when she needed it most
-
![]()
My father鈥檚 hidden crimes
Mon 7 Nov 2022
Anal铆a鈥檚 father was accused of being a government torturer 鈥� he said it was a lie
-
![]()
The child spy and her secret agent parents
Mon 31 Oct 2022
Sue-Ellen Doherty was trained by her parents to spy for Australia during the Cold War
-
![]()
A fake billionaire in North Korea, part 2
Sun 23 Oct 2022
Jim is deep undercover in North Korea 鈥� but will he find proof of illegal weapons deals
-
![]()
A fake billionaire in North Korea, part 1
Sun 16 Oct 2022
Jim Latrache-Qvortrup posed as a weapons dealer to expose a North Korean criminal network
-
![]()
Opiyo鈥檚 law: Never let fear rule your life
Sun 9 Oct 2022
Nicholas Opiyo survived civil war to become one of Uganda鈥檚 top human rights lawyers
-
![]()
Hip hop, lies and the ultimate prize, part 2
Sun 2 Oct 2022
Silibil N鈥� Brains found fame as fake American rappers - but how long can you live a lie?
-
![]()
Hip hop, lies and the ultimate prize, part 1
Sun 25 Sep 2022
The Scottish rappers who fooled the music industry
-
![]()
I was the voice of Bambi 鈥� and kept it secret for years
Sun 18 Sep 2022
Donnie Dunagan was a Disney child star in the 1930s before becoming a US Marine
-
![]()
Black, Korean, stateless: a Slickyboy鈥檚 American dream, part 2
Sun 11 Sep 2022
An outcast from birth and a petty thief by 7, all Milton wanted was to find his dad
-
![]()
Black, Korean, stateless: A Slickyboy鈥檚 American dream, part 1
Sun 4 Sep 2022
An outcast from birth and a petty thief by seven, all Milton wanted was to find his dad
-
![]()
-
![]()
The brain tumour that taught me how to live
Sun 21 Aug 2022
How extreme kayaker Scott Lindgren's illness forced him to face his past
-
![]()
The family that went to war with a military dictatorship
Sun 14 Aug 2022
Hafsat Abiola Costello's dad was nearly Nigeria's president - but he had powerful enemies
-
![]()
-
![]()
Nailed into a boat: Escaping Mao鈥檚 China
Sun 31 Jul 2022
Dr Andrew Kwong fled famine and persecution as a child
-
![]()
The legendary goalkeeper forced to pawn her gold medals
Sun 24 Jul 2022
Briana knew it was her destiny to win Olympic gold. Then one game changed everything
-
![]()
A poet in a Burundi war zone, part 2
Sun 17 Jul 2022
JP Bimeni is a writer turned soul singer who walked through a massacre unscathed
