Lives Less Ordinary

Colm Tóibín is a celebrated Irish writer, but as a child words didn't come easily. Navigating grief as a boy when his father died, he developed a stammer. Instead of talking, Colm watched and listened, collecting stories that wove their way into his novels. He's won a string of awards and been nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize three times. His novel Brooklyn was made into a movie starring Saoirse Ronan and was up for several Oscars. He finds it hilarious that although he was invited to the event he had to be ushered in through a back door – the red carpet is apparently not for novelists. Beyond his writing, Colm was a vocal campaigner for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Ireland. He’s also breaking taboos by speaking openly about testicular cancer and highlighting some of the comedy moments from those bleak times. His latest book is called A Long Winter. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Andrea Kennedy Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Willis Chimano is one of Kenya’s biggest pop stars. With the boyband Sauti Sol, he’s won a string of awards and even danced with President Barack Obama. But behind the success, Chimano had a secret: being gay in a country where gay sex is criminalised and people who identify as LGBT+ can experience violence and harassment. Since his childhood, Chimano had been hiding his sexuality but then in 2018 he was outed. Suddenly his career stood its toughest test as he was caught in a media frenzy and dealing with exposure that threatened to derail his entire life - and his relationship with his conservative family. But Chimano emerged from the storm as role model for LGBT+ people, becoming Kenya’s most famous openly gay singer. His memoir is called Heavy is the Crown. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producers: Maryam Maruf and June Christie Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

When she was 14, Krystal Evans survived a lethal house fire. Years later, to come to terms with what she’d experienced, she turned it into a stand-up show. The women in Krystal's family have always been funny, she says; her mother was no exception. But as well as being hilarious she also struggled with mental illness, and life in Krystal’s childhood was chaotic. With very little money, the family would move from place to place, Krystal would miss months of school and often be left to take care of her younger sister alone. When Krystal was 14, chaos turned to tragedy when a fire engulfed their mobile home in Washington State. Not everyone survived. Krystal buried the experience and tried to move on with her life, but years later, while working as a comedian, she decided to confront her memories of the fire – by turning them into a hit stand-up show: The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producers: Caroline Ferguson and Zoe Gelber Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Joanne Briggs had always thought of her dad as a bit of a superhero. But he was hiding a dark secret. She only saw him a couple of times a year during her childhood in the UK, but that was because Professor Michael Briggs was off travelling the world being a very important scientist. Or at least that was the story she grew up to believe. It was only in 1986, when Joanne was 23, that she first got a glimpse of who he really was. The Sunday Times newspaper exposed him as a scientific fraud, leaving his reputation in tatters. Two months later, he was dead. Joanne chose to close the door on this mysterious and destructive period of her life. But 34 years later it unexpectedly reopened, and led her on a journey through multiple lies and deception, towards a better understanding of the man she thought she knew. Joanne Briggs has written a book about her father: The Scientist Who Wasn't There. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Anna Lacey Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Fatima Whitbread grew up in a UK children’s home. She found both a mother and a coach in one person – going on to break the javelin world record and become an Olympic medallist. Fatima spent her first 14 years in a series of institutions after being abandoned as a baby. She longed for stability and love, and found both in an unexpected place – on the sports field. Coach Margaret Whitbread spotted her talent early, and when she discovered that the young Fatima was growing up without a family, invited her to spend some time with her own. Holiday visits soon turned into an offer of a permanent home with the Whitbreads, and Fatima was eventually formally adopted by them. Margaret became both her mother and her coach. Fatima had once written to Margaret that her dream was to be ‘the best javelin thrower in the world.’ Years later, she made that a reality with a record-breaking throw at the 1986 European Athletics Championships, followed by gold at the World Championships. She is also a two-time Olympic medallist. Today, Fatima Whitbread is using her own experiences to campaign for children in care through her charity, Fatima’s UK Campaign. Please be aware, this episode contains references to child sexual abuse. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producers: June Christie & Louise Morris Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

When Ijeoma Uchegbu arrived back in the UK as a single mum of three young children she soon found herself living in a homeless shelter; now she is a pioneer in the field of nanoparticles in medicine. Ijeoma Uchegbu has dedicated her career to studying pharmaceutical nanoscience, seeking out ways to carry medicines to parts of the body that are notoriously hard to reach. But as a schoolgirl in the UK her aspirations were to work in a shop and earn enough to go dancing at weekends. It was when her Nigerian father took her back to his home country, aged 13, that she discovered a passion for science and a burning ambition. Ijeoma went to university at 16, married and started a family of her own but when her marriage failed, desperate to do a PhD she moved back to the UK. By now Ijeoma was a single mum-of-three. The family had one suitcase, no coats, and just £500 to start a new life. It was a battle to keep the family afloat, fed, and safe. But Ijeoma is a fighter; soon she had a job in a lab and a home and a few years later she found love again. Ijeoma co-founded a pharmaceutical company with her new husband. They are currently developing eyedrops to treat blindness and a nasal spray to target pain which she hopes will go some way to addressing the opioid crisis. She was given a damehood earlier this year and is a champion of race equality, and it turns out she also has a talent for stand-up comedy. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Andrea Kennedy Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Swedish youth worker Nicolas Lunabba had one strict rule: never get attached to the kids you help. Then 13-year-old Elijah moved in — and turned his mentor’s flat into a home. In Malmö, Sweden, where poverty and violence shaped young lives, detachment was Nicolas' survival strategy. Then he met Elijah, an eight year old with a mohawk, a basketball under his arm, and a fearless, sometimes dangerous streak. They bonded over basketball and five years later, Elijah arrived at Nicolas’ flat and made a home on his sofa. He borrowed his clothes, asked him to read aloud from a 3,600-page novel, and slowly cracked the emotional armour of a man who had spent years keeping people at arm’s length. What began as mentorship became an unconventional and powerful bond that changed both their lives in extraordinary ways. Nicolas has written a memoir, Will You Care If I Die, and a Swedish film of the same name is currently in production. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Tom Harding Assinder Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos survived betrayal and a tabloid sting. Tulisa was born into a family of musicians in Camden, London, and says music was part of her everyday life. But her childhood was impacted by her mother's severe mental health episodes that would often end up with her being held in psychiatric institutions. After her parents divorced, Tulisa would frequently have to care for her mother by herself. Tulisa escaped into music, and although she was initially determined to become a solo star, she found huge success with the UK group N-Dubz, formed with a cousin and a friend, when she was in her teens. At the age of 22 she became the youngest ever judge on the UK TV talent show The X Factor, but her biggest challenge was working out how to survive in the spotlight. At the peak of her fame an ex-boyfriend released an intimate video of her online, without her consent, and Tulisa had to go to court to have it removed from websites. In 2013 she was also the target of an elaborate undercover newspaper sting that led to her facing jail for drug supply, before the trial collapsed and she was cleared. The experience almost derailed her career, and her life. Tulisa's latest book is called Judgement. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producers: Tommy Dixon and Rebecca Vincent This interview contains reference to suicide. If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

The incredible story of the football icon who changed a boy's life. Craig Bromfield's start in life was difficult: there was often no electricity in his childhood home, and he didn’t even own a coat. He was in and out of the social care system, and would ask for money on the street. This is what 11-year-old Craig was doing with his brother Aaron, one fateful day in 1984, on a windswept seafront in the North East of England when he crossed paths with the era’s most famous football manager, Brian Clough - and his life was changed forever. Brian Clough was manager of Nottingham Forest at the time, but his character transcended sport and regularly delighted UK television audiences. After a few meetings with Craig, Brian’s public persona as an opinionated and uncompromising football boss melted away. Behind the studio lights and the bravado, Brian was a secret softie. He wanted to give Craig a better life, and incredibly, invited him to live with him and his family. Only Craig's early years would come back to haunt him when at 19 he made a decision that put the two men’s friendship on the line. Craig's published a memoir called Be Good, Love Brian: Growing up with Brian Clough. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producers: Elena Angelides and Edgar Maddicott Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

