You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.

I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.

I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,

relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.

So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,

and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you.

So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.

We went to a bar around the corner and I had false eyelashes on.

And the cigarette smoke and everything I didn't smoke in those days was making me cry.

And this man said to me, why are you crying?

And I said, because the president's dead.

I was such an actress sometimes.

Novelist Leslie Pierce probably has about 10 episodes of lives less ordinary in her.

Even when she was little, before she'd lived any of the big, wild lives to come, she was making

up stories. And as a lone teenager, making her way in 60s London,

her instinct for a tall tale, and a knockout set of fake eyelashes, protected her.

I did what I always do when things are bad is make up something.

I'm Osia Fuchs. This is Lives Less Ordinary.

And today, we bring you the first part of Leslie's story.

These days, she's a multi-million selling romance novelist.

Her books are adored around the world for their strong heroines,

facing life's curveballs with bravery and determination.

...