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History's Heroes

Historian Alex von Tunzelmann, Ray Winstone, Nicola Coughlan and Helena Bonham Carter shine a light on extraordinary people in history.

Radio 4,77 episodes

Episodes

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The Sisters Who Took On A Dictator
A woman and her sisters refuse to bow down to a brutal dictator.
06 Jan 2026,29 mins
Charles Dickens and the Train Crash
How did Charles Dickens rescue passengers from a railway disaster?
30 Dec 2025,28 mins
History's Heroes Trailer
Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone.
23 Dec 2025,2 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Trailer
Adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge, with Ray Winstone.
30 Sep 2025,2 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Peter Freuchen: Surviving the Arctic Wilderness
An arctic explorer is trapped in a snow drift. How will he escape?
07 Oct 2025,28 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Kitty O’Neil: Hollywood's Real Wonder Woman
How did a deaf woman defy the odds to become a Hollywood stuntwoman?
14 Oct 2025,28 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Robert Smalls: Last Chance for Freedom
Can an enslaved man commandeer a Confederate ship and escape to freedom?
21 Oct 2025,29 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Constance Bulwer-Lytton: Suffragette Rebel
A suffragette, hiding a secret, goes on hunger strike.
28 Oct 2025,28 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Hugh Glass: The Real Story of The Revenant
Attacked by a bear and left for dead, can Hugh Glass crawl hundreds of miles to safety?
04 Nov 2025,28 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Henry Johnson: Hellfighter
How did one man from the American South fight off an entire German party in World War One?
11 Nov 2025,28 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Margery Kempe: Ministry of Tears
A medieval woman finds superhuman strength in her tears.
18 Nov 2025,28 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
The Ballad of Crazy Horse
A mysterious Lakota warrior vows to protect his people at any cost.
25 Nov 2025,28 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
Ida B. Wells and the Red Recorder
An intrepid reporter risks her life to expose lynchings in the American South.
02 Dec 2025,28 mins
History's Toughest Heroes
William Marshal: The Greatest Medieval Knight
At the age of 70, can England’s greatest knight still save the realm from invasion?
09 Dec 2025,29 mins
Miss La La and Kaira Fly Through the Air
A circus performer and her acrobatic partner defy convention to become icons of the ring
30 Sep 2025,27 mins
BONUS: The Marvels of Madam C.J. Walker Part 2
How did Madam C.J. Walker transform the beauty industry?
23 Sep 2025,30 mins
Nellie Bly Goes Undercover
Can a young reporter expose the horrors of a New York asylum?
09 Sep 2025,28 mins
The Marvels of Madam C.J. Walker
How did Sarah Breedlove become one of the wealthiest African American Women of her time?
02 Sep 2025,28 mins
William Dodd Fights the Factories
A worker takes on the factory system and demands an end to brutal conditions.
26 Aug 2025,28 mins
Jessica Mitford Finds Her Voice
A rebel aristocrat becomes a civil rights activist.
19 Aug 2025,28 mins
Xuanzang Levels Up
A ten thousand mile journey from China to India and back in search of lost knowledge.
12 Aug 2025,28 mins
The Fairytale Life of Hans Christian Andersen
A Danish man writes a story about human suffering with an unusual hero at its heart.
05 Aug 2025,28 mins
BONUS: Gertrude Ederle Ruling The Waves Part 2
How has Gertrude Ederle’s Channel Swim inspired a new wave of swimmers?
29 Jul 2025,23 mins
Gertrude Ederle: Ruling The Waves
Will a young swimmer make it across the Channel and into the history books?
22 Jul 2025,28 mins
Eglantyne Jebb Saves The Children
How a woman’s arrest in Trafalgar Square changed the lives of children around the world.
15 Jul 2025,28 mins
Cardinal Sin and the Bandit Radio
How did an archbishop help topple a dictatorship?
08 Jul 2025,28 mins
BONUS: Saving Face With Harold Gillies Part 2
The complicated legacy of plastic surgeon Harold Gillies.
01 Jul 2025,26 mins
Rodgers & Hammerstein in the South Pacific
A new musical production challenges the prejudices of American society.
01 Jul 2025,28 mins
Katharine Hepburn: Queen of the Screen
A Hollywood star takes on the double standards of the studio system.
24 Jun 2025,28 mins
Saving Face with Harold Gillies
Can a doctor rebuild the shattered faces of World War One soldiers?
17 Jun 2025,28 mins