When Jenny Evans was sexually assaulted and confidential details appeared in a national newspaper, she decided to investigate – uncovering police corruption, tabloid spying, and phone-hacking. Jenny got a role in her first feature film when she was just 19 years old. At a film party in London she became separated from her friends and was sexually assaulted by a public figure she'd just met. At first she was too traumatised to report what had happened. But later, when other women came forward with similar stories about the same man, she finally felt able to go to the police. She provided a full testimony, but was shocked to see details from her police interview appear in a tabloid newspaper just a few days later. Jenny could not understand how this had happened, and the repeated tabloid stories about her led to a building sense of paranoia – she no longer knew who to trust. She eventually refused to talk to the police, the case against her attacker collapsed, and he was never prosecuted. Jenny decided to train as a journalist to discover what had really taken place between the police and the press. She teamed up with the well-known investigative journalist Nick Davies, and helped to uncover corruption in London's Metropolitan Police Service and illegal newsgathering practices by some national newspapers including phone-hacking and spying. Their investigations contributed to some high-profile resignations, and the closure of one of the newspapers at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal. Jenny eventually received an apology and substantial payout from the Metropolitan Police. This interview contains a description of sexual assault at the outset. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Rebecca Vincent and Elena Angelides Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Hayley Williams’ grandpa Rusty nurtured her musical dreams – now, she’s returning the favour. As the lead singer of American rock band Paramore, Hayley Williams has won three Grammy Awards and toured the world. Behind the scenes, her grandad Rusty has been her biggest supporter and musical hero, nurturing her childhood passion and later her career. Rusty is the one who taught Hayley how to play the drums and the piano. He even followed Paramore’s tour bus around the US in his car with Hayley’s grandmother, his childhood sweetheart Sharon. It turns out this very sentimental member of Paramore’ s entourage was so supportive of his granddaughter’s ambitions in part because his own attempt to make it as a musician was cut short. In the 1970s, Rusty sent his demo recordings to a music boss in Nashville who wanted him to mould his soul-inspired songs into the country music genre. Disillusioned, Rusty ended up quitting the music industry, and got a job in a lumber yard and eventually ran a store installing car stereos. He focused on being a father and a provider for his family. For 50 years, his songs lay hidden on a collection of old tapes, gathering dust. That is until Rusty’s long-lost recordings were rediscovered, and the dreams he’d packed away and long forgotten were revived – with the help of his granddaughter. This time around, Rusty gets his big break - and releases his debut album, Grand Man, at the of 79. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Elena Angelides and Maryam Maruf Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

The award-winning author who used her strict Mennonite upbringing to tell its unspoken stories. Miriam Toews is one of Canada’s most acclaimed novelists, but her journey began far from the literary world. Raised in the conservative Mennonite town of Steinbach, Manitoba, she grew up surrounded by deep faith, strict expectations, and a culture where silence often covered over difficult truths. The town didn't even have a train station to keep it separate from the 'worldy' practices of contemporary society. At home, her devout father Mel’s lifelong battle with mental illness and her mother Elvira’s rebellious streak created a world of tenderness and tension — one Miriam would later transform into funny and powerful fiction. Miriam reflects on how she became a writer: the restless imagination that sparked during childhood, her early escape from the confines of her community, and the personal losses that shaped novels such as A Complicated Kindness, All My Puny Sorrows, and Women Talking. With success also came the cost of telling stories about identity, family, mental health and faith — stories her community never dare speak aloud. This programme contains references to suicide. If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producers: Laura Thomas and Edgar Maddicott Editor: Munazza Khan Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Trapped underground: my 54-hour cave rescue. For George Linnane, an experienced caver from England, being underground is his happy place, somewhere he can feel calm away from the chaos of daily life. But when he and two friends set out for a routine trip in the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system in Wales one Saturday lunchtime in November 2021, they couldn’t know it would turn into a nightmare. After a stone bridge gave way underneath him, George fell ten metres onto solid rock and couldn’t move. He suffered a broken leg, shattered jaw, a punctured lung and spleen and was drifting in and out of consciousness. When news of his predicament got out, 300 extraordinary volunteers from around the UK mobilised and came to his rescue. Thanks to the quick thinking and skill of his friends and the hundreds of fellow cavers who rushed to his aid, George counts himself very lucky to be alive. His remarkable true story became the longest cave rescue in UK history, taking a mammoth 54 hours to bring him back to the surface. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott 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

Aged 16, coming out of an audition, budding British actor Dan Whitlam was caught up in a fight with a group of boys in London. He was stabbed twice in the back with a screwdriver. The wound pierced and collapsed his lung. The physical scars healed quickly but the mental ones took a lot longer. For years Dan battled with panic attacks and anxiety. He was plagued with worries that his lung had collapsed again, his father became his chaperone as he was afraid to walk the streets alone. Two years later, Dan met his attacker as part of a restorative justice programme, and while he got the apology he needed the panic attacks and fear continued. What helped him was writing about that day. He told the story of the stabbing through poetry and added to it a new narrative, one that painted his attacker in a kinder light. He wanted to humanise him, make him less of a monster and show that there is more than one side to each of us. Dan has gone on to perform this poem hundreds of times and earned himself a huge following for his work as a spoken word artist and musician. He writes primarily for what he calls a lost generation – young adults who grew up in an age of social media, digital natives who are inundated with options, comparisons and aspirations. He also now writes a lot about love. Dan's poetry collection is called I Don't Want To Settle. He will be on tour in Europe and the US in November. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Andrea Kennedy Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, on the unique upbringing that inspired a tech revolution. Tim Berners-Lee has well and truly changed the world. For under-35s it's almost impossible to imagine what life might have been like without him. But when he launched the World Wide Web in December 1990, no-one knew the success it would become - and most struggled to understand why the world needed the Web at all. Tim, however, grew up steeped in the knowledge that computers held the key to the future. His parents worked on the Ferranti Mark 1 - the world's first commercial computer - and raised Tim on a diet of science demonstrations and electronic tinkering. His mother Mary Lee was the family's driving force, encouraging an eclectic mix of logical thinking, creative problem-solving, camping trips and a spirit of 'watchful negligence' - all of which gave the introverted young Tim the confidence to think outside the box and find solutions for himself. So when he went to work at CERN in Geneva in his late-20s and saw how computers struggled to talk to one another, he was perfectly placed to imagine and build what would become the World Wide Web. Tim's vision for the Web was built around positivity - where anyone with access to an internet connection could freely share ideas with anyone else. He knew that the key to its success was universality, so he made the decision to give the Web away for free. As a result, Tim Berners-Lee is not a billionaire. But he says that's just the way he likes it, making him free to go for walks and swims in the Serpentine in London without being recognised. It's not all been good news though. In the 35 years since its creation, the Web has been used as a base to build social media and AI empires that Tim says don't always act in our best interests. He fears the addictive effects of social media apps on children's mental health, and has decided to stop using Instagram as he was too often getting hooked on the feed. Tim says that his latest mission is to build a form of pro-human AI as an antidote to systems owned by Big Tech, and aims to help people reclaim control of their personal data so that the Web can, once again, belong to everyone. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Anna Lacey Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else's life and expect the unexpected. 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

Jack Horner inspired a character in Jurassic Park after the dino discovery of a lifetime. Jack has been fascinated by fossils for as long as he can remember. He spent his childhood digging around in the fossil-rich earth of Montana, as his father was involved in the gravel-extraction business. By the age of eight he was rewarded with his first big treasure – a real piece of dinosaur bone. As Jack's fossil collection grew, so did his passion for palaeontology. But he struggled at school, where severe undiagnosed dyslexia led his teachers and parents to write him off as lazy and spoiled. He pushed on regardless and in 1978 made a life-changing find: the world's first baby-dinosaur skeletons, and evidence that dinosaur parents cared for and raised their young like many modern birds. The discovery made front-page headlines around the world, and led to awards and accolades Jack had never thought possible. It also brought him to the attention of author Michael Crichton, who based a lead character in his hit book, Jurassic Park, on Jack. And when the call came from Stephen Spielberg to come and advise on the movie version, his fame as a dinosaur expert hit a whole new level. Jack was then himself inspired by the movie, and supervised one of his students in extracting DNA from a T. rex. It didn't work – but it led to his current 'Dino Chicken' project, where he is discovering how to bring ancient dinosaur features back to life in modern birds so he can finally have a pet dinosaur of his own. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Anna Lacey and Lucy Davies Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

In the chaos of the helicopter evacuation from Saigon in April 1975, Doan Hoàng Curtis' sister was somehow left behind. It would haunt her family for years. Doan was just three years old when her family made it onto one of the last helicopters to leave Saigon as troops from the communist North took over the city and the Vietnam war came to an end. Her father was a major for the South Vietnamese air force and if he'd stayed in Saigon he could have been killed. Leaving Vietnam was an extraordinary moment for the family, but one that would have a deep and lasting impact on them, because somehow, in the turmoil of the evacuation, Doan's 17-year-old half-sister Van was left behind. It would take Van six years and a treacherous journey via Thailand before she could be reunited with her family, who ended up settling in the United States. Doan says the anger and confusion of why her sister was left behind has defined her whole life. Now an award-winning documentary filmmaker living in the US, Doan returned to Vietnam in 2005 with her family - including her sister Van - to make a documentary and confront the past. It's called Oh Saigon: A War in the family. News report of Fall of Saigon came from CBS news. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: June Christie Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Abbas Alizada was eight when he first saw a Bruce Lee film. He fell in love with kung-fu, copying his hero’s moves and his look before an online post shot him to overnight fame. Abbas was born in Kabul in 1993, the youngest of nine siblings. His family are Hazara, an ethnic minority who have historically faced violence and persecution in Afghanistan, and were partcularly targeted when the Taliban first took power in 1996. During this time, music and movies were banned, and Abbas’ family kept a low profile until the US-led invasion toppled the regime in the early 2000s. With restrictions gone, Abbas began to see movies for the first time, on a television his uncle would rent for the family. He was nine when he first saw Bruce Lee in kung fu classic Enter The Dragon. He was transfixed by the actor’s kung fu skills, and decided that day that he wanted to be a martial artist. As a teenager, he was enrolled in a local martial arts academy, but when his parents could no longer afford the fees, he continued training by himself at home. For years, he spent hours a day mastering his hero's moves in his basement, watching all of Bruce Lee's movies in slow motion, even teaching himself how to use the iconic fighter's trademark nunchucks. Abbas was eighteen years old when a friend first pointed out to him that not only could he kick like Bruce Lee, but that he bore an uncanny resemblance to the martial arts legend too. Abbas cut his hair to look like the Fist of Fury star and when his friend uploaded a photo of him posing like Bruce Lee to the internet, it went viral overnight. National and international media descended on the Alizada household to interview this young lookalike with his self-taught mastery of kung fu. Soon, Abbas was being flown all over the Middle East and Asia to star to star in movies, film commercials and perform at festivals. Abbas married, had kids, and was riding high. But when the Taliban returned to Kabul in 2021, he knew he had a target on his back. Soon, Abbas would be forced to drop everything - and find a way out. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Zoe Gelber Clips: Enter the Dragon / Warner Bros., Concord Productions Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

