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 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...
Latest episodes
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40 min ↗
The missionary linguist who lost his faith
Dan Everett travelled to the Amazon to convert the Piraha people. It didn’t go to plan. Dan was a young Christian missionary, and his talent for linguistics put him on a mission to…
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38 min ↗
Why didn't they tell me I was black? Part 2
It took years for Lacey Tezino to discover the truth about her parents – what she found out would upturn everything she thought she knew about her own identity. When Lacey left her…
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40 min ↗
Why didn't they tell me I was black? Part 1
Lacey Tezino grew up in rural Texas in a white family, and was told her Hawaiian mother died when she was a baby. But none of this was true. Lacey was born in the US city of Housto…
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40 min ↗
Forget Cool Runnings: Inside the real Jamaican bobsled team
Ex army officer Devon Harris was part of the historic Olympic bobsleigh team that inspired the film Cool Runnings, but Hollywood only got half the story. Devon grew up in a tough a…
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41 min ↗
My mother made me ill for years until a doctor unmasked her
Nina Blom's early years were plagued by mysterious, serious illnesses. Growing up in the Netherlands in the 1970s and 80s, Nina seemed at first to be a typical child, playing with…
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32 min ↗
America’s most wanted: my family on the run, part 2
When Zayd Ayers Dohrn was born his parents were fugitives. They were the leaders of the Weather Underground – a violent revolutionary group opposed to the Vietnam war. Most members…
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36 min ↗
America’s most wanted: my family on the run, part 1
In some ways Zayd Ayers Dohrn’s childhood was normal; his parents went to work and played with him in the park. Though in other ways it was anything but: moving between safe houses…
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50 min ↗
Love Stories: Told by you
Now it’s your turn to share. A bonus episode to end our Love Stories series where you tell the world how your true love grew. Fiona Smiley Wright got in touch about an extraordinar…
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39 min ↗
Love Stories: The matchmaker
At 83, Gina Ceccarelli thought the romantic chapter of her life was over. Then she met Dwight Moberg, a 91-year-old widower from California. There was just one complication, Gina s…
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40 min ↗
Love Stories: Our own romcom
Karan and Roshan’s real-life romance inspired their film A Nice Indian Boy, and the success of the Hollywood/Bollywood romcom has healed many family rifts on the way.Karan Soni is…
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46 min ↗
Love Stories: My two husbands
Kris Armstrong and Brandon Smith took their marriage vows seriously. But after Brandon suffered a major brain injury, Kris made a decision that led to their unique blended family.…
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42 min ↗
Love Stories: Do you remember me?
A secret tore apart their teenage love. Four decades later, they got a second chance.In 1970s Nottingham, two teenagers fell head-over-heels in love when Mark Bethel arrived from t…
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45 min ↗
Love Stories: Finding you in a warzone
In 2016 Janay was a journalist in London and needed footage of the conflict in Syria, so contacted camera operator Habak in Aleppo. What followed was a love story neither saw comin…
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2 min ↗
Introducing: Love Stories
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 Baha…
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41 min ↗
I crash-landed inside an active volcano
Chris Duddy survived 28 hours in Hawaii's Kīlauea volcano after his helicopter crashed.Cinematographer Chris Duddy has worked on some of Hollywood’s biggest movies like Titanic and…
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42 min ↗
Why I don't hate the person who tried to kill me
In July 2011 Bjorn Ihler was a 20-year-old performing arts student and a member of the youth division of the Norwegian Labour Party. He participated in the Party's summer camp on U…
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39 min ↗
The prisoner who was forced to celebrate a World Cup victory
Miriam Lewin was never much interested in football. Growing up in Buenos Aires, she cared far more about politics than the team her family supported. But in 1978, when Argentina wo…
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40 min ↗
My father and the curse of the golden egg
Serena Kutchinsky was 10 years old when her jeweller father Paul unveiled his masterpiece to the world: a giant, golden, diamond-encrusted egg. Paul had recently taken over the fam…
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39 min ↗
I had a baby – then lost my memory, part 2
After an undiagnosed case of pre-eclampsia caused catastrophic brain damage and amnesia, Samina Ali returned home from hospital to begin a long recovery.At 29, she found herself re…
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41 min ↗
I had a baby – then lost my memory, part 1
When Samina Ali gave birth to her first child in California in 1999, what should have been a joyful moment quickly turned into a medical emergency.An undiagnosed case of the pregna…