No Ordinary Monday

DISCLAIMER: This episode contains content that may be distressing for some listeners. Please take care while listening. 

The siren is silent, the room is calm, and the heart is racing anyway. That’s where our conversation with former firefighter–paramedic Christy Warren begins—inside the strange quiet before chaos and the laser focus that follows once the job lands in your lap.

Across twenty-five years in busy California sy...

What happens when the wind is so powerful it literally rips the air from your lungs? Sue Stockdale knows this terrifying reality all too well. Trapped for 36 hours in a small tent during a violent storm on the Greenland ice cap, her survival wasn't just a physical battle but a profound mental one. "I discovered depths of resilience that I didn't know I had," she recalls, in a moment that would shape the rest of ...

Have you ever wondered how those incredible physical special effects in movies actually work? Not the CGI, but the real explosions, practical weather, and dangerous stunts that make your jaw drop? David Rigley-Williamson pulls back the curtain on the fascinating, challenging, and sometimes absurd world of special effects artistry.

From humble beginnings as an art student with no clear career path, David found himself build...

Meet Dr. Hazel Barton, a remarkable scientist who descends into Earth's darkest corners in search of microscopic life that could transform our future. Nicknamed the "Lara Croft of microbiology," Hazel combines cutting-edge science with death-defying exploration in some of the most remote cave systems on our planet.

The heart of this episode recounts Hazel's terrifying near-death experience in a cave in ...

What drives someone to pick up a camera and head straight into the world's most dangerous conflicts? Michael Downey has made a career of documenting history's pivotal moments from the front lines, filming for major news outlets in war zones across the Middle East, Ukraine, and beyond.

In this gripping conversation, Michael takes us through his remarkable journey from an Arabic-studying university student to accid...

Tony Bonner takes us deep into his extraordinary experiences as a first responder at the Lockerbie bombing in this gripping conclusion to his two-part interview. His vivid account of discovering the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 – the cockpit embedded in a Scottish field, bodies scattered across the countryside – offers a rare glimpse into one of Britain's darkest moments through the eyes of someone who lived it.

The ...

The red emergency phone had never rung before. When it finally did on December 21st, 1988, trauma nurse Tony Bonner and the Medic One rapid response team knew they were facing something unprecedented. A jumbo jet had crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland, and they were racing toward one of the worst aviation disasters in history.
 
 Tony's journey to that pivotal night was anything but straightforward. From seminary school at...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to control a laser on another planet? Dr. Nina Lanza does exactly that as a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she leads the ChemCam instrument on NASA's Curiosity rover.

With infectious enthusiasm, Nina takes us through her remarkable journey from a space-obsessed child who dreamed of "working on a spaceship with lasers" to a scientist w...

Emmy award-winning cinematographer Keith Partridge takes us behind the scenes of adventure filmmaking, revealing the extraordinary skills and mindset required to capture footage where few dare to venture.

From dangling 3,000 feet off Angel Falls in Venezuela to filming on the summit of Everest, Keith has made a career of putting cameras in places that seem impossibly dangerous. What's remarkable is how his journey beg...

What happens when an anthropologist volunteers as a "demonstration corpse" at a Japanese funeral industry convention? Dr. Hannah Gould's extraordinary career studying death and dying takes her to places few of us will ever experience—from crematoriums crushing infant remains with teaspoons to coffin fashion shows complete with commentators and pumping music.

In this deeply fascinating conversation, we explor...

Welcome to No Ordinary Monday — the podcast that takes you inside the world’s most thrilling, bizarre, and extraordinary careers. Each week, host Chris Baron sits down with someone whose job will make your jaw drop. 

From war photographers, to Mars scientists, bomb disposal experts to dominatrixes...our guests share the highs and lows of their working lives, and reveal that one unforgettable experience that tops everything else in t...