This extra edition of Lives Less Ordinary is to remember the remarkable conservationist and primatologist Jane Goodall, who has died at 91. The life she lived alongside great apes revolutionised the way we see them – and ourselves. It was 65 years ago that a young Jane left England to travel to the Gombe Stream National Park on the shores of Lake Tanganika. She was there to observe chimps in their natural habitat – and her discoveries were game-changing. It was the first time anyone had seen a non-human animal using tools – forcing a rethink of our relationship to them, the natural habitat, and what it is to be human. In this revealing interview from 2016 she talks about how her work was embedded in a lifelong fascination with creatures great and small. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producers: June Christie and Edgar Maddicott Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Vamarr Hunter always felt a special bond with the owner of his favourite local bakery — but never imagined she could be his long-lost birth mother. Vamarr loved to visit the bakery in his home neighbourhood in Chicago, enjoying the cakes, pies and cookies, but also the warm company of the owner, Lenore Lindsey. Vamarr had had a tricky time growing up, and only discovered he was adopted when he was in his thirties. Initially he had no interest in searching for his birth mother, but years later a TV programme inspired him to start the hunt. He eventually got some help from a genealogy expert, who made an amazing discovery: his birth mother lived just a few blocks away. Vamarr and his birth mother agreed to speak on the phone — but this was when things got truly extraordinary. Vamarr couldn't work out why the much-anticipated phone call was coming from his local bakery, and why he recognised the voice on the other end. It took a few seconds for Lenore and Vamarr to realise that they were mother and son — finally reunited after 48 years — and that they'd already known each for many years. They instantly became very close, and Vamarr started coming round to the bakery after work to spend time with Lenore. He began helping out with some of the baking, and, after Lenore's health made it difficult for her to keep managing the bakery, took over running it for her. Vamarr discovered that he loves baking just as much as Lenore does. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Rebecca Vincent Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Once a homeless teen in Mumbai, now Zarna Garg’s a top comedian, touring with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Zarna Garg was in her 40s living in New York City when she went to an open mic night for the very first time. Before that, she’d never even heard of stand up comedy and was only there, resentfully, at the insistence of her children who were convinced their mother would be a success. The kids were right, and Zarna – who was desperate for a new career – found her calling in comedy. Zarna has spent her whole life reinventing herself. Born in Mumbai to a wealthy Indian family, she was kicked out by her controlling father when she refused an arranged marriage. At the time, Zarna was a teenager and grieving the sudden death of her mother to illness. Overnight, Zarna became homeless, relying on the kindness of friends for a place to stay. After more than a year of instability, she succumbed to her father’s demands and agreed to be married. But just before the wedding, Zarna received a visa and arrived in the US – in pursuit of happiness and love, on her own terms. She supported herself through law school, became an unwitting pioneer of online dating, and raised a family. But decades later, Zarna was spiralling and rethinking all her life choices. Describing herself as a “manic, deranged Manhattan housewife,” she began various business ventures that “failed spectacularly.” When Zarna was ridiculed at a fancy dinner party by other guests – her husband came to her defence, declaring to the room, “one day you’re going to find your thing and you’re going to become unstoppable.” It was this crisis that led Zarna to become a stand up comic. After her clips started going viral online, Zarna caught the attention of some of the biggest stars of the entertainment world, and even got her own comedy special on TV. Zarna’s written a book called This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Maryam Maruf and Helen Fitzhenry Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Ron Bishop was 14 when he says police forced him to make false statements on the witness stand during a 1984 murder trial. His testimony helped sentence three innocent teenagers to life in prison. In 1983 Ron's world was turned upside down when his best friend, 14-year-old DeWitt Duckett, was shot and killed in a corridor of their school, Harlem Park Junior High in West Baltimore. Ron gave the police a full description of the lone shooter who had confronted them, but says that the police soon started to put pressure on him to identify three other Black teenagers from their neighbourhood as the assailants - Alfred Chestnut, Ransom Watkins and Andrew Stewart. Ron insisted that it wasn't them, but says the detective became so threatening that he feared for his safety, and that of his family. Alone in the interrogation room, Ron ended up signing a witness statement identifying the three 16-year-olds. On the day of the trial Ron says he felt "trapped" into giving the same false testimony, along with some other child witnesses, even though he knew it wasn't true. All three defendants were sentenced to life in prison for felony murder. Ron says his life was overshadowed by intense guilt over the lies he told in court as a 14-year-old, but he remained too intimidated to speak out, and distrustful of the system he saw as deeply corrupt. It would take an extraordinary 36 years before a state investigation fully exonerated the men, now known as the Harlem Park Three. Ron was at long last able to speak the truth about the actions of the police towards him. He says he will never stop thinking about the impact his false testimony had on so many lives, but is happy finally to have helped free the three men. This episode contains a reference to suicide. If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org The news archive in this episode was from WJZ-TV Baltimore, WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore, and NBC News. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Rebecca Vincent Researcher: Elena Angelides Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Cesar Millan is known for training dogs on TV. What’s less well-known is that he migrated illegally to the US from Mexico and slept rough before making his name. For the past two decades, Cesar Millan has appeared on television sets around the world. His hit shows centre on his incredible ability to rehabilitate dogs with behavioural issues like aggression or anxiety. Cesar’s preternatural talent has earned him the moniker ‘The Dog Whisperer’. When he was younger living in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, he had a less flattering nickname — El Perrero — which translates to "the dog boy". It was given to him by kids who would bully him for walking around the city followed by a pack of stray dogs. But dogs have always surrounded Cesar’s life, including those he grew up with on his family farm. When he was 13 Cesar says he heard a mystical voice that told him he would become the world’s best dog trainer. That was the impetus for him to make the treacherous and illegal crossing from Mexico to the US. Once in California, Cesar was homeless and slept under a bridge. He caught the attention of a national newspaper because he would walk large numbers of dogs to earn money; in the interview, he announced that he wanted a television show to teach people about dogs. That show would eventually be The Dog Whisperer, a smash hit on National Geographic. On it, Cesar would not only use techniques to help disobedient dogs, but he’d focus on getting their owners to be more calm, assertive and give the dogs proper exercise. Cesar ended up travelling the world giving seminars to arena-sized crowds and writing several bestselling books. But, at the pinnacle of his career, his mental health suffered and he tried to take his own life. He’s also been the subject of controversy, with critics questioning some of his dog-training approaches. Throughout the years, Cesar has been helped by various dogs that he calls "the angels who you can see". Especially two pitbulls called Junior and Daddy who he calls his companions and spiritual guides. This episode contains a reference to suicide. If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Saskia Collette Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

How a romantic getaway ended in disaster. Dutch financier Annette Herfkens boarded Vietnam Airlines Flight 474 in November 1992, embarking on what was meant to be a romantic break with her fiancé Willem van der Pas or ‘Pasje’. But fate had other plans. Midway through the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to the coastal resort of Nha Trang, the Soviet-built Yakovlev Yak-40 encountered severe weather and slammed into a remote, fog-shrouded mountain ridge in the dense Vietnamese jungle. The impact was catastrophic, killing all 30 other passengers and crew on board, including Annette's beloved Pasje. Incredibly, Annette emerged as the sole survivor of the crash, defying odds in one of the most amazing real-life tales of endurance. Thrown from the wreckage with devastating injuries—including a collapsed lung, a broken jaw, two fractured legs, and a dozen fractures in her hips—she found herself stranded amid the twisted metal and bodies of her fellow travellers. Unable to walk or even crawl far, she endured eight gruelling days in the unforgiving wilderness, battling excruciating pain, dehydration, and the psychological torment of her loss. With no food, she sustained herself solely on rainwater collected from the jungle foliage, her will to live fuelled by sheer determination and fleeting moments of hope that a rescue would come. Annette’s book is called Turbulence: A True Story of Survival. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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 latest mini-series Hold Fast! tells the incredible true story of how The Avontuur was locked down at sea for 188 days during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 15 people on board. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

A heads-up on some of the extraordinary stories to look forward to from September - from a long-lost son, to the sole survivor of a plane crash, to Afghanistan’s answer to Bruce Lee. We're back with a new look, and the best in global true life storytelling. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

As the Avontuur draws closer to Hamburg and its final port of call, the crew begin to reflect on what they’ve been through and what awaits them in their lives back on land. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Narration written by Laura Thomas Artwork by Joe Magee For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

