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" The duty of a historian is simply to understand and then convey that understanding, no more than that. "

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" When I was younger I used to get my best writing done at night, but now it has to be during the day. I usually finish work at half past seven, then go back to the house to open a bottle of wine, have dinner, and then read or watch television. "

" I get slightly obsessive about working in archives because you don't know what you're going to find. In fact, you don't know what you're looking for until you find it. "

" If you smash a city when you're trying to capture it, you actually end up providing the perfect terrain for the defenders while blocking the access for your own armoured vehicles. "

" Alpacas are very endearing, and they all have very different personalities. "

" The great European dream was to diminish militant nationalism. We would all be happy Europeans together. But we are going to see the old monster of militant nationalism being awoken when people realise how little control their politicians have. "

" When I was a child I had something called Perthes' Disease which meant I was on crutches, so I was bullied at school and all that sort of stuff. "

" I expect the worst both from reviewers and sales and then, with any luck, I may be proved wrong. "

" It takes me three or four years to research and write each book and the individual stories stay with you for a long time afterwards. "

" At a purely practical level, history is important because it provides the basic skills needed for students to go further in sociology, politics, international relations and economics. History is also an ideal discipline for almost all careers in the law, the civil service and the private sector. "

" One has this image of the Soviet state and the Red Army as being extremely disciplined but in the first four months of 1945 their soldiers were completely out of control. "

" I feel slightly uneasy at the way historians are consulted as if history is going to repeat itself. It never does. "

" To begin impatiently is the worst mistake a writer can make. "

" I joined the Army in 1965 and served with the 11th Hussars, which I loved. The regiment was so relaxed - a salute was more like a friendly wave. "

" Teaching the history of the British Empire links in with that of the world: for better and for worse, the Empire made us what we are, forming our national identity. A country that does not understand its own history is unlikely to respect that of others. "

" It was only after five years in the army, when I was having to do a very boring job in a very boring place, that I thought: 'Why not try writing a novel?' partly out of youthful arrogance and partly because there had been a long line of writers in my mother's family. "

" I am not someone who believes I am going to find a historical scoop. "

" It is this compulsion to look backwards at a time of crisis because one's got no idea of what lies ahead. There is a notion of security that somehow it must resemble the past. It's never going to. Just because we muddled through in the past doesn't mean we can automatically muddle through in the future. "

" I just write the sort of book that I would enjoy reading myself, a book that is both scholarly and recreates the experience of people at that time. "

" I think it's outrageous if a historian has a 'leading thought' because it means they will select their material according to their thesis. "

" The power of historical fiction for bad and for good can be immense in shaping consciousness of the past. "

" The British bombing of Caen beginning on D-Day in particular was stupid, counter-productive and above all very close to a war crime. "

" The majority of soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army and the allied armies treated the local population humanely. "

" When my first novel was published, I went in great excitement round bookshops in central London to see if they had stocked it. "

" I read round the subject, I make a skeleton outline, and then I start work in the relevant archives. During the marshaling of the material, I copy the material from each archive file across to the relevant chapter in the skeleton outline. "