Lives Less Ordinary Podcast
Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What鈥檚 their story?" Step into someone else鈥檚 life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world.
Episodes to download
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I cycled across Africa for a place at my dream university
Mon 11 Mar 2024
A handwritten map is all Mamadou Barry had to guide him from Guinea to Egypt
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Going cold turkey in a Bangkok prison
Mon 4 Mar 2024
Holly鈥檚 life was shaped by heroin addiction. At rock bottom, she finally got clean
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The Pacific odyssey of a runaway rebel
Mon 26 Feb 2024
Ruth Shaw spent years on ships and islands, trying to outrun her past
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Fugees Family: the football team who became my life
Mon 19 Feb 2024
The extraordinary coach who started a football team but built something much bigger
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My dad was Britain's 'most wanted'
Mon 12 Feb 2024
Without realising it, Nick Reynolds had been living his childhood on the run
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Trapped in an icy hell: my 72 day mountain escape
Mon 5 Feb 2024
After crashing high in the Andes, Nando Parrado had to go to the extreme to get out
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A Libyan kidnapping and the words that brought us together
Mon 29 Jan 2024
Lucy Sexton was making a TV series about hostages when her father Joe was abducted
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Discovering my mother was a Vietnamese rock'n'roll star
Mon 22 Jan 2024
A chance email led Hannah Ha to uncover her mother Tam鈥檚 forgotten musical legacy
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Searching for the last man in the forest
Mon 15 Jan 2024
Jair Candor tracks down remote Amazonian tribes in order to protect them from outsiders
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Hunting for icons in the underworld, part 2
Mon 8 Jan 2024
Tasoula Hadjitofi tricked a notorious art smuggler to recover Cyprus' holiest relics
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Hunting for icons in the underworld, part 1
New Year's Day 2024
Tasoula Hadjitofi uncovered a shady network looting her country's most sacred relics
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Love in the time of revolution, part 2
Christmas Day 2023
Pepe and Luc铆a: the bonfire of young love, a long separation, and rise to presidency
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Love in the time of revolution, part 1
Mon 18 Dec 2023
Pepe and Luc铆a: the guerrilla lovers who became the leaders of Uruguay
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An author, his cellmate, and a new beginning
Mon 11 Dec 2023
How a book-loving prisoner showed a young Alex Wheatle the path to self-belief
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Scams and poetry in Moscow鈥檚 underbelly
Mon 4 Dec 2023
Eric Ngalle Charles was just a teenager when he was trafficked from Cameroon to Russia
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Introducing Amazing Sport Stories
Thu 30 Nov 2023
Sport but not as you know it. A brand new sports storytelling podcast
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Unmasking my best friend
Mon 27 Nov 2023
Reality TV producer Johnathan found himself in a plot he couldn't have dreamt up
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Becoming Gamal, part 2: Behind the badge
Mon 20 Nov 2023
Gamal Turawa has lived many lives - but never fitted in
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Becoming Gamal, part 1: Magic and misadventure
Mon 13 Nov 2023
Gamal Turawa has lived many lives - but never fitted in
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The fisherman and the 'spy whale'
Mon 6 Nov 2023
Joar Hesten's mission to save a whale rumoured to have escaped from the Russian navy
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Brazil's loneliest fan and his footballing fairytale
Mon 30 Oct 2023
Tiago Rech went viral when he was the only supporter in the stands at his club's game
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Love, Loss and 'Project 22'
Sun 22 Oct 2023
Fleur Pierets and Julian Boom wanted to wed in every country that allowed gay marriage
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38 days: a family adrift in the Pacific
Sun 15 Oct 2023
The Robertsons' boat was attacked by killer whales and started to sink fast
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"My friends were arrested, or simply disappeared"
Sun 8 Oct 2023
Tahir Izgil is a Uyghur poet who lived through a Chinese state clampdown
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Bringing home the prime minister鈥檚 gold tooth
Sun 1 Oct 2023
Juliana Lumumba had to fight to reclaim the remains of her father, Patrice Lumumba.
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The Godmother of Beirut's nightlife
Sun 24 Sep 2023
Under the boot of the Syrian army, Nicole Moudaber brought raves to Lebanon
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The invisible child who now shines at Eurovision, part 2
Sun 10 Sep 2023
From the page to the stage: William turns childhood fantasies into reality
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The invisible child who now shines at Eurovision, part 1
Sun 3 Sep 2023
A bond between brothers, a coming-out story, and an international song contest