After 188 days without setting foot on land, the Avontuur finally arrives in Horta, in the Azores. But it's by no means certain whether the crew will be able to get off the ship. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

As the crew of the Avontuur fight their way out of the Gulf of Mexico and battle a hurricane that delays their journey back across the Atlantic, ship’s cook Giulia faces the spectre of food and gas shortages with ingenuity and a determination to get back home. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

The crew of the Avontuur begin to wonder whether they will ever be able to get off the ship. As they become resigned to their new life of being completely confined to the ship, things become increasingly surreal. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Unable to step off the ship, tensions are rising amongst the crew of the Avontuur and coping mechanisms begin to emerge. When the dry store is raided and boxes of biscuits go missing, ship’s cook Giulia is forced to turn detective. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

In the middle of the Atlantic, the crew of the Avontuur receive a satellite email with news from land that throws everything they’d been counting on to the winds. Their mission and schedule are in disarray, but turning back isn’t an option. So ship’s cook Giulia and the rest of the crew find ways to cope with the uncertainty. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Artwork by Joe Magee Narration written by Laura Thomas For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and the editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

The Avontuur begins the second leg of its journey, setting out from Tenerife to cross the Atlantic. At work in the galley preparing breakfast, ship’s cook Giulia Baccosi learns that the night watch noticed an unusual little light, far off on the horizon. It’s been there through the night. It’s too far from shore to be a fishing boat, so what is it? Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Narration written by Laura Thomas Artwork by Joe Magee For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

15 people, 188 days at sea, one extraordinary ship: how the Avontuur was locked out at sea during the Covid-19 pandemic. What would you do if your world shrunk to 300 square metres, and you had no say over who you shared it with? If you were on a ship, at sea, far from loved ones - and didn’t know when you’d be able to set foot on land again, and get home? When ship’s cook Giulia Baccosi accepts a last-minute job aboard sailing cargo ship The Avontuur, she’s looking for more than a job. She’s seeking adventure and community, too. After saying goodbye to her partner, Giulia settles into life on board and the responsibilities of feeding the Avontuur’s crew of fifteen. But before Giulia and the crew know it, everything they’re counting on will be thrown to the winds. Narrated by Siobhán McSweeney Produced by Christina Hardinge Sound and music by Noémie Ducimetière Narration written by Laura Thomas Artwork by Joe Magee For Lives Less Ordinary, the series producer is Laura Thomas and editor, Munazza Khan. Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

A corporate high-flyer ended up living in a forest after a spiral of debt, shame and secrecy. After avoiding a mounting debt to his landlord, Australian Mic Whitty’s life started to crumble. Instead of facing his responsibilities, he tried to gamble and steal money to better his fortunes. As his mental health deteriorated, wracked by guilt and shame, he was determined to pay everyone back. Then he disappeared from his old life and ended up homeless, living in a forest. Through a stroke of luck, a kind librarian, and a 100-year-old war diary with a bullet hole in it, Mic would emerge from the woods with a new purpose and a shot at redemption. This programme contains references to suicide. If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, you can find support at befrienders.org Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producers: Edgar Maddicott and Elena Angelides Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Robin Green is an American writer who has been dizzyingly successful, but she describes herself as a 'clueless girl'. At times, she didn't even realise she could actually write. In the early 1970s when Robin was in her 20s, she had an interview with Rolling Stone magazine's creator and editor Jann Wenner. She initially thought it was for a secretarial role, but instead, he hired her as a writer - and the only woman on the editorial masthead. What followed were Robin's raucous, wild, rock 'n' roll years. She interviewed the likes of David Cassidy, Dennis Hopper and Bobby Kennedy Jr, who she recalls sleeping with on his dorm-room water-bed. After failing to produce a story on him, her time at Rolling Stone ended and Robin began to question her future. It was then that she met the love of her life, an aspiring writer called Mitch. But their relationship fell apart and she spent a decade going from one thing to another. Nearing 40, Robin had an epiphany while watching daytime television and her career as a writer took a dramatic turn. She picked up her pen, and with Mitch, they began writing for the TV show Northern Exposure. They became extraordinarily successful writing partners, winning multiple Emmys, including for their work on The Sopranos - where, once again, Robin was the only woman in the room for most of her time there. When Robin was almost 60, Mitch proposed and now married, they created their own hit show - Blue Bloods. Robin has written a memoir, The Only Girl: My Life and Times on the Masthead of Rolling Stone. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Sarah Kendal Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

Artist Kubra Khademi was so enraged by the constant sexual harassment faced by women in Afghanistan that she created a bespoke suit of armour, forged out of metal with exaggerated breasts and buttocks. The idea came from an experience she had many years earlier, as a little girl, walking along a street and encountering a male stranger who would sexually assault her - at the time she wished she was wearing "iron underwear" to protect her. In March 2015 Kubra wore her custom-made armour and decided to walk down Kabul’s busiest street. The reaction to her performance was life-changing - she received death threats and was forced to flee her home. Kubra’s now living in France where she's a successful artist, recognised for her work celebrating the female body. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Maryam Maruf Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

After being kidnapped, a promise to return to his mother helped Antonio Salazar-Hobson through his darkest hours. Antonio Salazar-Hobson was four years old when he was kidnapped from his Mexican migrant worker family in Arizona by the white couple who lived next door. From Phoenix, he was taken more than 300 miles away to California, where he grew up suffering terrible abuse. Throughout his ordeal, he replayed the memories he had of his family over and again - especially of his beloved mother Petra - and swore to himself that one day he would make it back to her. As a teenager, he sought out other Mexican-American families to hold on to his roots, and threw himself into left-wing activism on behalf of workers like his family back home. There, he met renowned labour union leader Cesar Chavez who encouraged him to study and become a lawyer; it was an encounter which would change the course of his life. After going to college, and finally escaping his abductors, he began to track down the family he'd been stolen from so many years before. This programme contains references to child sexual abuse and suicide. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Zoe Gelber Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. 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. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. 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

While visiting friends in Uruguay, British teacher Tom Michell saw a penguin covered in oil and tar on a beach. Tom cleaned the bird as best he could and then tried to release it. The penguin refused to return to the wild, it just followed Tom around. So he took it home, smuggling the animal across the border into Argentina where he lived and worked at a boarding school. The penguin became a part of his life, and the school's life - with a remarkable influence on everyone who came into contact with it. Later Tom entertained his children, friends and family with tales of the penguin. He put those stories into a bestselling book, The Penguin Lessons, now the subject of a film starring British comedian Steve Coogan. 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. These are stories that stay with you. 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 or resilience. 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 Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Hetal Bapodra You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

In Judith Obina Okumu's imagination, Joseph Kony was a monster. As leader of the Lord's Resistance Army he'd fought a decades-long war against the government of Yoweri Museveni – displacing and destroying hundreds of thousands of lives across Northern Uganda in the process. But one day, a visit from a stranger would challenge Judith to face her fears. In her role as assistant private secretary to President Museveni, Judith was introduced to Joseph Kony's mother, Nora Anek. After three years of gaining her trust, Judith asked Nora if she would go to meet her son at his forest hideout and persuade him to engage with peace talks. What Judith didn't know was that the President wanted her to go too. She was convinced it was the last journey she'd ever make. But after 14 days of talks, Judith and Nora helped broker peace in Northern Uganda. Lives Less Ordinary is a weekly podcast from the BBC World Service that seeks out 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 intimate and defining personal story. Listen for real-life accounts, unbelievable twists, and inspiring journeys, which prove just how extraordinary the human experience can be. Lives Less Ordinary is brought to you by the team behind Outlook, the home of human storytelling on the BBC World Service 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 Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Anna Lacey

Opal Lee is now affectionately known as the Grandmother of Juneteenth. She led the campaign for the 19th June, the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas were finally told that they were free, to be declared a national holiday. As President Biden signed the bill into law, Opal stood beside him. She had very personal reasons for wanting all Americans to think about freedom and the damage that racism can do. In 1939 on the 19th of June, just days after she and her family had moved into a predominantly white neighbourhood in Fort Worth, Texas, their house was destroyed by a white mob. Opal was just 12. The family never spoke about the event again. Opal went on to work as a teacher and counsellor in school, and then set up a food bank and later a farm to help those struggling to feed their families. She also organised local events to mark Juneteenth in Texas. In 2016, when she was 89, Opal came up with the idea to walk to Washington to ask the President to declare the day a national holiday. The campaign, and their petition, grew slowly at first and then a seismic event, the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, galvanised people and created a new sense of urgency to bring about change. Now armed with a petition complete with 1.5 million signatures, Opal's campaign was successful. Opal Lee is now 98, she’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and she’s been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honour. Archive used from CBS News Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Andrea Kennedy and June Christie Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

