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 1983,

and the presenter was Roy Plumley. Music This week we've offered our desert island to someone who most of the year is mopping up part of our audience on our Friday morning repeat, a small part, I hope.

It's the housewife's choice, Terry Wogan.

Terry, could you endure the loneliness of a desert island?

First of all, let me repudiate your suggestion about my small parts.

Now, could I endure the loneliness?

Yes, I could.

I quite enjoy my own company.

For six years, I was an only child,

and I think those are important years.

And so I think I would be able to sit on my own

without feeling too much angst or pain,

or I'm not very gregarious anyway.

And obviously the nature of my job

...