History's Heroes
BBC Radio 4
History's Heroes: the BBC's breathtaking, high stakes, story-led history podcast feed that shines a light on extraordinary people from across history.Series include 'History's Toughest Heroes' with narration from Ray Winstone, 'History's Heroes' with narration from Historian Alex von Tunzelmann, 'History's Youngest Heroes' with narration from Nicola Coughlan and 'History's Secret Heroes' with narration from Helena Bonham Carter.In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone reveals wild, true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors. Heroes covered include arctic explorer Peter Freuchen, Hollywood stunt woman Kitty O'Neil and medieval knight William Marshal. Join Ray for tales of fearsome heroes who lived life on the edge. In History's Heroes, Historian Alex von Tunzelmann (Radio 4's The History Podcast: The Lucan Obsession/writer of all the History's Heroes series) shines a light on the inspiring and unusual stories of courage, pioneering and people who used their voice to spark change. Heroes covered include groundbreaking surgeon Harold Gillies, composers Rodgers and Hammerstein and swimming champion Gertrude Ederle. Join Alex for stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone.In History's Youngest Heroes, actress Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton, Derry Girls) tells twelve true stories of rebellion, risk and the radical power of youth. Before she became a Hollywood star, how did the young Audrey Hepburn take on the Nazis during World War Two? As a young activist, how did Nelson Mandela attempt to overthrow the South African government to end apartheid? Did Queen of England, Lady Jane Grey give up her faith or face the executioner's axe? Why did Terry Fox, a young man with a prosthetic leg, set out to run the length of Canada? Join Nicola to hear inspiring tales of young heroes both famous and forgotten, whose bravery demonstrates how young people can change history.In History's Secret Heroes, Helena Bonham Carter recounts untold stories of heroes from World War Two whose acts of resistance, deception and courage helped defeat fascism. In each episode, Helena shines a light on the spies, Royal Air Force pilots, army officers, prisoners of war and double agents who risked their lives to save others. Learn all about forgotten stories of survival, bravery and espionage - from the opera singers who helped dozens of Jewish people escape Nazi Germany, to the woman that Winston Churchill would go on to call his favourite spy.Previous episodes have looked at the story of the American actor George Takei (Star Trek), who was imprisoned without trial along with 12,000 other Japanese Americans, and Bela Hazan, a young Jewish woman who went undercover at the Gestapo headquarters to fight against the Nazis. From secret missions behind enemy lines in occupied Europe, to underground resistance movements across Germany, France, Poland, Great Britain and beyond, History's Secret Heroes reveals how ordinary people can make an extraordinary impact.Join Ray, Alex, Nicola and Helena for tales of deception, rebellion, risk and courage.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 9, 2025 • 28min
History's Toughest Heroes: Ida B. Wells and the Red Recorder
With lynchings of Black Americans on the rise, a reporter begins documenting the crimes, sending her on a dangerous journey through the violence of the Jim Crow South.In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.After a humiliating standoff with a train conductor in the American South, the young Ida B Wells decided to make a stand. Racism was rife, and Lynchings of Black people were increasingly common. A talented writer at a time when most people were unable, or too afraid to speak out, she used journalism to expose the horrible truth of the violence and injustices being perpetrated. It put a target on her own back.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Michael LaPointe
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Dec 2, 2025 • 29min
History's Toughest Heroes: The Ballad of Crazy Horse
When European American settlers begin displacing the indigenous Lakota from their ancestral lands, one enigmatic warrior refuses to surrender. He gathers his people for an epic standoff with the military.In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.In the depths of the Wild West Crazy, when tensions between Native American tribes and the US military were running high and native people were losing their lives, their land and their heritage, Crazy Horse (along with other notable warriors like Sitting Bull) would become a legend. A stunning horseman, empowered by a vision, he led the Lakota tribe to a rousing victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn against General George Custer.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Michael LaPointe
Development Producer: Georgina Leslie
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Nov 25, 2025 • 28min
History's Toughest Heroes: Margery Kempe: Ministry of Tears
Margery Kempe always tells it like it is. But in Medieval England, such straight-talking can get a woman killed...In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.Born in Kings Lynne in around 1373, Margery Kempe was destined for a typical medieval life. But after the birth of her first child, and a terrifying nine months of diabolical visons of the devil and hell which meant she was tied to the bed for her own safety, she had an altogether more soothing experience. A vision of a man with whom she’d fall deeply, passionately in love - Jesus Christ. After that, despite being full of lustful feelings, she swore off sex with her husband and forged her own path – speaking her mind and getting out of endless scrapes thanks to her indefatigable ferocity.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Suniti Somaiya
Development Producer: Georgina Leslie
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Nov 18, 2025 • 29min
History's Toughest Heroes: Henry Johnson: Hellfighter
A Black soldier from the American South makes headlines when he fights off an entire German party in World War One. But his fame comes at a price.In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.
