society
Hosted by BBC World Service · society · EN
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 - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s 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 You can read our privacy notice here:<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/
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Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
36%
Guest openness
Selective
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Signup to Generate a PitchIntroducing 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 hosted by BBC World Service. The show has published 245 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "The missionary linguist who lost his faith" (26 October 2026, 40 minutes), "Why didn't they tell me I was black? Part 2" (19 October 2026, 38 minutes), and "Why didn't they tell me I was black? Part 1" (12 October 2026, 40 minutes).
Lives Less Ordinary publishes roughly weekly, with episodes averaging 39 minutes across 245 episodes.
Booking probability for Lives Less Ordinary is 36%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Lives Less Ordinary requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Lives Less Ordinary's contact route on record: verified email.
BBC World Service hosts Lives Less Ordinary, a society podcast with 245 episodes published.
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Lives Less Ordinary
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 convert a small indigenous group...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 rural Texan hometown and went to...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 Houston, raised by her single dad who ran a...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 area of Kingston, Jamaica, called...
Lives Less Ordinary
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...
Lives Less Ordinary
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...
Lives Less Ordinary
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...
Lives Less Ordinary
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...
Lives Less Ordinary
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...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 an Indian actor famous for playing...
Lives Less Ordinary
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. Texans Kris and Brandon were high...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 the Bahamas to study. For Penny Umbers...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 coming. When Lebanese journalist Janay...
Lives Less Ordinary
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...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 Terminator 2. Filming in extreme...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 Utøya island, about 35km from Norway's...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 won the World Cup, she found herself...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 family business, the celebrated London...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 relearning the basics of daily life –...
Lives Less Ordinary
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 pregnancy disorder pre-eclampsia led to...
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