Lives Less Ordinary
BBC World Service
BBC World Service
Lives Less Ordinary
BBC World Service
BBC World Service

About

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

Episodes

  • The ragtag boy who was taken in by a football icon
    The incredible story of how Brian Clough’s kindness changed a young kid’s life forever
  • My private trauma was leaked to the press – so I fought back
    Jenny helped expose a national scandal after her police testimony appeared in a newspaper
  • How Paramore’s singer revived her grandad’s lost album
    Grandpa Rusty nurtured Hayley Williams’ musical dreams – now, she’s returning the favour
  • Miriam Toews: A loud voice in a town once ruled by silence
    How the author used her strict Mennonite upbringing to tell its unspoken stories
  • Introducing Cyber Hack: Evil Corp
    Accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars – Russia’s most wanted hackers
  • Trapped underground: my 54-hour cave rescue
    When George Linnane fell in a cave, it was the start of the UK's longest rescue
  • Stabbed as a boy – and becoming a poet for a lost generation
    ‘The Gen Z poet’ Dan Whitlam survived a violent attack aged 16, he now writes about love
  • Tim Berners-Lee: The man who dreamed of a World Wide Web
    The web's inventor on the unique life that inspired a tech revolution
  • The baby-dinosaur hunter who ended up in Hollywood
    Jack Horner inspired a character in Jurassic Park after the dino discovery of a lifetime
  • The escape from Vietnam that tore my family apart
    Doan made it onto one of the last helicopters from Saigon but her sister was left behind
  • Enter the new dragon: the Bruce Lee of Afghanistan
    Abbas Alizada copied his hero’s kung fu moves – and look – and became an overnight star
  • Jane Goodall: In her own words
    The celebrated chimpanzee expert talks about her loves and her life amongst the apes
  • Sweet surprise: I found my birth mother in my local bakery
    Vamarr and Lenore had a close bond for years without realising they were related
  • Zarna Garg: The rise of an ‘unstoppable’ comedy star
    Once a homeless teen in Mumbai, now Zarna Garg’s a top comedian, touring with Tina Fey
  • I sent three innocent teenagers to prison for life
    Ron Bishop says police forced him to tell lies on the witness stand during a murder trial
  • Cesar Millan: The ‘dog boy’ who became the Dog Whisperer
    Cesar Millan migrated illegally to the US and slept rough before becoming a TV sensation
  • Sole survivor: Eight days in the jungle after my plane crashed
    Annette Herfkens's romantic getaway ended in disaster
  • Coming up in the new season of Lives Less Ordinary
    A heads-up on some of the extraordinary stories to look forward to from September
  • Hold Fast! 8. Our duty is done
    Siobhάn McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship Avontuur
  • Hold Fast! 7. I want to hug a cow
    Siobhán McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship Avontuur