Growing up in as a Black man in North Carolina, where racism was enshrined in law and lynchings were horrifyingly common, Henry Johnson didn't have much hope for a bright future. He moved to Albany New York and when America joined the Great War he found himself on the front line in France, with the all-Black 369th infantry regiment. These men would come to be known as the Harlem Hellfighters and after one fateful night, in the pitch black of no-mans-land, Henry Johnson would be hailed a national hero thanks to his ferocity and extreme courage in the face of an enemy attack.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Suniti Somaiya
Development Producer: Georgina Leslie
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Nov 11, 2025 • 28min
History's Toughest Heroes: Hugh Glass: The Real Story of The Revenant
The real-life Revenant who survived a savage bear mauling and crawled hundreds of miles across the American plains to confront the scoundrels who abandoned him.In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.
Immortalised by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2015 blockbuster movie, the real-life Hugh Glass is still a bit of a mystery. This fur trapper and great mountain man of the Wild West became famous in his own lifetime for being absurdly tough – the legend went that he'd escaped pirates, been schooled by native tribes in survival on the often brutal American Plains. He was savaged by a bear, and crawled 200 miles to wreak bitter vengeance on the men who abandoned him. A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Suniti Somaiya
Development Producer: Georgina Leslie
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Nov 4, 2025 • 29min
History's Toughest Heroes: Constance Bulwer-Lytton: Suffragette Rebel
Constance Lytton was raised an aristocrat. But when she wakes up to women's suffrage, she goes undercover in solidarity, joining her working-class comrades in prison and staging a series of dangerous hunger strikes.In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.As a lady, and part of the English upper-crust, when Constance Lytton was arrested for her involvement in the women's suffrage movement, she was given special treatment in prison. Desperate to be treated like everyone else, she disguised herself as the working-class ‘Jane Warton’. But when the time came to endure the horror of force feedings, it took everything she had to hold on to the mantra ‘no surrender’.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Michael LaPointe
Development Producer: Georgina Leslie
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Oct 28, 2025 • 29min
History's Toughest Heroes: Robert Smalls: Last Chance for Freedom
For an enslaved man like Robert Smalls during the American Civil War, there was only way out of Charleston: through the harbour and past hostile Confederate forts. He just needed a ship...In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.Robert Smalls was born a slave in the American South. His one chance at escape and freedom hung on a key act of bravery on a single night. He’d have to sail right under the noses and massive cannons of the Confederate ships and forts . If he hoped to survive with his fellow fleeing slaves, he’d have to be bold, be a great actor, don a cunning disguise and have nerves of steel to pull it off.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Michael LaPointe
Development Producer: Georgina Leslie
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Oct 21, 2025 • 29min
History's Toughest Heroes: Kitty O’Neil: Hollywood's Real Wonder Woman
In the macho stunt world, a deaf woman is determined to push the limits. But as her stunts break records, can she keep cheating death?In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.Kitty O’Neil was the stunt-woman behind wonder-woman - in tiny hotpants and a bustier. But she was also a speed demon, a land speed world record breaker and all-round adrenaline junkie who beat all the boys. She used being deaf to her advantage. For Kitty, her disability was her superpower.
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Michael LaPointe
Development Producer: Georgina Leslie
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Oct 14, 2025 • 29min
History's Toughest Heroes: Peter Freuchen: Surviving the Arctic Wilderness
An arctic explorer is trapped in a snow drift the size of a coffin. How will he survive frostbite and make it out alive?In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge.Danish born Peter Freuchen looked like a Viking, 6ft 7, huge beard, massive furs. His life was one non-stop adventure. He started out as well-to-do young man in Copenhagen – destined for a life as a doctor. But there was a race for the North Pole going on, and explorers would pass through the city to tell their incredible stories. Freuchen was inspired. He dropped out of medical school and joined an expedition to the extreme north. From that moment on, his life was fraught with danger, severed limbs, murderous wolves and lost dogs, extreme isolation and loneliness and very unlikely survival. He was undefeated by the frozen desert of the arctic and, as the century wore on, by Nazi oppression, even by the dazzling glare of Hollywood celebrity. A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Producer: Suniti Somaiya
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Imogen Robertson
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Oct 7, 2025 • 2min
History's Toughest Heroes: Trailer
Ray Winstone tells stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge. Ten tales of fearsome heroes from across history including arctic explorers, medieval knights and Hollywood stuntwomen.
