Lives Less Ordinary

Reality TV producer Johnathan Walton found himself in a plot he couldn't have dreamt up.

It all started when a woman helped him when he was locked out of his building's swimming pool. She was magneti…

Gamal Turawa has lived many lives - but never fitted in.

First as a black British boy adopted into a white family, then hoodwinked by his father and eventually begging on the streets of Lagos - he was…

Gamal Turawa has lived many lives - but never fitted in

As the first openly gay black officer in London's Metropolitan Police, he struggled to find his way while reckoning with his past. Adopted into …

Joar Hesten's mission to save a whale rumoured to have escaped from the Russian navy.

Norwegian Joar Hesten was fishing for cod in the Arctic when he came across a beluga whale wearing a harness. He h…

Tiago Rech went viral when he was the only supporter in the stands at his club's game.

In 2012 Tiago Rech was the only fan at a big away match for his beloved football team Santa Cruz FC. When they sc…

Fleur Pierets and Julian Boom wanted to wed in every country that allowed gay marriage.

After falling in love at first sight, the artist couple planned to make a statement to the world. So in 2017, th…

The Robertsons' boat was attacked by killer whales and started to sink fast

Douglas was 16 years old when his parents sold the family farm in England and took him and his three siblings on a sailing …

Tahir Izgil is one of the most highly respected living Uyghur poets. Tahir was born near Kashgar, in Xinjiang province, and from an early age he was immersed in the poetry of his culture. When the Ch…

Juliana Lumumba had to fight to reclaim the remains of her father, Patrice Lumumba.

He'd been the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo and an anti-colonial hero. He was assassinate…

Under the boot of the Syrian army, Nicole Moudaber brought raves to Lebanon.

After sampling the delights of dance music whilst studying abroad in the nineties, Nicole made it her goal to bring this n…

A mother, a son, and the discovery of a shared dream.

Latifa Khamessi and her son Mohamed Toukabri from Tunisia were inseparable until aged 15 when he left for Europe to study dance. It was gut-wrenc…

From the page to the stage: William turns childhood fantasies into reality.

In London, William Lee Adams is feeling disillusioned with his job, when a Romanian singer on a horse appears on his comput…

A bond between brothers, a coming-out story, and an international song contest.

William Lee Adams is one of the leading voices covering the Eurovision Song Contest, criss-crossing the continent to in…

Harrison Okene spent three days trapped in an air pocket in a sunken ship.

Harrison was the ship's cook, and he'd been in the bathroom when the tugboat he worked on had suddenly capsized in bad weathe…

In 1982, two Mississippi boys recreated a $22m film, shot-for-shot, on their pocket money.

Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala were aged 10 and 11. Their mission would take them seven years to complete, an…

How a jump changed daring parachutist Tony Osornio's life forever.

Tony was Mexico's best precision skydiver and the first woman to join her country's army. She says she "belonged to the skies", and b…

Tony Osornio would go to dangerous extremes to keep skydiving.

She was born into a conservative family, and decided to marry the first man who asked in order to escape the restrictions of home.

Her hu…

By 1981, Pakistani-born immigrant Tariq Mehmood had endured years of violent racism in Britain. When he heard that gangs of white skinheads – with a history of attacking Asians – were coming to his h…

As a Pakistani immigrant teenager in 1970s Britain, Tariq Mehmood endured homelessness and years of violent racism. He found shelter and wisdom in a library, and the strength to stand up to the racis…

Stany Nyandwi's rescued chimpanzees helped him through war and loneliness.

As a young boy Stany made money selling sugarcane and worked as a 'houseboy' for families in Burundi's capital city Bujumbura…