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BBC World Service

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

Juan Catalan was facing the death penalty for a murder he didn’t commit. There was one man he thought could save him: US comedian Larry David. 

On 12 May 2003, Juan attended a baseball game that he would later say saved his life. It was his local team, the LA Dodgers, versus the Atlanta Braves. The game was exciting, but unremarkable for Juan – apart from a television crew that was filming in his section.

Three months later, Juan arrived at work only to be surrounded by undercover police and arrested in front of his girlfriend and daughter. It was several hours before Juan found out he had been charged with the murder of a 16-year-old girl called Martha Puebla. It was a crime that carried the death penalty. Juan protested his innocence, and later realised he had been at the baseball game the night of her murder. Perhaps, he thought, he could prove his alibi if he had been caught on camera by that TV production.

Eventually, Juan's lawyer Todd Melnik figured out that the show in question was Curb Your Enthusiasm, created by comedian Larry David. The network HBO finally let Todd view the tapes, which contained a direct shot of Juan. But the footage was filmed well before the murder was committed, so Todd had to keep searching for evidence to exonerate Juan. In the end, it was cell tower records that proved Juan could not have killed Martha Puebla.

Since his case was dismissed, Juan has gone on to write a memoir called Played and Todd and Juan's relationship has also blossomed into a friendship. They have even attended Dodgers games together.

Credits: Curb Your Enthusiasm/Whyaduck Productions in association with HBO Entertainment/Jeff Schaffer and Robert B. Weide

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Saskia Collette

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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Could a sitcom save a man from death row?

In the 1970s and 80s, a spate of mysterious disappearances were reported along Japan’s coast. One of those was 19-year-old nurse Hitomi Soga, who was walking with her mother when they were kidnapped. She was blindfolded and dragged to a boat destined to the world's most secretive state, North Korea. But why was she taken? Hitomi's stay in North Korea would last 24 years and include a forced marriage to America's most well-known defector, Charles Jenkins. The world watched when eventually she returned home, still desperate to uncover the truth about the mother who vanished with her into the darkness.

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Translation: Nancy Roberts
Voiceover: Yoko Gravestock
Producer: Edgar Maddicott

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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

I was kidnapped by North Korea

Many years after he’d held a gun to her daughter’s head, Michelle wrote to Robert Ortiz seeking closure. It took him years to write back – and then they met.

In 2000, Michelle Renee was at home with her seven-year-old daughter Breea when armed men burst through the door. They held Breea hostage while they took Michelle to the bank where she worked. She was told to remove all the money from the vault or her daughter would die. The gang were later caught and imprisoned but the fallout from that day and the accusations hurled at her during the trial would leave a lasting scar. Ten years after the event Michelle and Breea chose to write one of the gunmen a letter. It was a way of bringing the story to a close, they weren’t expecting a response. It took him years but Robert Ortiz did write back – asking did she want to meet? 

This story is told in two episodes, in episode one Michelle tells the story of the day of the robbery and the impact of the trial when suddenly she stands accused. In episode two we bring in Robert and hear how two people have built a friendship from the most unlikely start.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen 
Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder and Andrea Kennedy

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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

I was forced to rob my own bank, part 2

In 2000, armed men burst into Michelle Renee's home and held her child hostage while she was forced to rob her own bank. None of them could have predicted what happened next. 

Michelle Renee was at home with her seven-year-old daughter Breea when armed men burst through the door. They held Breea hostage while they took Michelle to the bank where she worked. She was told to remove all the money from the vault or her daughter would die. The gang were later caught and imprisoned but the fallout from that day and the accusations hurled at her during the trial would leave a lasting scar. Ten years after the event Michelle and Breea chose to write one of the gunmen a letter. It was a way of bringing the story to a close, they weren’t expecting a response. It took him years but Robert Ortiz did write back – asking did she want to meet? 

This story is told in two episodes, in episode one Michelle tells the story of the day of the robbery and the impact of the trial when suddenly she stands accused. In episode two we bring in Robert and hear how two people have built a friendship from the most unlikely start.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder and Andrea Kennedy

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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

I was forced to rob my own bank, part 1

Chris 'Brolga' Barns fell in love with joeys and became a kangaroo 'mum'. He rescues orphaned baby kangaroos, or joeys, carrying them around in a pillowcase to mimic their mum’s pouch. While working as a tour guide in the Australian outback, Brolga would always check the pouches of kangaroos killed by cars lying on the side of the road, where often the joeys would still be alive. The plan was to look after them until they could be released back into the wild, but sometimes they had been injured and couldn't outrun dingoes or bush fires. 

So Brolga gave up his job to create a kangaroo sanctuary for them in Alice Springs, in Australia's red centre. After leading some land and digging for 18 months to build a giant dingo-proof fence, he spent all his money. He ended up living in a tin shack on site, without any electricity or a toilet, sharing his bed with the orphaned joeys he was caring for. But the visitors he had hoped for did not come, and he had no income. Things were looking bleak. Then he starred in a BBC documentary series called Kangaroo Dundee. The title was a play on the hit comedy film Crocodile Dundee, about a man from the outback who wows everyone in the big city. Brolga's TV appearance wowed too - much to his surprise, he received hundreds of emails from female fans, who were unaware that he had a brand-new girlfriend (now his wife). 

The show guaranteed the Kangaroo Sanctuary's survival, and Brolga was able to dedicate all his time to mothering orphaned joeys. One of his first rescues, an alpha male kangaroo called Roger, became an internet sensation for always trying to attack his 'mum', Brolga, who he now saw as a rival. And recently some of Brolga's joeys starred in a family film called Kangaroo, inspired by his life. 

