Alex von Tunzelmann meets Dr Eleanor Janega to discuss Eleanor of Aquitaine, the extraordinary medieval woman who became Queen of France, then Queen of England. Dr Janega is a broadcaster and historian who was named after the great queen. Looking at key moments in her life, Alex wants to better understand the queen’s real impact on history and, crucially, whether this medieval icon actually had agency. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tu...
Feb 17, 2026•28 min
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine was in her 70s when disaster struck in the 1190s. Her sons were often at loggerheads and causing trouble. This time, her crusading son Richard the Lionheart had got into a spot of trouble and got himself kidnapped on his way back from the Holy Land. It was down to Eleanor to save her son, her dynasty and the realm. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across histo...
Feb 10, 2026•29 min
When a nuclear programme threatens Eileen Kampakuta Brown's traditional land in Australia, she brings together a group of Aboriginal women to resist. Their campaign across the country in a two-door wagon will take them all the way to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Michael LaPointe Written and presented by Al...
Feb 03, 2026•29 min
For six days in thirteen eighty-one, Wat Tyler a mysterious, charismatic figure appears to hold the balance of power in England. Fired by a vision of social equality, he leads a peasants' revolt that threatens to overturn the ruling order. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Michael LaPointe Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Ex...
Jan 27, 2026•28 min
Alex von Tunzelmann talks to Dominican American writer Julia Alvarez. Her 1994 novel In The Time of the Butterflies, tells the fictionalised account of the Mirabal Sisters, who lost their lives in standing up to the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Alvarez, who was awarded The National Medal of the Arts, spent her childhood years in the Dominican Republic and describes the Mirabals as her “shadow sisters.” In 2001, the novel was adapted into a feature film of the same name, starring Salma Hayek as Mine...
Jan 20, 2026•25 min
In September 1999, just weeks after a 46-year-old Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister, four bombs blew up four apartment buildings across Russia, killing hundreds of people while they slept. The attacks plunged the country into panic. Families fled their homes. Residents patrolled their blocks around the clock. An entire nation paralyzed by fear. But who did it? It's a mystery that has fuelled some chilling theories. The government blamed Chechen militants. Many reporters agreed. But then the w...
Jan 16, 2026•4 min
At the height of a vicious regime in the Dominican Republic, Minerva Mirabal and her sisters risk everything to liberate their nation. How would their actions help topple the dictator Rafael Trujillo? Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Michael LaPointe Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commission...
Jan 13, 2026•29 min
In June 1865, the writer Charles Dickens was sitting in the first-class carriage of a train when it crashed outside of Kent. The horrific accident would require all his courage and threaten to reveal his most closely guarded secret. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Michael LaPointe Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive...
Jan 06, 2026•29 min
Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history.
Dec 23, 2025•2 min
At the age of 70, does England’s greatest knight still have what it takes to save the realm from invasion? In History's Toughest Heroes, Ray Winstone tells ten true stories of adventurers, rebels and survivors who lived life on the edge. The young Sir William Marshal was handsome, charming, captain of the England Tourney team a sporting hero and right-hand man to many a king of England including Henry the Young King, Henry II, Richard the Lionheart and Bad King John. He was a brilliant rider and...
Dec 16, 2025•30 min
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 tale...
Dec 09, 2025•28 min
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, ...
Dec 02, 2025•29 min
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 sa...
Nov 25, 2025•28 min
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 Americ...
Nov 18, 2025•29 min
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 lifetim...
Nov 11, 2025•28 min
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 sp...
Nov 04, 2025•29 min
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 a...
Oct 28, 2025•29 min
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...
Oct 21, 2025•29 min
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 g...
Oct 14, 2025•29 min
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.
Oct 07, 2025•2 min
A nineteenth century circus performer and her acrobatic partner defy convention to become icons of the ring, as well as artistic muses. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Lorna Reader Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Sep 30, 2025•28 min
How did Madam C.J. Walker transform the beauty industry with her haircare empire? And how have the politics of beauty changed since her time? Alex talks to Alka Menon, assistant professor of sociology at Yale University. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Elaina Boateng Presenter: Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commis...
Sep 23, 2025•30 min
A young reporter sets out to be admitted to a notorious New York asylum. He aim is to expose its horrors. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Elaina Boateng Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Sep 16, 2025•29 min
When Sarah Breedlove begins to lose her hair, she starts a business that will make her one of the wealthiest African American Women of her time. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Elaina Boateng Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts...
Sep 09, 2025•28 min
In the industrial revolution, a worker takes on the factory system and demands an end to brutal conditions. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios Audio production. Producer: Lorna Reader Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Sep 02, 2025•29 min
An aristocrat rebels against her family to become a civil rights activist. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Lorna Reader Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Aug 26, 2025•28 min
A seventh century monk sets out on a perilous journey from China to India and back to find lost knowledge. In the process, he becomes a folk hero. This story would also later inspire the popular game Black Myth: Wukong. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios Audio production. Producer: Lorna Reader Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: ...
Aug 19, 2025•28 min
A young man sets out to find his place in the world by writing a story with an unusual hero at its heart. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios production. Producer: Lorna Reader Written and presented by: Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Aug 12, 2025•28 min
A conversation with the author Jenny Landreth, on how Gertrude Ederle transformed swimming for women. Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios Audio production. Producer: Lorna Reader Series producer: Suniti Somaiya Presented: Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts
Aug 05, 2025•23 min
A nineteen-year-old American woman sets out on an extraordinary feat of endurance. Will Gertrude Ederle become the first woman to swim the English Channel? Stories of bold voices, with brave ideas and the courage to stand alone. Historian Alex von Tunzelmann shines a light on remarkable people from across history. A BBC Studios Audio production. Producer: Lorna Reader Series producer: Suniti Somaiya Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann Executive Producer: Paul Smith Commissioning editor ...
Jul 29, 2025•29 min
