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. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

1937. The Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Echo was moored in the port of Bilbao in northern Spain.

In a small office nearby, a dark-haired British woman smiled sweetly at the authorities who'd detained her.

She hadn't spoken or moved for hours.

She was a fighter, for sure.

She had style, she had chutzpah, she had guts.

The woman was reporting on the Spanish Civil War.

The ship was there to collect her, but she wouldn't budge.

Sitting next to her was a journalist.

He was also her fiancé.

He too refused to cooperate.

It is an absolute chaos.

You've got people in high places sort of rushing around thinking, oh my goodness.

You've got the press badgering night and day

and these two young, excitable people at the centre of it all,

desperately trying to preserve what they had.

And these weren't just two elopers, these were two highly well-connected elopers.

...