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 fro...
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 KennedyGet in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784
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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 KennedyGet in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784
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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 MaddicottGet in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784
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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 MaddicottGet in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784
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Looking for my son for 58 years, part 1
Bestselling writer Lesley Pearse's own story is wilder than any romance.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 first episode of two, we follow her from playground storyteller to lost teenage girl in 1960s London, to brave single mum determined to go it alone. Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Laura Thomas & Edgar MaddicottGet in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784
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.