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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Held hostage by al-Qaeda: my desert odyssey
Today
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
Last Monday
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
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The long climb back
Mon 6 Jan 2025
It started as a magical day for two friends but then a rock came loose
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The journalist who took down a billion-dollar company
Mon 30 Dec 2024
Dan McCrum investigated a story at Wirecard that had him fearing for his safety
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The cricket star who learned to fly
Mon 23 Dec 2024
Ricky Ellcock鈥檚 rollercoaster life as a fast bowler and airline pilot
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The bullet that ended our friendship
Mon 16 Dec 2024
Paul Rousseau was accidentally shot in the head by his best friend and flatmate
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After doomsday: I outgrew a cult and became a professor
Mon 9 Dec 2024
When the world fails to end Jerald Walker is left searching for something to believe in
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Naked and alone: the comedian trapped in a reality TV show
Mon 2 Dec 2024
Nasubi had no idea his 15-month fight to survive was being broadcast on Japanese TV
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How my mysterious childhood became a best-selling novel
Mon 25 Nov 2024
Trent Dalton discovered he was on the fringe of one of Australia鈥檚 biggest crime stories
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The sports scandal scoop that almost destroyed me
Mon 18 Nov 2024
In 1998 Finnish journalist Johanna Aatsalo published a story that made her a hate figure
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Saved by goats after my fall from the sacred mountain
Mon 11 Nov 2024
When he slid off a 40-metre cliff in the jungle, Morgan Segui thought he was sure to die
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Looking for my son for 58 years, part 2
Mon 4 Nov 2024
Bestselling writer Lesley Pearse never stopped looking for her son
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Looking for my son for 58 years, part 1
Mon 28 Oct 2024
Bestselling writer Lesley Pearse's own story is wilder than any romance
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The Wicker Man: Learning to love the film that broke us
Sun 20 Oct 2024
The director's obsessive quest to make this iconic horror film would devastate his family
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"He counted 3, 2, 1 鈥� then stabbed me in the heart"
Sun 13 Oct 2024
Kieran Quinlan was on his way to a party when a man with a knife attacked him
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The US鈥檚 first black astronaut trainee reaches space at 90
Sun 6 Oct 2024
In May 2024 Ed Dwight became the oldest person to travel to the edge of space
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Love, grief, and an AI chatbot
Sun 29 Sep 2024
Joshua created an AI simulation of his deceased fianc茅e to help him deal with his loss
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A love story and a battle cry in the Ecuadorian rainforest
Sun 22 Sep 2024
Nemonte Nenquimo is an indigenous leader who fought back against the oil giants
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The boy who hid from Nazis in the woods, part 2
Sun 15 Sep 2024
Maxwell Smart survived the Holocaust by living in a makeshift bunker on the forest floor
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The boy who hid from Nazis in the woods, part 1
Sun 8 Sep 2024
Maxwell Smart survived the Holocaust by living in a makeshift bunker on the forest floor
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Never ever give up: how Diana Nyad swam from Cuba to Florida
Sun 1 Sep 2024
American endurance swimmer Diana Nyad's thirty-year dream to swim from Cuba to Florida
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The hungry boy who devoted his life to muscle
Sun 25 Aug 2024
Gilbert Alaskadi was sick of being bullied; he wanted to be invincible.
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Buddhist chants and Ibiza trance: A Spanish boy鈥檚 odyssey
Sun 18 Aug 2024
Osel Hita Torres was a baby when he was recognised as a reincarnated spiritual leader
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The Lost Boy: A never-ending journey, part 2
Sat 10 Aug 2024
Salva Dut returns to Sudan to find his dad and decides to get clean water to his village
