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.

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.

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

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 believe passionately in preemptive pessimism, especially before a book comes out. 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.

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