A Life Less Ordinary with Sophie Elwes
Hosted by Sophie Elwes, who knows a thing or two about overcoming difficulties, after sustaining a spinal cord injury in 2011. Each episode Sophie will interview an extraordinary guest who has faced and overcome enormous challenges and adversity and is achieving incredible things in spite of what they've had to deal with. She'll be finding out their story, about their greatest struggles and triumphs, and asking them what advice they would share with other people dealing with challenges of their own.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 51 minutes
- Episodes
- 39
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2023
Sarah Orr - Breaking her neck at 16, backpacking across Australia as a wheelchair user and gaining perspective through working in developing countries
After breaking her neck at the age of 16 in a car crash whilst on holiday in the Highlands, Sarah’s life took a course that was far from ordinary.
We speak about her rehab in the spinal unit, where,…
Marsha de Cordova MP - Growing up partially sighted, stepping up and becoming an MP to create change and being a voice for the voiceless
Marsha de Cordova is the Labour MP for Battersea since 2017 and is currently the Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities.
She was born with nystagmus and is registered blind. We speak abou…
Jonny Benjamin MBE - Managing mental illness, self-compassion and the art of listening
Jonny Benjamin MBE is an awarding winning mental health campaigner, writer, film producer, public speaker and vlogger. At the age of 20 he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which is a comb…
Millie Gooch: Hangover anxiety, creating Sober Girl Society and why sober dating is superior to drunk dating
Millie Gooch is the founder of Sober Girl Society, an online community which destigmatises sobriety, and brings women together who want to connect and have fun, without the booze. Millie quit drinkin…
Megan Hine - How routine saved her life, recovering from Lyme disease and how to find your inner resilience in these challenging times
Megan Hine is a survival consultant, producer, adventurer and television presenter. She is also the author of Mind of a Survivor.
During her career she has survived a snakebite, Lyme disease, being sh…
Karen Darke MBE - Training her brain to become a Paralympic champion, climbing El Capitan as a paraplegic and learning to enjoy the process
Karen Darke tells me about being injured aged 21 in a mountain climbing accident and how she overcame her fear of heights following this accident to eventually climb El Capitan, as a paraplegic using…
Siena Castellon - Being ruthlessly bullied, not fitting in with neurotypical norms and being awesome and autistic
Siena Castellon is an 18-year-old advocate, author, mentor and Young Leader for the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She is autistic, has dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD. After being eventually diagnos…
Charley Boorman - Surviving two major motorcycle accidents, seeing dyslexia as a gift and his bromance with Ewan McGregor
Actor, writer and TV presenter Charley Boorman has travelled all over the world by motorbike, often alongside best friend Ewan McGregor. He has had two huge motorbike accidents which left him with se…
David Smith MBE – Finding life’s purpose, winning gold at London 2012 and how he built resilience to enable him to learn to walk again four times.
Two-time world champion and gold medal-winning Paralympian David Smith MBE was born with a club foot and has had a rare tumour in his neck which left him fighting for his life after several major sur…
Brett Moran – Drug dealer to healer, getting comfortable with your discomfort and taming your ‘monkey mind.’
A former drug dealer, crack addict and young offender, Brett Moran's life changed when he stumbled across a book on meditation whilst on a drug deal in a prison library. He has since become a publish…
Sophie Morgan - Mentorship, dealing with ableism and changing the world
Sophie Morgan is a TV presenter, award-winning disability advocate, artist and entrepreneur who became paralysed at the age of 18 in a car accident. Since then Sophie has carved out an impressive car…
Paula Akpan – Micro-aggressions, Harry Potter & accidentally ‘coming out’
Paula Akpan is a freelance journalist and co-founder of Black Girl Festival. She is also co-founder of The ‘I’m Tired’ Project – a campaign which aims to highlight the significance of micro-aggressio…
Alana Nichols - Making history at the Paralympic Games, coping with grief and the spiritual element of surfing
Alana Nichols is a five-time Paralympian and six-time medalist who has competed in three different sports - wheelchair basketball, alpine skiing and para-canoeing. She is the first US female Paralymp…
#5 Ashley Belal Chin – Seeking fame, Tupac Shakur and finding inner peace
The talented Ashley Belal Chin rose to fame in 1999 BBC film Storm Damage and has enjoyed success as an actor, screen-writer, rapper and spoken word poet. Having thought happiness was found in succes…
#4 George Robinson - Authentic representation in the media, learning about yourself and lockdown activities
Sophie speaks to Netflix’s Sex Education star George Robinson about his rugby accident in 2015 when he broke his neck and finds out about his journey to appearing in one of Netflix’s biggest hits of …
#3 Ben West: The 'S' word, meeting the Prime Minister, and how talking to yourself can help
Sophie talks to Ben West who is an award-winning mental health campaigner who lost his brother Sam to suicide in 2018. Realising there was no formal training for teachers about mental health, Ben cre…
#2 Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson: Using creativity to overcome challenges, dealing with discrimination, and winning the London Marathon six times
Sophie has a conversation with cross-bench peer and eight time gold winning Paralympic medallist, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE DL. Tanni sits in the House of Lords where she advocates for disabil…
#1 Alexandra Adams: Defying expectations, showcasing diversity and reaching for the stars
Sophie talks to the multi-talented Alexandra Adams. Alexandra is an athlete, a photographer, a cook, an artist, a writer, poet, TED talk speaker and medical student. She’s also deafblind and suffers …
A Life Less Ordinary Trailer
Hosted by Sophie Elwes, who knows a thing or two about overcoming difficulties, after sustaining a spinal cord injury in 2011. Each episode Sophie will interview an extraordinary guest who has faced …