When Dr Pier Piccioni woke up after a car accident, 12 years of his life had been erased. Dr Pierdante Piccioni is an unwilling time-traveller. Twelve years of his life were completely wiped from his memory after he suffered brain damage in a car crash in 2013. When he woke up in the hospital the next day, he thought it was 2001 and could not recognise his wife or his now adult sons. Reeling from the shock, and no longer able to practise medicine, Pier tries to find the man he had been. Searching through thousands of emails he discovers that he had a dark side. This is the amazing true story of a man out of time, who, unable to retrieve his past, endeavours to find love and a future in a strange new world. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 (Photo: Dr Pierdante Piccioni. Credit: Sylvain Lefevre/ Getty)

Alexandra Morton-Hayward unlocks the secrets of the human brain but her own betrays her. Every night Ally Morton-Hayward has a headache so painful it wakes her up. She says it makes her feel like a werewolf. But by day she's unlocking the secrets of other human brains. Ally was at university when she started feeling a shocking and extraordinary pain in her head - 'cluster headaches' - which became so debilitating she had to drop out. While the rest of her friends were finishing their degrees, Alexandra decided to do something different – she got a job as an undertaker. It was at the mortuary that Ally held her first human brain and observed its delicate texture. When she began reading about ancient human brains that had been found intact around the world, she was amazed – how could something usually so delicate survive for thousands of years? Today she's leading the effort from Oxford University to understand how this is possible, whilst her own brain pushes her to become a master of pain and resilience. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: May Cameron Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Remembering the former president of Uruguay: José 'Pepe' Mujica. He started life as a flower farmer on the outskirts of Montevideo. As a young man he became politically active, part of the left-wing guerilla group the Tupamaros, who were bent on revolution through armed struggle that involved bank heists and kidnappings. With the authorities on his tail Pepe was eventually captured, he was shot six times and later staged what became a record-breaking prison escape. When he was captured and imprisoned again, he was held for 13 years in horrendous conditions but he says the pain and loneliness of that time was when he learned the most about life. A year after the military regime stepped down, Pepe was released and joined formal politics and in 2010 he was voted in as president of Uruguay. He shunned the presidential palace and car for his crumbling farmhouse and old VW Beetle and brought in laws legalising gay marriage and abortion. He had his critics but when he died earlier this month, thousands of people lined the streets to pay their respects. We spoke to Pepe alongside his wife Lucia Topolansky in 2023 and they talked about how their love had changed over their decades together. Presenter: Andrea Kennedy Producer: Louise Morris Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Marcelo Rubens Paiva was 11 when armed men came and took his father away. Brazil was under a military dictatorship at the time. Marcelo's father was an opponent and was killed for it. His mother Eunice Paiva was now alone, raising five children. For decades she fought for answers from the state. She became a prominent lawyer and human rights defender and helped to set up Brazil's Truth Commission. But when Eunice started to develop Alzheimer's disease it fell to Marcelo, by now a successful author, to tell the family's story. That story has been made into an Oscar-winning film - I'm Still Here. And it's reignited a national debate in Brazil, about the past and the present. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Interpreter: Fernando Duarte Producer: Helen Fitzhenry Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Lothar Hermann found out his neighbour was ‘architect of the Holocaust’ Adolf Eichmann. Lothar Hermann’s German-Jewish family perished in the Holocaust, but when he escaped to Argentina, little did he know that within a few years a Nazi fugitive would wind up living at the end of his street. Lilianna Hermann spent two decades uncovering the story of a hidden family hero - her great uncle Lothar - only to find a shocking truth: it was Lothar who had played a vital role in capturing the notorious SS officer and Nazi fugitive, Adolf Eichmann, the man responsible with carrying out Hitler’s Final Solution. But Lothar was not celebrated in Eichmann’s capture and eventual trial and back home Lothar faced threats and indifference from Nazi sympathisers. This is the unbelievable true story of how a blind survivor, living off his pension, brought down one of the architects of the Holocaust. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Edgar Maddicott and Zoe Gelber Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Kwesia X grew up in south-east London, surrounded by busy roads and tower blocks. As a teenager her mental health spiralled after a member of her family was killed, and she also lost a close friend to knife crime. Faced with a period of homelessness, Kwesia eventually turned to nature to find peace. Now she's working hard to bring the experience of the natural world to young people in the city, and they're often amazed by the plants and creatures living in the concrete jungle. You can find her videos on her YouTube channel, City Girl in Nature. If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, you can find support at befrienders.org Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producers: Taqwa Sadiq and Harry Graham Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Juano Diaz was taken in to care aged six, his mother was battling alcoholism and he wasn't being cared for. But Juano missed his mum and with no photos of her, he became obsessed by drawing her face so he wouldn't forget her. He was later adopted by a strict Catholic and Romany Gypsy family but when he came out as gay he was asked to leave. Now down-and-out on the streets of Glasgow, with his life spiralling, he started to search for his mother again. He would scan faces in the crowds, draw his own face to explore his features, feminise them to look more like his mum and soon he discovered his talent for portraiture. Today, he paints the faces of modern icons: Pharell Williams, Madonna, Vivienne Westwood. This would lead to artistic success and a very different lifestyle – including a friendship with Grace Jones and ultimately a whole new family. Juano’s memoir is called Slum Boy. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Andrea Kennedy Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Former Harvard athlete Chris Nowinski turned World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star after a reality TV show catapulted him into the world of professional wrestling. Performing as the obnoxious and slick-talking villain Chris Harvard, he worked alongside superstars like Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, John Cena, and Hulk Hogan. Chris lived the dream, until one fateful match left him suffering from post-concussion syndrome. With his career seemingly at its end, Chris began researching into sports-related head trauma and convincing athletes to donate their brains. His work helped usher in a scientific breakthrough and uncovered a silent epidemic affecting thousands of athletes. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Tommy Dixon (Photo: Chris Nowinski. Credit: Chris Nowinski) Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

From Paralympic pools to the English Channel, Melanie Barratt took on the toughest swim of her life — laying to rest her demons, and honouring her beloved mum. Melanie Barratt was born with congenital toxoplasmosis that left her severely visually-impaired. As a teenager she excelled academically but found it hard to keep friends. She found solace in the swimming pool where again she shone, earning a chance to represent Team GB at the 1996 and 2000 Paralympic Games. Despite winning gold medals at both, her confidence in the pool did not extend to her social life, where she struggled with self-loathing. One constant source of support however was her mother, who continued to inspire Melanie even after her death. It would take decades and a gruelling swim across the English Channel – earning a place in history – for Melanie finally to find peace. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Hetal Bapodra and June Christie Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

After a terrible motorbike accident 18-year-old Alex Lewis was left with no memory of his previous life. The only person he could remember was Marcus, his identical twin brother. He became the person Alex most relied upon to rebuild his entire life and memories. But then Marcus made an extraordinary decision - to shield his brother from their traumatic past by re-writing history and creating a new reality. For over a decade, Marcus carried the weight of his secret. But when fragments of the past began to emerge, that carefully constructed narrative was shattered, leading to some deeply personal and difficult conversations. Please note this programme contains themes of child sexual abuse. Alex and Marcus' story features in a documentary called Tell Me Who I Am which is available on Netflix. Presenter: Andrea Kennedy Producer: Tom Harding Assinder Photo: Alex and Marcus Lewis Credit: Alex and Marcus Lewis Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

A bonus episode from Dear Daughter - the award-winning podcast from the BBC World Service. You can find more episodes by searching for 'Dear Daughter' wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Bridgerton actor Adjoa Andoh joins Namulanta in the studio to share the letter she's written to her three children. She tells them the importance of trusting their bodies and following their instincts - a life philosophy which has sometimes led her into some unexpected situations, especially while pregnant... Dear Daughter is a podcast all about love, life, family, and raising children. It is the brainchild of Namulanta Kombo, a mother on a quest to create a 'handbook to life' for her daughter, through the advice of parents from all over the world. Each episode, a guest reads a letter they've written to their children (or their future children, or the children they never had) with the advice, life lessons, and personal stories they'd like to pass on. Expect extraordinary true stories, inspirational advice for parents, and moving accounts of families, relationships and raising daughters. Share your letter! What do you want to say to your kids? Or the next generation? Do you have thoughts on motherhood, fatherhood, or parenthood to share? Whether you are a mum or mom, dad or papa, grandparent, uncle, aunt, daughter, son or just want to write a letter, send us a Whatsapp message on +44 800 030 4404 or visit bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3ZFHNV8v7qgTm1zbKbkwsvR/dear-daughter-privacy-notice

How a book-loving prisoner showed a young Alex Wheatle the path to self-belief. Alex had been born in London to Jamaican parents, but grew up in care in the notorious Shirley Oaks children’s home. As a teenager, he was convicted of assaulting a police officer during the Brixton Riots. He felt totally alone and without hope. But as the door slammed on Alex’s prison cell, he met a book-loving man called Simeon who opened his eyes to the importance of his own history – and encouraged him to use his past to write a new and hopeful future. This was originally broadcast in December 2023. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Hetal Bapodra and Anna Lacey Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Michael Visontay thought he knew everything about his family’s past, but there was one shadowy character he was aching to know more about: his grandfather’s second wife, Olga. As Michael went through old papers, he uncovered a trail to the world’s most coveted book, the Gutenberg Bible – a rare antique printed in the 1450s – and the scandalous scheme to break it up. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Maryam Maruf Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

