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 Kresti 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 1996,

and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Music My castaway this week is an actor. Still only 36, he's one of a highly successful group of performers who came via Cambridge and the Footlights to the London stage and television.

He's probably best known for his partnership with Stephen Fry playing the idiotic. came via Cambridge and the Footlights to the London stage and television.

He's probably best known for his partnership with Stephen Frye,

playing the idiotic Bertie Worcester opposite Fry's Jeeves for ITV,

and starring with him in their comedy series for the BBC.

But his versatility and originality extend well beyond that.

He's road for Cambridge in the boat race, can play almost any musical

instrument he wants, and has just written his first novel. None of this seems to make him happy.

If a thing's worth doing, he once said, it's worth getting absolutely miserable about. He is

Hugh Lorry. You're obviously, by the sound of it, Hugh, one of life's warriors.

I suppose, yeah. This is a gross understatriers. I suppose I am, yes. I find happiness. I get uncomfortable with happiness. I think if things are going too well, I start to worry, you know.

So you worry about every part you do, do you? Everything, you're writing, anything.

I could worry about the colour scheme of this room. I could absolutely everything.

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