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 1979,

and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Music Our castaway this week is the popular Radio 4 broadcaster who performs in a variety of programs.

It's Irene Thomas. Irene, have you ever imagined

yourself as a castaway? Could you endure alone, Lennon? Yes, I could. I'm quite good at being on my own,

actually, but I must have an island that isn't too hot or too cold. One of the silly aisles would

do for me, very, very nicely. I'm afraid they're all bespoken.

Cool enough for daffodils and cats.

Yeah.

What would you be happiest have got away from?

Jargon, I think, you know, the sort of ongoing situations.

And realizing our full potential in the context of today's society, that sort of thing.

Yes.

Oh, wouldn't it be marvellous?

...