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Lives Less Ordinary

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.

Podcast · By BBC World Service · English · Official site

Indexed episodes, last 90 days
14
Latest publication
Sep 28, 2026
Audience
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Earliest in this view
Jul 6, 2026

Latest episodes

  1. Episode · Sep 28, 2026

    My mother made me ill for years until a doctor unmasked her (opens the original)

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    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 dolls and enjoying singing and dancing. But soon, her mother became convinced that Nina was gravely ill. She kept sending Nina to hospitals for tests and treatments again and again - 16 times in just a few years. And she seemed to enjoy Nina's sickness and pain. Eventually, Nina was made to use a wheelchair and was tol

  2. Episode · Sep 21, 2026

    America’s most wanted: my family on the run, part 2 (opens the original)

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    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 were white, but they worked closely with radical black organisations opposing racism in the US, drawing attention to their cause through bombing campaigns, bank robberies, and jailbreaks. When Zayd’s younger brother came along his mother, Bernardine, decided it was time to hand herself in. They managed to do a deal an

  3. Episode · Sep 14, 2026

    America’s most wanted: my family on the run, part 1 (opens the original)

    Episode notes · Critical tone

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    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, fleeing in the night as the FBI moved in. His parents were the leaders of a violent revolutionary group called the Weathermen and then the Weather Underground, which the US government classed as a domestic terror group. They opposed the Vietnam war and racism in American society. They drew attention to their cause th

  4. Episode · Sep 7, 2026

    Love Stories: Told by you (opens the original)

    Episode notes · Positive tone

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    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 extraordinary romance that was hiding right under her nose for most of her life, growing up in Northern Ireland. It wasn’t until her parents passed away that Fiona and her three brothers discovered years of love letters between them, while separated by war. Fiona tells Asya the tale of a silver cigarette box that her mother Elizab

  5. Episode · Aug 31, 2026

    Love Stories: The matchmaker (opens the original)

    Episode notes · Neutral tone

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    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 speaks Italian and Dwight speaks English, so most of their conversations happen through hand gestures and a translation app. The person who brought them together is Menbere "Menbe" Akiklu. Forty years earlier, Menbe was a young Ethiopian mother living in a shelter in Rome, trying to rebuild her life after escaping an ab

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