104 episodes

Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world.

Lives Less Ordinary BBC World Service

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.6 • 364 Ratings

Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world.

    Behind the locked door

    Behind the locked door

    The Austrian house where a doctor experimented on children.
    Evy Mages grew up in and out of foster care in 1970s and 80s Austria. But even when she started a new life in the US, she was haunted by traumatic memories of a strange yellow house high up in the Alps, where she had been placed as an eight-year-old. It took an idle internet search in her 50s to reveal that this was actually an institution called a 'Kinderbeobachtungsstation', or 'child-observation station', where vulnerable children were experimented on by a psychologist using shocking methods. She decided to step back into her past to uncover the full, disturbing truth of what happened there.
    Presenter: India Rakusen
    Producer: Edgar Maddicott
    Editor: Rebecca Vincent

    • 48 min
    I cycled across Africa for a place at my dream university

    I cycled across Africa for a place at my dream university

    A handwritten map is all Mamadou Barry had to guide him from Guinea to Egypt.
    At the age of 24 he had reached a crossroads in his life. Having failed his final year secondary school exams five times in a row, he set his sights on a different type of education. Mamadou had heard about the prestigious Al Azhar University in Egypt, but could not afford a plane ticket. So he decided to set off on an epic adventure, travelling by bike, and leaving his home in Guinea with only $55, a small bag of clothes and tools, and a map he had drawn himself.
    Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
    Producer: Rob Wilson
    Translator and interpreter: Olivier Weber
    Voiceover artist: Gaïus Kowene
    Archive was from the official YouTube channel for Will Smith

    • 42 min
    Going cold turkey in a Bangkok prison

    Going cold turkey in a Bangkok prison

    A life shaped by addiction.
    Australian Holly Deane-Johns had a complicated childhood. Her parents ran an escort agency from their home, and heroin addiction later took over the whole family. She was first given heroin by her mother, aged just 15. Holly ended up dealing to feed her habit, and in her early 30s was sentenced to 31 years in a notorious Thai prison, convicted of drug smuggling.
    Presenter: India Rakusen
    Producer: Mary Goodhart
    Editor: Rebecca Vincent
    Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

    • 41 min
    The Pacific odyssey of a runaway rebel

    The Pacific odyssey of a runaway rebel

    Ruth Shaw spent years on ships and islands, trying to outrun her past.
    She left her home in New Zealand as a young woman, driven away by a traumatic attack that would shape her life for years to come. Ruth tried to find escape on sailing ships, in Tahitian gambling dens and in the bars and kitchens of Papua New Guinea. But ultimately she had to head home, to face up to deep adolescent scars, and to find the child she’d been forced to give up years before.
    Presenter: India Rakusen
    Producer: May Cameron
    Editor: Munazza Khan
    Photo: ‘The Bookseller at the End of the World’

    • 40 min
    Fugees Family: the football team who became my life

    Fugees Family: the football team who became my life

    The extraordinary coach who started a football team but built something much bigger.
    One day when Luma Mufleh was driving home to Atlanta, Georgia, she came across a group of barefoot boys playing football in the street, using a raggedy old ball and rocks for goalposts. They reminded her of how she played at home in Jordan and she asked to join their game. The Fugees Family football team was born. Luma Mufleh has written a book about her extraordinary story, Believe in Them: One Woman's Fight for Justice for Refugee Children.
    Presenter: Jo Fidgen
    Producer: Helen Fitzhenry
    Get in tough: lieveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or Whatsapp: 0044 330 678 2784

    • 43 min
    My dad was Britain's 'most wanted'

    My dad was Britain's 'most wanted'

    Without realising it, Nick Reynolds had been living his childhood on the run.
    Early one morning in 1968 he answered his front door, completely oblivious to the whirlwind about to be unleashed on his family. Most of Nick's early years had been spent carefree and happy on the shores of Mexico with his British parents. But all the while he had been growing up in the shadow of one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century.
    Presenter: India Rakusen
    Producer: Eric Mugaju and Anna Lacey
    Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784
    (Photo: Nick & Bruce Reynolds. Credit: Ronnie Biggs)

    • 38 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
364 Ratings

364 Ratings

Lexie 77 ,

Beautifully Done

Thank you for these illuminating and nicely paced podcasts that make me think more deeply about the issues raised.

Debswil1 ,

Everything about this podcast is extraordinary

I’m a new listener but have already ‘binge listened’ to many episodes.

I’m incredibly impressed by both the interviewees and the presenters.

The interviewees who have been through such extreme challenges as to be unimaginable, are incredibly articulate and composed in the relating of their stories. It leads me contemplate if there is somehow some correlation between their intelligence, resilience and clarity & the fact that they have undergone such experiences. Almost as if they were predestined for such enormous challenges that would leave the vast majority of us incoherent and incandescent with rage & bitterness. I hope that doesn’t sound insensitive to them. I’m just so in awe of how they carry themselves with such grace. I applaud and greatly admire them all.

And the presenters rise wonderfully to such a challenge themselves. Treating their guests with such empathy & respect. They make it seem effortless which just shows what incredibly talented individuals they are. They also all have such mesmerisingly beautiful voices!

I hope that in the recounting of their stories, and in their interaction with such extraordinary individuals, the interviewees gain something of worth for themselves. Maybe knowing that their experiences are being validated by, and witnessed by us, the listeners helps them come to terms, if not peace, with what they have endured.

I feel that all involved are making a hugely worthwhile contribution to the world. Inspiring and educating us all as to what the human spirit is capable of both doing and being.

I thank the interviewees for their immense courage & for telling their tales so extraordinarily well. And I thank the presenters for doing such a wonderful job. In doing so making their lives less ordinary too.

cybersnails ,

Outlook was better

Bring back Outlook. It was daily, more dynamic and updated more often. The stories on LLO are slow appear. It seems weird to change something so popular for this.

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