{"podcast":{"title":"Lives Less Ordinary","slug":"lives-less-ordinary-162239","podcast_index_feed_id":162239,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02s5rx7.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02s5rx7","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0ltmjjg.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":226,"summary":"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.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-15T08:17:08.374225+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lives-less-ordinary-162239"},"episode":{"title":"Growing up black in a white family – the truth behind my birth","slug":"growing-up-black-in-a-white-family-the-truth-behind-my-birth","published_at":"2026-03-23T01:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lives-less-ordinary-162239/growing-up-black-in-a-white-family-the-truth-behind-my-birth","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lives-less-ordinary-162239","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0n7ttzw","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss-low/proto/http/vpid/p0n7tpzy.mp3","summary":"M People star Andrew Lovell’s home life hid a terrible – yet beautiful – secret. It would take him decades to find out the truth. At the height of his fame, drummer Andrew ‘Shovell’ Lovell had everything he’d dreamed of: sex, drugs and regular appearances at the top of the charts with the dance music band M People. But sell-out shows, first-class travel and five-star hotels couldn’t stop the questions gnawing away at him. As a mixed-race kid growing up in a white family in south London he wanted to know: who were his birth parents? Why had they given him up? The answer, when it came, was shocking. A disruptive and unruly child, Andrew was asked to leave school aged 15. He found a trade as a plumber but his true passion was music. He joined M People in the early 90s and by 1995 he was touring the world. The band was celebrating its second platinum-selling album in 1998 when Andrew sat down for a heart to heart with his adoptive parents on Christmas Day. He was 33 at the time, and a star – M People was one of the most successful dance music acts in the world with hits like Search for the Hero and Moving On Up. But deep down Andrew was still a little boy with a big question – to which he was about to get a devastating answer. The revelation of who his real mother was left him reeling and plunged him into a breakdown. If you are suffering distress and need support, there are details of help available in many countries at www.befrienders.org Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Hetal Bapodra 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 t…","meta_description":"M People star Andrew Lovell’s home life hid a terrible – yet beautiful – secret. It would take him decades to find out the truth. At the height of his fam…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2339,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/lives-less-ordinary-162239/episodes/growing-up-black-in-a-white-family-the-truth-behind-my-birth/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lives-less-ordinary-162239/growing-up-black-in-a-white-family-the-truth-behind-my-birth.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}