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Vibeke Venema

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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Kangaroo Dundee: I gave it all up to become a ‘kangaroo mum’

Ramla Ali's family fled Somalia and settled in the UK; she then went from overweight bullied child to champion boxer and model who later brought the sport back to her homeland.

Ramla Ali was a baby when her older brother was killed by a stray grenade in the garden of her family home in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the civil war. To keep the rest of their family safe, her parents fled the country via a perilous boat crossing to Kenya, where Ramla almost died. They eventually got to London and Ramla grew up being bullied and becoming overweight. To help build her confidence, her mum signed her up for a gym, which is where Ramla discovered a boxercise class by chance. Soon she was boxing at every available opportunity. Ramla knew her parents wouldn’t approve, so she kept it secret, even when she won national titles and was one of the best boxers in the UK. She would go on to bring boxing back to Somalia, where the sport had been banned since 1976, and compete at the Olympic Games as Somalia's first ever boxer. Ramla recently returned from her first trip back to Somalia since she left as a baby, and was met by thousands of fans at the airport. She even received personal thanks from the president for what she achieved for the country. 

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.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Emily Naylor
 
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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

I'm a champion boxer, but couldn't tell my mum

Cassandra Madison and Julia Tinetti met working at the same bar in their 20s and were struck by how similar they looked. Their adoption records didn't match, but a surprise gift later revealed the extraordinary truth. 

From the moment they started chatting, Cassandra and Julia quickly realised they had lots in common: both had been adopted as babies, both grew up in Connecticut, and both had tattoos of the Dominican Republic flag. Their physical resemblance and connection was so strong that coworkers and customers joked they must be related, especially as they regularly mistook one for the other. Cassandra and Julia embraced the idea, even referring to themselves as sisters. They went so far as to compare adoption papers – but when the details didn’t match, the whole matter was put to bed. Years later, when Cassandra received a genetic test as a Christmas gift, she ended up finding her birth family. In the process, long-held secrets emerged and revelations which pointed back, unexpectedly, to Julia.

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Emily Naylor

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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Strangers to coworkers to friends to...sisters?

Separated from her family and trained as a child soldier, Loung Ung's unbreakable spirit helped her survive Pol Pot’s regime, which killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population.

In the Chinese tradition of Loung Ung's mother, the element of fire was dangerous in a daughter: too bold, too defiant, too difficult to control. And, according to her, Loung had been born with ‘too much’ of it. But when the Khmer Rouge seized power in April 1975, that fire became key to Loung's survival. Between 1975 and 1979, up to 2 million Cambodians died through execution, famine and disease. Forced into the countryside to do hard labour, Loung's family struggled. As their world was torn apart, Loung was told by her mother to run away. 

Loung would end up as a child soldier, separated from the rest of her siblings. Once the regime fell, she became the only child from the family chosen to go to the USA for a better life. But it was a dangerous journey and Loung would suffer with PTSD for years afterwards. The plan was to reunite the family within a few years, though due to financial constraints that wasn't possible. As an adult, Loung has worked on campaigns addressing violence against women, the use of child soldiers and landmine eradication worldwide and has managed to reunite with her siblings. Her story was eventually made into a film, directed by Angelina Jolie, named after Loung’s memoir of the same name: First They Killed My Father. Loung has written two other memoirs: Lucky Child and Lulu in the Sky. 

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Emily Naylor

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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Taught to kill – my childhood under the Khmer Rouge

When 19-year-old Ann from Florida, USA was shot by her boyfriend in 2010, her family were thrust into a nightmare, one that meant taking the agonising decision to withdraw her life support.

In this intensely moving account of violence and loss, Ann’s mother, Kate, tells Namulanta that instead of pursuing the traditional court process, she chose something almost unheard of at the time - restorative justice. Sitting face-to-face with the man who killed her daughter, she entered a process that allowed her to shape his sentence and speak openly about the impact of Ann’s death.

In her highly emotional letter to Ann for Dear Daughter, Kate reveals an extraordinary decision—one that will stay with you long after her story ends.

To find out more about Dear Daughter, to take part, or read our privacy notice, please go to www.bbcworldservice.com/deardaughter. Or you can contact the team via WhatsApp on +44 800 030 4404.

Bonus: Dear Daughter: Surviving my daughter's killing

Jackie makes sporting history for Ireland and uncovers the truth about her past.

Taken from her mother as a baby and raised in an Irish institution, Jackie McCarthy O’Brien grew up in silence, facing prejudice because of the colour of her skin, and with no real sense of who she was or where she belonged.

Jackie shares her story over two episodes of Lives Less Ordinary. In this second part of her story, we hear how Jackie begins to build a life on her own terms. Through sport, she discovers a sense of purpose and belonging, pulling on the green jersey of Ireland and going on to make history as the first mixed-race woman to represent her country in both football and rugby.

But even as she achieves this, questions about her past remain. For years, she has believed one version of her story - about her mother, her father, and where she comes from. When she finally learns the truth, it’s not what she expected. Instead of anger, she finds something else: understanding, and a deep sense of love. And alongside that, she finds the confidence to live more openly, embracing who she is, and who she loves.

This programme contains a reference to suicide. If you've been affected by some of the issues that have come up in Jackie's story, and are suffering distress or despair, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. There are details of help available in many countries at befrienders.org

Presenter: Jo Fidgen 
Producer: Edgar Maddicott

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:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

I was kidnapped by North Korea

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