Lives Less Ordinary

An announcement from the Outlook team: From Monday 25th April, this feed will become Lives Less Ordinary. It’s a new weekly podcast bringing you amazing personal stories from all over the globe, meeting people who by accident or design have found themselves in extraordinary situations. People willing to share some of the most intimate and defining moments of their lives, with you. Stay subscribed and don’t miss a single episode. (Photo: Emily Webb, one of the presenters of Outlook and Lives Less Ordinary. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

Grace M. Cho grew up Korean-American in a small town in Washington state. Her mother, Koonja, was a Korean woman who met Grace’s white-American father – a merchant marine – on a US military base in the aftermath of the Korean war. Charismatic and determined, Koonja did everything she could to 'fit in' in their town: she threw a party for Grace and her brother’s teachers to help them integrate at school; she learned to cook American food; and she also founded a thriving woodland-foraging business that led to her being nicknamed “the blackberry lady” by the locals. Still, Grace never felt the family was truly accepted, and they often experienced harassment. When Grace was 15, Koonja suffered a psychological breakdown that would, years later, be diagnosed as schizophrenia. Struggling to help, Grace turned detective and uncovered her mother’s traumatic history in Korea. But it was through cooking – and recreating Korean recipes Koonja had not tasted for decades – that Grace and her mother were able to find comfort and connection. Grace's memoir is called Tastes Like War. Get in touch: [email protected] Presenter: Anu Anand Producer: Laura Thomas Picture: Grace M. Cho Credit: Patrick Bower

In June 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by militants. The plane and its 248 passengers were flown to Entebbe airport in Uganda, where all the Israeli and Jewish passengers on board were held hostage in an old terminal building. The hostage takers were members, or allies, of a Palestinian armed group, and the hijacking was tied to the on going Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Back in Israel, Rami Sherman, who was an officer in an elite military unit, started making plans to get the hostages back. The situation was challenging, and they knew they needed the element of surprise to pull off a rescue. The idea they came up with involved a low altitude flight across East Africa, and a fake presidential motorcade. Picture: Commando team in aftermath of Entebbe raid Credit: Getty Images, Keystone, Stringer