My hunt for the Gutenberg – the rare book that solved a family mystery

American endurance swimmer Diana Nyad faced down box jellyfish, cold and extreme fatigue to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage for protection, in 2013. She was 64 and had always been drawn by intense, seemingly unachievable feats of marathon swimming. It was after shooting to fame for swimming round the island of Manhattan in the 1970s that Diana first seized on an idea that had been planted in her head in childhood: she would swim the 112 miles from Cuba to Florida's Key West. Five attempts and more than thirty years later, she finally succeeded, wobbling unsteadily up the beach after nearly 53 hours in the water to tell a cheering crowd, "never, ever give up... you are never too old to chase your dreams." Archive from Diana's swimming and broadcasting careers appears courtesy of: Florida Keys TV; The Wolfson Archives, Miami Dade College; PBS; FOX Sports; ABC; Courage to Succeed (1977). This programme has been re-edited and corrected since first published.Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Laura Thomas and Saskia EdwardsGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

1 Sep 202439min

Gilbert Alaskadi grew up in the African country of Chad. His family was poor, and he spent much of his childhood hungry, with people frequently making fun of his small stature. Then, when he was a teenager, he encountered a bodybuilding pamphlet, promising quick muscle growth in a handful of weeks. He wanted the physique, but first he'd need money and calories. At the first oppurtunity he ran away from home, left the country, and jumped head-first into the world of bodybuilding. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Munazza KhanGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

25 Aug 202432min

Osel Hita Torres was a Spanish toddler when he was recognised by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of a well-known Tibetan Buddhist monk and teacher called Lama Yeshe. As a child he was sent to a monastery in India to prepare for life as a monk and scholar. Many expected him to carry on Lama Yeshe’s work of teaching Buddhism around the world when he grew up. But Osel had other ideas. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Zoe Gelber Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784(Photo: The Little Lama Osel with Geshe Gendun Choephel (left) and Lama Zopa Rinpoche (right): Credit: Jacie Keeley)

18 Aug 202440min

At the age of 11 in 1985, Salva Dut was separated from his family by the Sudanese civil war. After a decade moving between different refugee camps, and presumed an orphan, Salva was recommended for resettlement in the United States as part of a UN-backed programme to support some 4,000 so-called 'lost boys' who'd been displaced by conflict. Salva settled with a host family in Rochester, New York. But when he was in his late 20s, he found out that his father was in fact still alive. Salva travelled back to Sudan to find him. His father was in a clinic and sick with a waterborne disease. Salva decided to try to bring clean water to his home village. A few years later, he established an NGO, Water for South Sudan, and he returned to his birthplace to drill his first well. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Jo ImpeyGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784(Photo: Salva Dut drilling for water; Credit: Water for South Sudan, Inc)

10 Aug 202425min

Salva Dut is one of Sudan's so-called 'Lost Boys.' Separated from his family at the age of 11 when the civil war reached his village in 1985, Salva walked for weeks to reach safety in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. There, he lived out most of his teenage years, amongst thousands of other orphans. Like most of them, Salva had no idea what had happened to his family. With little adult supervision, the boys developed their own systems of organisation. That was to prove vital when in 1991 they were driven from the camp by a new conflict. Salva was 17 by this point, and he'd become a leader amongst the boys. In total there were 17,000 of them. They set off in groups, first back towards Sudan, then south, towards Kenya. When they emerged from the wilderness after many months, aid workers were astonished to find them still alive. They shared their story with the world. The United Nations recommended almost 4,000 of the Lost Boys for resettlement in the US, and Salva's name was among them. By this point, in his early 20s, Salva had been separated from his family for a decade. A reunion seemed impossible. He would be boarding a flight and leaving the continent of his birth behind.The second part of Salva's story will be broadcast on the next edition of Lives Less OrdinaryPresenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Jo ImpeyGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

4 Aug 202438min

In the early 1980s Jason Evans' father was given a blood product called Factor 8 to treat his haemophilia, which infected him with HIV. He was one of thousands of people in the UK who were unwittingly infected with blood-borne viruses from blood products and infusions, despite the dangers being already known. Jason's father died when he was just four, and he spent most of his life campaigning for the truth about what happened.Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Julian SiddleGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

28 Juli 202441min

Nick Stride said too much about his former boss, one of Putin’s closest allies. Nick Stride, a builder from the UK, feared for his family’s safety after discovering alleged financial corruption while building First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov’s 140-million-dollar mansion in Moscow. Worried that his every movement was being watched, he hatched a plan to get out and put as much distance as possible between his loved ones and his former boss. They chose Australia. Nick then passed the secret accounting documents he’d taken to an investigative reporter, but by the time it came to publish, Nick and his family’s claim for political asylum in Australia was rejected. Seeing no way out, the family went on the run, hiding out amongst the snakes and crocodiles of the country’s unforgiving Dampier peninsula, every morning expecting a truck to pull up and tear his family apart.The book about his odyssey is called Run For Your Life, by Sue Williams.Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Edgar Maddicott

21 Juli 202440min

Anoosheh Ashoori was visiting Iran when he was snatched off the street by security forces. He was falsely accused of espionage, and spent years in one of the country's toughest prisons. For a long time, he didn't know why he'd been targeted. Anoosheh was a British-Iranian dual national, but he'd worked a career as an engineer, and had no links to intelligence services. Gradually, as his incarceration wore on, he realised he'd become a pawn in a game of global politics. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Andrea KennedyGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

14 Juli 202440min