I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.

In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?

Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.

A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by

their own light and that light is to be recognised by others. The long history of heroism with me,

Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Krista Young and this is a podcast from the Desert

Island Discs Archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. The program

was originally broadcast in 1980,

and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Music And this week, our novelist, playwright and scriptwriter, Faye Weldon.

Ms. Weldon, have you ever imagined yourself as a female Robinson Crusoe?

I think I probably have, yes, because you identify, don't you?

Even though he was male and you're female, you always think how much better you would have managed than he would have.

You would have been just that much more sensible.

You would have thought quicker. You would have done it. You would have survived better.

Yes. Could you endure, learned in us? I would find it very difficult, but if you had to, you would. How much does music mean to you?

I don't think it means very much at all. I use it to change mood. I often write to music,

in fact, and I write to rather kind of plaintive female

songs most of the time. I like that. And especially if they're very familiar, they don't

obtrude on you too much, but they keep a sort of memory of going which you use when you write.

Have you any musical prowess yourself, do you play an instrument?

...