Strange how easily and relatively recently myths and stories can enter the popular cannon. Napoleon must be the most documented historical figures on the planet. We have volumes of his correspondence. Yet we still see assertions being attributed to him with little evidence.

It shouldn’t be too surprising though. He seems perfectly happy to lie to history himself when it suited him. From St Helena he invented midnight interviews, mythical dispatches and invented justifications. The late Bernard Coppen’s Les Mensonges de Waterloo is seminal.