ANC spy Sue Dobson infiltrated the South African government. Then her cover was blown. After training, Sue had got a job within the government's propaganda unit, and she was feeding back good intelligence to her ANC handlers. Then she got a phone call. The security services were on to her, and she was a long way from safety. Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Deiniol Buxton Sound design: Joel Cox

Sue Dobson was a white South African who risked her life as an ANC secret agent Sue was a student when she was first recruited as a spy for the African National Congress liberation movement in the 1980s, and she knew that if she was caught she'd face prison, torture or death. Sue's mission would require her to infiltrate the pro-apartheid media establishment, but first she needed to learn spycraft and weapons handling. Her training would take place in Soviet Russia. Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Deiniol Buxton Sound design: Joel Cox

Edith Blais was kidnapped by armed militants and held captive in the Sahara for 450 days. As a young French-Canadian who had overcome her teenage agoraphobia, Edith took several years to work up the courage to go travelling – but once she did it, she got the bug. In 2018 she backpacked to West Africa with her good friend Luca Tacchetto. When they got to Benin they were kidnapped by armed militants and taken to the desert in a lawless area of Mali, where groups linked to al-Qaeda were known to operate. The couple pretended to be husband and wife so they could stay together but Edith soon found herself held captive alone, kept in isolation for long periods of time. As well as suffering physically with dehydration and starvation, she had to find different techniques to keep her mind strong and stay sane. A borrowed pen enabled her to write poetry, and she sang songs to remind herself of her own voice. After agreeing to convert to Islam she was eventually reunited with Luca. By this time they had been held for 14 months, and they knew they had to break free. But with their captors never more than a few feet away from them, how would they do it? Edith spoke to Jo Fidgen in 2021 about how forces of nature aided their staggering escape. Edith's book about her time in captivity is called The Weight of Sand. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Katy Takatsuki Picture: Edith Blais Credit: Sara Mauve Ravenelle Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

As a boy, Ishmael Beah was forced to kill. How do you turn a soldier back into a child? Ishmael Beah was just 13 when war reached his village in Sierra Leone and he was made to flee. In the chaos, he was separated from his family. He ended up with a group of other children at what they thought was the safety of an army base. But instead, he was taught to become a hardened killer and sent out to fight. Nearly three years went by before he was finally rescued by child protection specialists from Unicef, but he was so brainwashed that he didn’t want to leave. It took months of careful rehabilitation and the support of a very special woman to break down his defences. In 1996, at the age of just 16, he gave a speech at the UN in New York where he recalled his experiences. His testimony formed part of a pivotal report into the impact of armed conflict on children. A decade later, he would become the first Unicef Advocated for Children Affected by War. Today he is a bestselling author and married with three children. This interview was recorded in 2020. This interview contains disturbing descriptions of violence. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producers: Edgar Maddicott and Jo Impey Editor: Munazza Khan Photo: Ishmael Beah Credit: Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

In 1942, several years into the Second World War, the British government sent out a series of bulletins requesting any personal photos the public might have of the French coastline. Odette Hallowes, a French woman living in the UK with her three young children, answered the call and was invited to London where she was offered a role in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The SOE, formed under the direct orders of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, aimed to create a top-secret underground army to help local resistance movements and conduct espionage and sabotage in enemy-held territories. Odette eventually agreed and arrived in France in November 1942, where she worked undercover, under the code-name ‘Lise’. The following year, Odette was captured, interrogated, and tortured by the Gestapo. She was sentenced to death and transported to Ravensbrück, a concentration camp for women in northern Germany. In the midst of her suffering and isolation, Odette found solace in the most unexpected form – a tiny, beautiful green leaf on the otherwise desolate camp grounds. This leaf became her lifeline, a symbol of freedom beyond the prison walls. Shortly after her 33rd birthday and with the war coming to a close, Odette was handed over to the advancing American army and eventually reunited with her children. For her remarkable bravery and stark refusal to betray her fellow secret agents, she was awarded both the George Cross and France's Légion d'Honneur. She even had a major film made about her. Almost 80 years later, Odette’s granddaughter, Sophie Parker was looking through some of Odette's possessions when she rediscovered that tiny leaf. As Sophie recounts, this leaf wasn’t just a piece of foliage; it symbolised hope and survival and became a tangible connection to her grandmother's incredible story. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Reggie Nelson grew up on an East London council estate in a British-Ghanaian family that struggled with alcoholism, domestic violence and money worries. After a brush with the law at a young age, he found direction through his Christian faith and then, as a teenager, being signed to play professionally for Woking Football Club. Following his dad's sudden death on Father's day in 2013, Reggie had to quit playing football and look for a more stable career to support his family. Inspired by words from the Bible "seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" and his sister’s favourite reality TV show 'How'd You Get So Rich?' starring Hollywood comedian Joan Rivers, Reggie set out on a mission to discover exactly how wealthy people got their money. He headed to one of London's most affluent areas, Kensington and Chelsea and started knocking on doors, boldly asking residents his million-dollar question. A number of chance encounters that day took him on a whirlwind journey involving; cash, an Aston Martin and the door that would take him on a path to a dream career in the world of finance. Reggie's autobiography is called Opening Doors. He spoke to Tommy Dixon in 2023. Presenter and producer: Tommy Dixon Editor: Rebecca Vincent Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

In April 2010, Cathy Terkanian received a letter that turned her world upside down. It revealed that her daughter, Alexis, whom she’d had to place for adoption in 1974, had gone missing. Then she was given more shocking news—the police had a new lead, could the unidentified body of a young woman found in Wisconsin be Alexis? They needed Cathy’s DNA to confirm it. As Cathy began to process this, her own painful past surfaced. She had run away from home as a teenager, joining a circus before getting pregnant with Alexis aged 15. In the years after Cathy was pressured to have Alexis adopted, she became a nurse and married, but never had any other children, always thinking about the daughter she had to say goodbye to. Following the news of Alexis’ disappearance Cathy couldn’t sit and wait for the DNA test results, she needed answers. Determined to find them she turned detective, connecting with Carl Koppelman, an amateur sleuth investigating cold cases. Together they started to unearth evidence that made Cathy suspect the worst—that Alexis’ adoptive father, Dennis Bowman, had something to do with her disappearance. Cathy had always hoped her daughter Alexis would come looking for her; instead she spent a decade searching for Alexis. This mother’s quest for truth and justice has also been made into a Netflix documentary called Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

In 2020, Ellidy Pullin’s life was turned upside down when her partner, Olympic snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin, died in a tragic accident. The couple had been trying for a baby, so in the deeply disorientating hours after his sudden death, when a friend suggested the possibility of a posthumous sperm retrieval – a complicated, and sometimes controversial procedure whereby sperm samples are taken within 36 hours of a person's death – Ellidy knew instantly that this was something she wanted to pursue. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Zoe Gelber Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

On the night of December 15th, 1997, a fire broke out in the home of Luz Cuevas and Pedro Vera, a couple living in Philadelphia with their two young sons and their ten-day-old daughter, Delimar. She was asleep upstairs. In the aftermath, the fire was declared the result of faulty wiring. No trace of baby Delimar was ever found — she was presumed dead; “completely consumed by the fire”, according to the medical examiner’s report. Naturally, her parents were devastated, but there would be no closure because this was just the start of Delimar's story. In circumstances almost too extraordinary to believe, Delimar was alive and being raised only 20 kilometres or so across town. She had been renamed Aaliyah, and lived with Carolyn, a woman she thought was her mother. Delimar has made a documentary about her extraordinary experience called Back From the Dead: Who Kidnapped Me? Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Ryan Calais Cameron dreamed of being an actor, but after a careers advisor told him this was unrealistic he took a different path as a tradesman. Unhappy, Ryan took a risk with acting and eventually landed himself a lead role on one of London’s biggest stages; this opened the door to a career in theatre and on TV. But as his acting progressed, Ryan often found himself playing clichéd and typecast roles like gangsters and drug dealers. Frustrated and wanting to challenge convention, Ryan turned playwright to create stories and worlds that fulfilled him, addressing race, misogyny and masculinity in his work. Ryan’s plays Queens of Sheba and For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy have transformed him into one of Britain’s most sought-after screenwriters and playwrights. Presenter and Producer: Tommy Dixon Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

In 2017 Australian Gus Taylor lost his lower leg in a terrible climbing accident. The climbing community rallied, hauled him out of depression and got him back on the mountains again. But then in 2022 another serious accident had tragic consequences. Gus was out in the Blue Mountains with his friend Richard Mills when he dislodged a rock that struck Richard, standing below. Despite his injuries Richard held on tight to the rope that was securing Gus. Gus climbed down to help his friend and called for assistance but the weather had turned and it took hours for paramedics to arrive. Richard died on the mountain that day. It would take the love of Richard’s parents, time, therapy and ultimately climbing again, to bring Gus the beginnings of peace. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Andrea Kennedy Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 (Photo: Gus Taylor. Credit: Slobodan Mišković)

