Lives Less Ordinary Podcast
Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What鈥檚 their story?" Featuring a new season of five remarkable true love stories from around the world.
Introducing a new season of five remarkable true stories in which love rises above prejudice, waits decades, crosses oceans and survives war. From India to Italy, Syria to the Bahamas, and the UK to the US, these are unforgettable stories that reveal how love can survive against the odds, heal old wounds and transform lives forever.
Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the 蘑菇短视频 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鈥檚 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
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Episodes to download
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Love Stories: Finding you in a warzone
Monday
Janay was a journalist in London who began falling for cameraman Habak in war-torn Syria
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I crash-landed inside an active volcano
Mon 27 Jul 2026
Chris Duddy survived 28 hours in Hawaii's K墨lauea volcano after his helicopter crashed
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Why I don't hate the person who tried to kill me
Mon 20 Jul 2026
Bjorn Ihler survived Norway's worst terror attack from a far-right extremist
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The prisoner who was forced to celebrate a World Cup victory
Mon 13 Jul 2026
Miriam Lewin was a political prisoner in 1978 when Argentina won the World Cup
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My father and the curse of the golden egg
Mon 6 Jul 2026
Jeweller Paul Kutchinsky made the world鈥檚 biggest golden egg, but it broke his family
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I had a baby 鈥� then lost my memory, part 2
Mon 29 Jun 2026
With her past erased, writer Samina Ali must rediscover her son 鈥� and herself
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I had a baby 鈥� then lost my memory, part 1
Mon 22 Jun 2026
A crisis at birth leaves Samina Ali unable to recognise her husband or newborn son
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Could a sitcom save a man from death row?
Mon 15 Jun 2026
Juan Catalan hoped comedian Larry David could help exonerate him from a murder charge
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I was kidnapped by North Korea
Mon 8 Jun 2026
When Hitomi Soga vanished aged 19, no one in Japan imagined she had been taken by spies
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I was forced to rob my own bank, part 2
Mon 1 Jun 2026
How do you forgive a man who held a gun to your daughter鈥檚 head?
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I was forced to rob my own bank, part 1
Mon 25 May 2026
In 2000, armed men burst into Michelle Renee's home and held her child hostage
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Kangaroo Dundee: I gave it all up to become a 鈥榢angaroo mum鈥�
Mon 18 May 2026
Chris 'Brolga' Barns fell in love with joeys and built an orphaned kangaroo sanctuary
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I'm a champion boxer, but couldn't tell my mum
Mon 11 May 2026
A gym class encounter sparked Ramla Ali's rise from bullied child to famous boxer
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Strangers to coworkers to friends to...sisters?
Mon 4 May 2026
Cassandra and Julia were uncannily alike. A chance gift revealed a past neither expected
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Taught to kill 鈥� my childhood under the Khmer Rouge
Mon 27 Apr 2026
Loung Ung was forced to be a child soldier in Cambodia under Pol Pot鈥檚 regime
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Bonus: Dear Daughter: Surviving my daughter's killing
Thu 23 Apr 2026
When 19-year-old Ann was killed, her mother chose restorative justice
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I was taken as a baby鈥 didn鈥檛 know who I was, part 2
Mon 20 Apr 2026
Jackie makes sporting history for Ireland and uncovers the truth about her past
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I was taken as a baby, I didn鈥檛 know who I was, part 1
Mon 13 Apr 2026
A black girl in a white town, Jackie鈥檚 made to grow up silenced and alone
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Skepta鈥檚 Mum: How I raised a rap legend
Mon 6 Apr 2026
Ify Adenuga had very strict parents. As a mum she rewrote the rulebook, nurturing a star
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Me, dad and the zombie chickens
Mon 30 Mar 2026
Lloyd and Lily-Hayes Kaufman on cult horror filmmaking and life in the Tromaverse
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Growing up black in a white family 鈥� the truth behind my birth
Mon 23 Mar 2026
Music star Andrew Lovell鈥檚 home life hid a terrible 鈥� yet beautiful 鈥� secret
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Music was my salvation: the homeless man and the piano
Mon 16 Mar 2026
Francois was homeless when he learned to play a train station piano from scratch
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Hercules: the grizzly bear who became family
Mon 9 Mar 2026
Maggie Robin raised a bear cub who grew into an extraordinary companion
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Sects, lies and videotape: a Syrian story, part 2
Mon 2 Mar 2026
Accused of spying in rebel-held Syria, Loubna Mrie faces peril and a shattering loss
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Sects, lies and videotape: a Syrian story, part 1
Mon 23 Feb 2026
Loubna Mrie secretly filmed Syria鈥檚 uprising, despite her family鈥檚 loyalty to the regime
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The couple who foiled New Zealand鈥檚 biggest drugs plot
Mon 16 Feb 2026
An ordinary couple caught up in the country's biggest meth case for doing a good deed
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I bought Macclesfield FC while drunk and it saved my life
Mon 9 Feb 2026
When Rob Smethurst was gripped by addiction, building a football club helped him get out
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Colm T贸ib铆n: How an Irish boy with a stammer found his voice
Mon 2 Feb 2026
He鈥檚 now a best-selling author who brought the glitz of Hollywood to his small-town home
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The gay Kenyan boyband star who refused to be defeated
Mon 26 Jan 2026
When singer Willis Chimano was outed, the exposure threatened to derail his entire life
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Videos from our extraordinary podcast Lives Less Ordinary.
