I actually think that history has fed off the restlessness of cyber space, of kind of the frantic, segmented nature of the way we lead our lives. People want to be connected.

I first read War And Peace about 100 years after Tolstoy wrote it.

But it struck me that the extreme violence and cruelty of the English Civil War had gone understated.

Even for the most excitable preacher, there was nothing inherently sinful about a waffle.

DIY, cricket, automobile repair. I could study it for a lifetime and not produce a word on the carburettor.

I actually think that history has fed off the restlessness of cyber space, of kind of the frantic, segmented nature of the way we lead our lives. People want to be connected.

The great theme of modern British history is the fate of freedom. The 18th century inherits, after the Civil War, this very peculiar political animal. It's not a democracy, but it's not a tyranny. It's not like the rest of the world, the rest of Europe. There is a parliament, laws have to be made, elections are made.