Dan McCrum investigated a story at Wirecard that had him fearing for his safety. British journalist Dan McCrum usually writes about businesses for the London-based newspaper, the Financial Times. In 2014 he got a tip off alleging there were so-called gangsters behind a much-feted German company called Wirecard. The company had started small, taking care of the technical part of processing online payments. But by the time Dan starting looking into it, it was entering the big league. And what he discovered took him into unchartered territory: of international spies, underworld deals and fraud on a massive scale. The chief executive Markus Braun was arrested in 2020 and is now on trial in Germany. He denies all charges against him and says he himself was deceived. At the request of Germany, Interpol issued a red notice for the arrest of Wirecard’s former Chief Operating Officer, Jan Marsalek. He is believed to have fled to Russia. Dan's written a book about his investigation called Money Men: A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Jo Impey Editor: Munazza Khan Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Ricky Ellcock’s rollercoaster life as a fast bowler and airline pilot Barbados-born Ricky Ellcock had twin ambitions as a boy – to become a cricketer and fly airplanes. His father was, like Ricky, cricket-mad – but on the question of him becoming a pilot his answer was emphatic: black people don’t fly planes. Ricky’s talents as a fast bowler won him many plaudits and a scholarship to come to England. Before long he was playing at the top of the sport, but the stresses on his body meant he kept breaking down. When those injuries threatened to end his career completely, Ricky looked to disprove his dad and make history in the skies. Ricky's autobiography is called Balls to Fly. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 (Photo: Ricky in action for Middlesex. Credit: Middlesex CCC)

Paul Rousseau was accidentally shot in the head by his best friend and flatmate. When Paul met Mark in the first year of university in the US, they quickly became close. They moved in together, and spent most of the next four years in each other's company. But Paul did not know that Mark had been keeping a collection of guns in his bedroom. In April 2017 one of Mark's guns accidentally went off, the bullet passing through two walls before striking Paul in the head. In the months and years that followed, Paul had to deal not only with his brain injury, but also the devastating impact the event had on his friendship with Mark. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Rebecca Vincent Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Jerald Walker grew up in the predominantly white, Worldwide Church of God – a doomsday cult that convinced its followers the world would end in 1972. Raised by blind, African American parents and under the cult's strict teachings, which preached racial segregation and an imminent apocalypse, Jerald’s life was dominated by fear, isolation, and the belief that his future didn’t exist. When the promised doomsday never came, Jerald and his family were left grappling with shattered beliefs. As his life unravelled, Jerald fell into addiction and crime, struggling to escape the mental and emotional grip of the cult. But through education, an extraordinary teacher and a passion for writing, he found a path to redemption. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Nasubi had no idea his 15-month fight to survive was being broadcast on Japanese TV. In the late 1990s aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, lived inside a small room for 15 months surviving off sweepstake competition winnings. He was naked, alone and hungry. He was also completely unaware he had become the most famous television personality in Japan, his life broadcast to millions of viewers each week. A documentary about Nasubi's experience has been made called The Contestant. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: May Cameron Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Trent Dalton discovered he was on the fringe of one of Australia’s biggest crime stories. Back in the 1980s, when Trent was a kid growing up in Brisbane, he discovered that there was a secret underground room behind his stepfather's wardrobe. There were plenty of other strange things happening to him too. Like when he found a bundle of cash in the pocket of his bathrobe. Or there were the rumours that his babysitter was a murderer. It took Trent many years before he untangled these mysteries and found out the reality of his childhood. He used his life story as inspiration for his debut novel Boy Swallows Universe, which became the fastest selling in Australian history. Presenter: Saskia Collette Producers: Saskia Collette and Andrea Kennedy Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

In 1998 Finnish journalist Johanna Aatsalo uncovered a huge news story: a member of the much-revered Finnish cross-country ski team had taken banned substances. After six months' intense investigation Johanna published her findings, and within just a few hours the backlash began. Johanna even received death threats. Because she wouldn't reveal her sources she was also taken to court and found guilty of defamation, but Johanna didn’t give up. Instead, she started a fight that would continue for the next 14 years. Presenter: Helena Merriman Producers: Emilia Jansson and Andrea Kennedy Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

When he slid off a 40-metre cliff in the jungle, Morgan Segui thought he was sure to die. Three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food; that is the rule that every mountaineer knows by heart. For Morgan Segui, a French acrobat-turned-explorer, he knew it meant his chances of survival were vanishingly small. He lay at the bottom of a dry gorge in the Timorese jungle of South Asia, miles from help, after taking a dramatic fall which broke several bones and left a huge gash to his head. Dazed and without water, he spent three days and nights on the jungle floor trying to cling to life. Until, astonishingly, a herd of goats came to his rescue. Morgan's written a book about his ordeal: Cinq Jours au Timor, published in French by Premier Parallèle. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Bestselling writer Lesley Pearse never stopped looking for her son. An agent once told Lesley Pearse to "write what you know", but her own story is more extraordinary than any of her bestselling novels. In this, the second episode of two, Lesley makes a selfless decision on behalf of her baby son Warren, and spends the six decades that follow searching for him. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Laura Thomas & Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Bestselling writer Lesley Pearse's own story is wilder than any romance. An agent once told Lesley Pearse to "write what you know", but her own story is more extraordinary than any of her bestselling novels. In this, the first episode of two, we follow her from playground storyteller to lost teenage girl in 1960s London, to brave single mum determined to go it alone. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Laura Thomas & Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Dominic and Justin Hardy were young boys when their father, the director Robin Hardy, began a gruelling and obsessive quest to make The Wicker Man. Now the film is regarded as a masterpiece and beloved by fans across the world, but when it was first released in 1973, it was a major flop. The fallout for the Hardy family was painful, tearing them apart. It would take many decades, a bundle of lost letters and another burning effigy for Dominic and Justin to finally come to terms with the past – and this iconic movie. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Maryam Maruf Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Kieran Quinlan was on his way to a party when a man with a knife attacked him. Kieran Quinlan was an aspiring boxer living in his hometown of Birmingham in the UK. When he was 17 he was on the bus heading to a party when a man confronted him. The man counted down: 3, 2, 1 – before stabbing Kieran through his lung and into his heart. Kieran should have died that night. But instead he survived, spending the next decade rebuilding his life, transforming his body and his mind in the process. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: May Cameron Editor: Munazza Khan Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

In May 2024, 90-year-old Ed Dwight Jr. from Kansas City, Missouri travelled to the edge of space – he was an honoured guest in the Blue Origin rocket. His trip was 60 years overdue. Ed had been chosen by President John F Kennedy to be the first African-American astronaut at a time when racism was rife and segregation a reality. But JFK’s plans for Ed were scuppered – and Ed had to pick himself up and build a whole new career. Please be aware that this episode contains outdated racial language that may offend. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Joshua created an AI simulation of his deceased fiancée to help him deal with his loss. When gaming enthusiast Joshua Barbeau met Jessica, he knew he had found his soulmate. But his happiness didn't last. Jessica died from a rare health condition aged just 23, leaving Joshua struggling to cope with his grief, and his life. Eight years later, in 2020, while playing around with a website that used AI to create bespoke chatbots, Joshua had an audacious idea. He decided to create a chatbot based on his beloved Jessica. It's an experience that he says helped him finally to find closure. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Rebecca Vincent Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Nemonte Nenquimo’s passion for her rainforest home, and her love for an unlikely man, propelled her to achieve an historic victory for indigenous people in Ecuador. She took the national government to court to protect 500,000 acres of rainforest from destruction by the oil industry. Nemonte and her husband Mitch Anderson have written a book together called We Will Not Be Saved: A Memoir of Hope and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: May Cameron Voiceover: Cecilia Cruz Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Maxwell Smart survived the Holocaust by living in a makeshift bunker on the forest floor. Maxwell Smart was just 11 years old in 1941 when the Nazis took over his town in eastern Poland. One by one his Jewish family were disappeared or killed, but his mother implored him to run for his life just as she and his sister were being loaded onto a German truck. Using his extraordinary ingenuity he managed to survive in remote woodland for the rest of the war, mostly alone, sleeping in improvised shelters and foraging for food. He eventually met another orphaned Jewish boy in the woods, Janek, whose friendship would come to have a profound impact on Maxwell’s life. In this second episode, Maxwell describes how his life changed again after the war was brought to an end and decades later is part of a shocking reunion. A feature film based on Maxwell’s life has been released, it’s called The Boy in the Woods. Presenter: Emily Webb Producers: Edgar Maddicott and Rebecca Vincent Editor: Munazza Khan Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Maxwell Smart survived the Holocaust by living in a makeshift bunker on the forest floor. Maxwell Smart was just 11 years old in 1941 when the Nazis took over his town in eastern Poland. One by one his Jewish family were disappeared or killed, but his mother implored him to run for his life just as she and his sister were being loaded onto a German truck. Using his extraordinary ingenuity he managed to survive in remote woodland for the rest of the war, mostly alone, sleeping in improvised shelters and foraging for food. He eventually met another orphaned Jewish boy in the woods, Janek, whose friendship would come to have a profound impact on Maxwell’s life. A feature film based on Maxwell’s life has been released, it’s called The Boy in the Woods. Presenter: Emily Webb Producers: Edgar Maddicott and Rebecca Vincent Editor: Munazza Khan Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

