Lives Less Ordinary

The most incredible true stories from around the world, told by the people who lived them. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected.

World Service,190 episodes

Episodes

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The escape from Vietnam that tore my family apart
Doan made it onto one of the last helicopters from Saigon but her sister was left behind
13 Oct 2025,42 mins
Enter the new dragon: the Bruce Lee of Afghanistan
Abbas Alizada copied his hero’s kung fu moves – and look – and became an overnight star
06 Oct 2025,28 mins
Jane Goodall: In her own words
The celebrated chimpanzee expert talks about her loves and her life amongst the apes
02 Oct 2025,24 mins
Sweet surprise: I found my birth mother in my local bakery
Vamarr and Lenore had a close bond for years without realising they were related
29 Sep 2025,40 mins
Zarna Garg: The rise of an ‘unstoppable’ comedy star
Once a homeless teen in Mumbai, now Zarna Garg’s a top comedian, touring with Tina Fey
22 Sep 2025,41 mins
I sent three innocent teenagers to prison for life
Ron Bishop says police forced him to tell lies on the witness stand during a murder trial
15 Sep 2025,45 mins
Cesar Millan: The ‘dog boy’ who became the Dog Whisperer
Cesar Millan migrated illegally to the US and slept rough before becoming a TV sensation
08 Sep 2025,41 mins
Sole survivor: Eight days in the jungle after my plane crashed
Annette Herfkens's romantic getaway ended in disaster
01 Sep 2025,40 mins
Coming up in the new season of Lives Less Ordinary
A heads-up on some of the extraordinary stories to look forward to from September
28 Aug 2025,3 mins
Hold Fast! 8. Our duty is done
Siobhάn McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship The Avontuur
25 Aug 2025,30 mins
Hold Fast! 7. I want to hug a cow
Siobhán McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship the Avontuur
25 Aug 2025,23 mins
Hold Fast! 6. Unicorn poo
Siobhán McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship the Avontuur
18 Aug 2025,18 mins
Hold Fast! 5. No better mirror than the sea
Siobhán McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship the Avontuur
18 Aug 2025,25 mins
Hold Fast! 4. Taking the biscuit
Siobhán McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship The Avontuur
11 Aug 2025,17 mins
Hold Fast! 3. The world as you know it no longer exists
Siobhάn McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship The Avontuur
11 Aug 2025,23 mins
Hold Fast! 2. I didn’t know the sea was so big
Siobhán McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship the Avontuur
04 Aug 2025,18 mins
Hold Fast! 1. Signs from the universe
Siobhán McSweeney tells the extraordinary story of sailing cargo ship the Avontuur
04 Aug 2025,24 mins
My way out of the woods
A corporate high-flyer lived in a forest after a spiral of debt, shame and secrecy
28 Jul 2025,41 mins,
Sex, love, Rock 'n' Roll... and The Sopranos
Robin Green went from being a 'clueless girl' to the only woman in the writers' room
20 Jul 2025,40 mins
Why I wore iron underwear on Kabul’s busiest street
Kubra Khademi’s protest against sexual violence brought an Afghan street to a standstill
13 Jul 2025,40 mins
Kidnapped at four: How I found my way home
A promise to return to his mother helped Antonio Salazar-Hobson through his darkest hours
06 Jul 2025,41 mins,
The penguin that followed a teacher home
Tom Michell on the lessons he learned from his adopted rescue bird
29 Jun 2025,39 mins
Meeting the monster: My 14 days with Joseph Kony
Judith Obina helped bring peace to Uganda with a secret weapon: Joseph Kony’s mother
22 Jun 2025,39 mins
The Grandmother of Juneteenth, still battling for change at 98
Opal Lee walked to Washington to demand a new national holiday marking the end of slavery
15 Jun 2025,36 mins
The man who woke up in the future
When Dr Pier Piccioni woke up after a car accident, 12 years of his life had been erased
08 Jun 2025,39 mins
The mortician, the "werewolf" and the keeper of brains
Alexandra Morton-Hayward unlocks the secrets of the human brain but her own betrays her
01 Jun 2025,42 mins
José Mujica: Guerilla, president and occasional romantic
The surprising life story of the ex-President of Uruguay who died this month
25 May 2025,37 mins
The true story behind Brazil’s Oscar winner, I’m Still Here
Marcelo Rubens Paiva was 11 when armed men took his father away
18 May 2025,33 mins
The blind Holocaust survivor who caught a fugitive Nazi
Lothar Hermann found out his neighbour was ‘architect of the Holocaust’ Adolf Eichmann
11 May 2025,38 mins
Searching for green in a concrete world
After losing loved ones to violent crime, Kwesia X found peace in nature
04 May 2025,41 mins