Lives Less Ordinary

BBC World Service

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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.

4 DAYS AGO

The cricket star who learned to fly

Ricky Ellcock’s rollercoaster life as a fast bowler and airline pilot Barbados-born Ricky Ellcock had twin ambitions as a boy – to become a cricketer and fly airplanes. His father was, like Ricky, cricket-mad – but on the question of him becoming a pilot his answer was emphatic: black people don’t fly planes. Ricky’s talents as a fast bowler won him many plaudits and a scholarship to come to England. Before long he was playing at the top of the sport, but the stresses on his body meant he kept breaking down. When those injuries threatened to end his career completely, Ricky looked to disprove his dad and make history in the skies. Ricky's autobiography is called Balls to Fly. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 (Photo: Ricky in action for Middlesex. Credit: Middlesex CCC)

46 min
16 DEC

The bullet that ended our friendship

Paul Rousseau was accidentally shot in the head by his best friend and flatmate. When Paul met Mark in the first year of university in the US, they quickly became close. They moved in together, and spent most of the next four years in each other's company. But Paul did not know that Mark had been keeping a collection of guns in his bedroom. In April 2017 one of Mark's guns accidentally went off, the bullet passing through two walls before striking Paul in the head. In the months and years that followed, Paul had to deal not only with his brain injury, but also the devastating impact the event had on his friendship with Mark. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Rebecca Vincent Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

40 min
9 DEC

After doomsday: I outgrew a cult and became a professor

Jerald Walker grew up in the predominantly white, Worldwide Church of God – a doomsday cult that convinced its followers the world would end in 1972. Raised by blind, African American parents and under the cult's strict teachings, which preached racial segregation and an imminent apocalypse, Jerald’s life was dominated by fear, isolation, and the belief that his future didn’t exist. When the promised doomsday never came, Jerald and his family were left grappling with shattered beliefs. As his life unravelled, Jerald fell into addiction and crime, struggling to escape the mental and emotional grip of the cult. But through education, an extraordinary teacher and a passion for writing, he found a path to redemption. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

41 min
2 DEC

Naked and alone: the comedian trapped in a reality TV show

Nasubi had no idea his 15-month fight to survive was being broadcast on Japanese TV. In the late 1990s aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, lived inside a small room for 15 months surviving off sweepstake competition winnings. He was naked, alone and hungry. He was also completely unaware he had become the most famous television personality in Japan, his life broadcast to millions of viewers each week. A documentary about Nasubi's experience has been made called The Contestant. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: May Cameron Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

46 min
25 NOV

How my mysterious childhood became a best-selling novel

Trent Dalton discovered he was on the fringe of one of Australia’s biggest crime stories. Back in the 1980s, when Trent was a kid growing up in Brisbane, he discovered that there was a secret underground room behind his stepfather's wardrobe. There were plenty of other strange things happening to him too. Like when he found a bundle of cash in the pocket of his bathrobe. Or there were the rumours that his babysitter was a murderer. It took Trent many years before he untangled these mysteries and found out the reality of his childhood. He used his life story as inspiration for his debut novel Boy Swallows Universe, which became the fastest selling in Australian history. Presenter: Saskia Collette Producers: Saskia Collette and Andrea Kennedy Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

40 min
18 NOV

The sports scandal scoop that almost destroyed me

In 1998 Finnish journalist Johanna Aatsalo uncovered a huge news story: a member of the much-revered Finnish cross-country ski team had taken banned substances. After six months' intense investigation Johanna published her findings, and within just a few hours the backlash began. Johanna even received death threats. Because she wouldn't reveal her sources she was also taken to court and found guilty of defamation, but Johanna didn’t give up. Instead, she started a fight that would continue for the next 14 years. Presenter: Helena Merriman Producers: Emilia Jansson and Andrea Kennedy Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

40 min
11 NOV

Saved by goats after my fall from the sacred mountain

When he slid off a 40-metre cliff in the jungle, Morgan Segui thought he was sure to die. Three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food; that is the rule that every mountaineer knows by heart. For Morgan Segui, a French acrobat-turned-explorer, he knew it meant his chances of survival were vanishingly small. He lay at the bottom of a dry gorge in the Timorese jungle of South Asia, miles from help, after taking a dramatic fall which broke several bones and left a huge gash to his head. Dazed and without water, he spent three days and nights on the jungle floor trying to cling to life. Until, astonishingly, a herd of goats came to his rescue. Morgan's written a book about his ordeal: Cinq Jours au Timor, published in French by Premier Parallèle. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

42 min
4 NOV

Looking for my son for 58 years, part 2

Bestselling writer Lesley Pearse never stopped looking for her son. An agent once told Lesley Pearse to "write what you know", but her own story is more extraordinary than any of her bestselling novels. In this, the second episode of two, Lesley makes a selfless decision on behalf of her baby son Warren, and spends the six decades that follow searching for him. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Laura Thomas & Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

23 min

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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.