American endurance swimmer Diana Nyad faced down box jellyfish, cold and extreme fatigue to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage for protection, in 2013. She was 64 and had always been drawn by intense, seemingly unachievable feats of marathon swimming. It was after shooting to fame for swimming round the island of Manhattan in the 1970s that Diana first seized on an idea that had been planted in her head in childhood: she would swim the 112 miles from Cuba to Florida's Key West. Five attempts and more than thirty years later, she finally succeeded, wobbling unsteadily up the beach after nearly 53 hours in the water to tell a cheering crowd, "never, ever give up... you are never too old to chase your dreams." Archive from Diana's swimming and broadcasting careers appears courtesy of: Florida Keys TV; The Wolfson Archives, Miami Dade College; PBS; FOX Sports; ABC; Courage to Succeed (1977). This programme has been re-edited and corrected since first published. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Laura Thomas and Saskia Edwards Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Gilbert Alaskadi grew up in the African country of Chad. His family was poor, and he spent much of his childhood hungry, with people frequently making fun of his small stature. Then, when he was a teenager, he encountered a bodybuilding pamphlet, promising quick muscle growth in a handful of weeks. He wanted the physique, but first he'd need money and calories. At the first oppurtunity he ran away from home, left the country, and jumped head-first into the world of bodybuilding. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Munazza Khan Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Osel Hita Torres was a Spanish toddler when he was recognised by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of a well-known Tibetan Buddhist monk and teacher called Lama Yeshe. As a child he was sent to a monastery in India to prepare for life as a monk and scholar. Many expected him to carry on Lama Yeshe’s work of teaching Buddhism around the world when he grew up. But Osel had other ideas. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Zoe Gelber Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 (Photo: The Little Lama Osel with Geshe Gendun Choephel (left) and Lama Zopa Rinpoche (right): Credit: Jacie Keeley)

At the age of 11 in 1985, Salva Dut was separated from his family by the Sudanese civil war. After a decade moving between different refugee camps, and presumed an orphan, Salva was recommended for resettlement in the United States as part of a UN-backed programme to support some 4,000 so-called 'lost boys' who'd been displaced by conflict. Salva settled with a host family in Rochester, New York. But when he was in his late 20s, he found out that his father was in fact still alive. Salva travelled back to Sudan to find him. His father was in a clinic and sick with a waterborne disease. Salva decided to try to bring clean water to his home village. A few years later, he established an NGO, Water for South Sudan, and he returned to his birthplace to drill his first well. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Jo Impey Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 (Photo: Salva Dut drilling for water; Credit: Water for South Sudan, Inc)

Salva Dut is one of Sudan's so-called 'Lost Boys.' Separated from his family at the age of 11 when the civil war reached his village in 1985, Salva walked for weeks to reach safety in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. There, he lived out most of his teenage years, amongst thousands of other orphans. Like most of them, Salva had no idea what had happened to his family. With little adult supervision, the boys developed their own systems of organisation. That was to prove vital when in 1991 they were driven from the camp by a new conflict. Salva was 17 by this point, and he'd become a leader amongst the boys. In total there were 17,000 of them. They set off in groups, first back towards Sudan, then south, towards Kenya. When they emerged from the wilderness after many months, aid workers were astonished to find them still alive. They shared their story with the world. The United Nations recommended almost 4,000 of the Lost Boys for resettlement in the US, and Salva's name was among them. By this point, in his early 20s, Salva had been separated from his family for a decade. A reunion seemed impossible. He would be boarding a flight and leaving the continent of his birth behind. The second part of Salva's story will be broadcast on the next edition of Lives Less Ordinary Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Jo Impey Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

In the early 1980s Jason Evans' father was given a blood product called Factor 8 to treat his haemophilia, which infected him with HIV. He was one of thousands of people in the UK who were unwittingly infected with blood-borne viruses from blood products and infusions, despite the dangers being already known. Jason's father died when he was just four, and he spent most of his life campaigning for the truth about what happened. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Julian Siddle Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Nick Stride said too much about his former boss, one of Putin’s closest allies. Nick Stride, a builder from the UK, feared for his family’s safety after discovering alleged financial corruption while building First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov’s 140-million-dollar mansion in Moscow. Worried that his every movement was being watched, he hatched a plan to get out and put as much distance as possible between his loved ones and his former boss. They chose Australia. Nick then passed the secret accounting documents he’d taken to an investigative reporter, but by the time it came to publish, Nick and his family’s claim for political asylum in Australia was rejected. Seeing no way out, the family went on the run, hiding out amongst the snakes and crocodiles of the country’s unforgiving Dampier peninsula, every morning expecting a truck to pull up and tear his family apart. The book about his odyssey is called Run For Your Life, by Sue Williams. Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott

Anoosheh Ashoori was visiting Iran when he was snatched off the street by security forces. He was falsely accused of espionage, and spent years in one of the country's toughest prisons. For a long time, he didn't know why he'd been targeted. Anoosheh was a British-Iranian dual national, but he'd worked a career as an engineer, and had no links to intelligence services. Gradually, as his incarceration wore on, he realised he'd become a pawn in a game of global politics. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Andrea Kennedy Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

When Sister Helen Prejean agreed to write to a convicted murderer on Louisiana’s death row in 1982, she had no idea what was coming. She would end up becoming his spiritual advisor, eventually accompanying him to his execution two years later. The experience changed her profoundly. She wrote a book about what she'd witnessed on death row, Dead Man Walking, which was turned into a major Hollywood movie in 1995. Forty years later, she has witnessed six more state executions - and is still tirelessly fighting to end them. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Zoe Gelber Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Salima Hashmi is a pioneer of political satire on Pakistani TV. But after the dictator General Zia took power in the 1977 military coup, she faced new and dangerous challenges when her show was banned. It was a troubling time for Salima’s family but from exile, her father Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote his most famous poem, Hum Dekhenge, a battle cry for liberation. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Maryam Maruf Archive from the Faiz Foundation Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Salima Hashmi grew up in Lahore witnessing the radical poetry of her celebrated father, Faiz Ahmed Faiz. It inspired her own path into art and performance, creating Pakistani TV’s first ever political satire show, Such Gup. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Maryam Maruf Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Alain Gachet quit a lucrative career in oil to search for water underground. Colleagues told him he was a 'crazy donkey', but he eventually developed an algorithm that allowed him to 'peel the earth like an onion' and detect water beneath the surface. Soon, he was asked to train his talents to help pinpoint areas of life-saving reserves of water for desperate refugees escaping the conflict in Darfur. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Anna Lacey and Hetal Bapodra Editor: Munazza Khan Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Beth Rodden escaped her kidnappers, and pushed her body to its limit, following the climber code of whatever hurts makes you stronger. She married her boyfriend Tommy Caldwell, who had saved them by pushing their captor off a cliff in the Kyrgyz mountains. They became the first couple to free climb the Nose in Yosemite National Park. To the world she was a record-breaking athlete, but inside she was crumbling, haunted by that moment in the mountains. It would take her 15 years to face it head on, and in doing so she redefined what it meant to be a climber. Beth's book A Light Through the Cracks: A Climber's Story is out now. Clips are from NPR and the Associated Press. Presenter: Emily Webb Producer: Louise Morris Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Beth Rodden was on a dream climbing expedition in Kyrgyzstan when she was kidnapped by Islamist militants. She and her friends spent days moving between hiding places in the mountains, fearing for their lives as food supplies dwindled. Then, six days in, the group found themselves at the edge of a cliff with a single young guard. They had a chance to escape, but it came with a huge ethical dilemma. Presenter: Emily Webb Producer: Louise Morris Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 Audio for this episode was updated on 6 June 2024.

Setsuko Thurlow knows what nuclear war looks like. She was a 13-year-old schoolgirl when an atomic bomb was dropped on her home city of Hiroshima, Japan. Most of the places she knew were destroyed in an instant. Narrowly escaping death herself, Setsuko became a witness to the aftermath of atomic warfare, and the things she saw that day would compel her to spend her life fighting for nuclear disarmament. Archive was from British Pathé Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Jo Impey and Harry Graham Editor: Laura Thomas Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

In 2016, when Jenny Söderqvist and Helene Åberg’s car exploded in the middle of the vast Kalahari desert, their supplies and only lifeline to the outside world went up in flames. No rescue would come. The two friends from Sweden would spend the next five harrowing days lost in the wilderness and stalked by lions, until their salvation appeared to them in the most unlikely of forms: a tin of Spam. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Mistaken for a terrorist, and detained without trial. Art became his refuge. Pakistani taxi driver Ahmed Rabbani was arrested in 2002, labelled a terrorist and spent 21 years in US detention, including time in a CIA secret prison. Incarcerated without trial or charge, Ahmed was subject to enhanced interrogation, or what he describes as 62 different types of torture. When he was transferred to a cell in Guantanamo Bay, Ahmed would pick up paint and pastels and find solace through art – creating vistas he could only imagine. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Maryam Maruf Voiceover: Mohammed Hanif Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

On the day his mother disappeared in December 1989, 11-year-old Collier Landry started looking for evidence. He suspected his father, a rich and well-respected town doctor, had something to do with it. This is the story of Collier's fight to get justice for his mother, and the detective who believed him. Collier's film is called A Murder in Mansfield. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Helen Fitzhenry Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784