Lives Less Ordinary Podcast
Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world.
Episodes to download
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Sects, lies and videotape: a Syrian story, part 1
Yesterday
Loubna Mrie secretly filmed Syria’s uprising, despite her family’s loyalty to the regime
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The couple who foiled New Zealand’s biggest drugs plot
Last Monday
An ordinary couple caught up in the country's biggest meth case for doing a good deed
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I bought Macclesfield FC while drunk and it saved my life
Mon 9 Feb 2026
When Rob Smethurst was gripped by addiction, building a football club helped him get out
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Colm TóibÃn: How an Irish boy with a stammer found his voice
Mon 2 Feb 2026
He’s now a best-selling author who brought the glitz of Hollywood to his small-town home
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The gay Kenyan boyband star who refused to be defeated
Mon 26 Jan 2026
When singer Willis Chimano was outed, the exposure threatened to derail his entire life
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Laughter saved me: the comedian turning tragedy into comedy
Mon 19 Jan 2026
Krystal Evans survived a house fire at 14. To make sense of it, she turned to stand-up
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Living a lie: discovering my dad faked who he was
Mon 12 Jan 2026
Joanne Briggs thought her dad was a scientific superhero. But he was hiding a dark secret
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Fatima Whitbread: from abandoned baby to world champion
Mon 5 Jan 2026
The British athlete found both a mother and a coach in one person, and went on to win gold
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One suitcase, three kids: a broke scientist pursues a dream
Mon 29 Dec 2025
Once a homeless single mum, Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu is now a nanomedicine pioneer
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I broke the most important rule: don't get attached
Mon 22 Dec 2025
Youth worker Nicolas Lunabba let troubled teenager Elijah make a home on his sofa
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Tulisa: I wanted fame, but it almost destroyed me
Mon 15 Dec 2025
Tulisa Contostavlos survived betrayal and a tabloid sting
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The ragtag boy who was taken in by a football icon
Mon 8 Dec 2025
The incredible story of how Brian Clough’s kindness changed a young kid’s life forever
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My private trauma was leaked to the press – so I fought back
Mon 1 Dec 2025
Jenny helped expose a national scandal after her police testimony appeared in a newspaper
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How Paramore’s singer revived her grandad’s lost album
Mon 24 Nov 2025
Grandpa Rusty nurtured Hayley Williams’ musical dreams – now, she’s returning the favour
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Miriam Toews: A loud voice in a town once ruled by silence
Mon 17 Nov 2025
How the author used her strict Mennonite upbringing to tell its unspoken stories
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Trapped underground: my 54-hour cave rescue
Mon 10 Nov 2025
When George Linnane fell in a cave, it was the start of the UK's longest rescue
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Stabbed as a boy – and becoming a poet for a lost generation
Mon 3 Nov 2025
‘The Gen Z poet’ Dan Whitlam survived a violent attack aged 16, he now writes about love
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Tim Berners-Lee: The man who dreamed of a World Wide Web
Tue 28 Oct 2025
The web's inventor on the unique life that inspired a tech revolution
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The baby-dinosaur hunter who ended up in Hollywood
Mon 20 Oct 2025
Jack Horner inspired a character in Jurassic Park after the dino discovery of a lifetime
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The escape from Vietnam that tore my family apart
Mon 13 Oct 2025
Doan made it onto one of the last helicopters from Saigon but her sister was left behind
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Enter the new dragon: the Bruce Lee of Afghanistan
Mon 6 Oct 2025
Abbas Alizada copied his hero’s kung fu moves – and look – and became an overnight star
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Jane Goodall: In her own words
Thu 2 Oct 2025
The celebrated chimpanzee expert talks about her loves and her life amongst the apes
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Sweet surprise: I found my birth mother in my local bakery
Mon 29 Sep 2025
Vamarr and Lenore had a close bond for years without realising they were related
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Zarna Garg: The rise of an ‘unstoppable’ comedy star
Mon 22 Sep 2025
Once a homeless teen in Mumbai, now Zarna Garg’s a top comedian, touring with Tina Fey
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I sent three innocent teenagers to prison for life
Mon 15 Sep 2025
Ron Bishop says police forced him to tell lies on the witness stand during a murder trial
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Cesar Millan: The ‘dog boy’ who became the Dog Whisperer
Mon 8 Sep 2025
Cesar Millan migrated illegally to the US and slept rough before becoming a TV sensation
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Sole survivor: Eight days in the jungle after my plane crashed
Mon 1 Sep 2025
Annette Herfkens's romantic getaway ended in disaster
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Coming up in the new season of Lives Less Ordinary
Thu 28 Aug 2025
A heads-up on some of the extraordinary stories to look forward to from September
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Hold Fast! 8. Our duty is done
Mon 25 Aug 2025
Siobhάn McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship Avontuur
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Hold Fast! 7. I want to hug a cow
Mon 25 Aug 2025
Siobhán McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship Avontuur
Watch Lives Less Ordinary on YouTube
Videos from our extraordinary podcast Lives Less Ordinary.
