Lives Less Ordinary

Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Featuring a new season of five remarkable true love stories from around the world.

World Service,235 episodes

Episodes

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Unmasking my best friend
Reality TV producer Johnathan found himself in a plot he couldn't have dreamt up
27 Nov 2023,37 mins
Becoming Gamal, part 2: Behind the badge
Gamal Turawa has lived many lives - but never fitted in
20 Nov 2023,27 mins
Becoming Gamal, part 1: Magic and misadventure
Gamal Turawa has lived many lives - but never fitted in
13 Nov 2023,30 mins
The fisherman and the 'spy whale'
Joar Hesten's mission to save a whale rumoured to have escaped from the Russian navy
06 Nov 2023,40 mins
Brazil's loneliest fan and his footballing fairytale
Tiago Rech went viral when he was the only supporter in the stands at his club's game
30 Oct 2023,38 mins
Love, Loss and 'Project 22'
Fleur Pierets and Julian Boom wanted to wed in every country that allowed gay marriage
22 Oct 2023,41 mins
38 days: a family adrift in the Pacific
The Robertsons' boat was attacked by killer whales and started to sink fast
15 Oct 2023,46 mins
"My friends were arrested, or simply disappeared"
Tahir Izgil is a Uyghur poet who lived through a Chinese state clampdown
08 Oct 2023,35 mins
Bringing home the prime minister’s gold tooth
Juliana Lumumba had to fight to reclaim the remains of her father, Patrice Lumumba.
01 Oct 2023,38 mins
The Godmother of Beirut's nightlife
Under the boot of the Syrian army, Nicole Moudaber brought raves to Lebanon
24 Sep 2023,38 mins
Dancing in the womb
A mother, a son, and the discovery of a shared dream
17 Sep 2023,44 mins
The invisible child who now shines at Eurovision, part 2
From the page to the stage: William turns childhood fantasies into reality
10 Sep 2023,43 mins
The invisible child who now shines at Eurovision, part 1
A bond between brothers, a coming-out story, and an international song contest
03 Sep 2023,44 mins
Miracle on the ocean floor
Harrison Okene spent three days trapped in an air pocket in a sunken ship
27 Aug 2023,40 mins
Indiana Jones: The kids who remade a blockbuster
In 1982, two Mississippi boys recreated a $22m film, shot-for-shot, on their pocket money
20 Aug 2023,40 mins
The woman who fell from the sky, part 2
How a jump changed daring parachutist Tony Osornio's life forever
13 Aug 2023,38 mins
The woman who fell from the sky, part 1
Tony Osornio would go to dangerous extremes to keep skydiving
06 Aug 2023,40 mins
Bradford 12: The Asian youth who took on the racists, part 2
Self-defence is no offence: how anti-racist activist Tariq Mehmood made UK legal history
30 Jul 2023,40 mins
Bradford 12: The Asian youth who took on the racists, part 1
Immigrant teen Tariq Mehmood led a movement to resist violent racism in 1970s Britain
23 Jul 2023,41 mins
I save chimpanzees and they've saved me
Stany Nyandwi's rescued chimpanzees helped him through war and loneliness
16 Jul 2023,39 mins
Who is this kneeling man?
My search for the truth about my father and Martin Luther King’s assassination
09 Jul 2023,54 mins,
How I survived a pirate hijack
Marine engineer Chirag Bahri was trapped for eight gruelling months on a chemical tanker
02 Jul 2023,41 mins
Love, war, and the cutting room floor
Mariam and Mohammed are Yemeni filmmakers who turned the lens on their own relationship
25 Jun 2023,41 mins
He was almost a mass shooter – an act of kindness stopped him
Aaron Stark now works to raise awareness around why mass attacks happen
18 Jun 2023,42 mins,
Teenage dreams on the Indian Ocean
At the age of 13 Laura Dekker fought for her right to sail solo around the world
11 Jun 2023,40 mins
'Don't anger the monster', part 2
Rowena Chiu was kept silent for 20 years by former film boss Harvey Weinstein
04 Jun 2023,33 mins,
'Don't anger the monster', part 1
Rowena Chiu on surviving the Hollywood sexual predator Harvey Weinstein
28 May 2023,36 mins,
Sugar sandwiches and smarts: a poor kid's fairytale ending
Raised by addicts, Dr Katriona O'Sullivan defied the odds to become a university lecturer
21 May 2023,39 mins
Lola the bare-knuckle drag queen
Martial arts kept him out of jail, but drag artistry made him whole
14 May 2023,51 mins
I was there the night Emmett Till was taken
Wheeler Parker is Emmett Till's cousin and the last surviving witness to his abduction
07 May 2023,41 mins