Men wiser and more learned than I have discerned in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following upon another as wave follows upon wave. H A L Fisher, A Map of Europe, 1935
History is more or less bunk. Henry Ford, cited Chicago Tribune 25th May 1916
History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other. Philip Guedalla, Supers and Supermen, 1920
Suppose ... that Lenin had died of typhus in Siberia in 1895 and Hitler had been killed on the western front in 1916. What would the twentieth century have looked like now? Arthur M Schlesinger junior, The Cycles of American History, 1986
That great dust-heap called history. Augustine Birrell
History is philosophy from examples. Dionysius of Hallicarnassus
It has been said that though God cannot alter the past, historians can; it is perhaps because they can be useful to Him in this respect that He tolerates their existence. Samuel Butler, 1835 -1902
History is the essence of innumerable biographies. Thomas Carlyle
History is a distillation of rumour. Thomas Carlyle
For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history. Winston Churchill
Orgies of dates. Winston Churchill
History will absolve me. Fidel Castro
Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it. Oscar Wilde, Intentions
The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it. ibid.
History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen. Enoch Powell, speech 19th October 1967
History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. W C Sellar & R J Yeatman, 1066 and All That
The Roman Conquest was, however, a Good Thing, since the Britons were only natives at the time. ibid.
The cruel Queen died and a post-mortem examination revealed the world CALLOUS engraved on her heart. ibid.
The Rump Parliament – so called because it had been sitting for such a long time. ibid.
The National Debt is a very Good Thing and it would be dangerous to pay it off, for fear of Political Economy. ibid.
Most memorable ... was the discovery (made by all the rich men in England at once) that women and children could work twenty-five hours a day in factories without many of them dying or becoming excessively deformed. This was known as the Industrial Revolution. ibid.
The people of Earth are at war to decide whose interpretation of the past is going to shape the future of mankind. The ethos that will eventually conquer the minds of people will be the one that succeeds in creating a framework of historical understanding for which a believable and inspiring future for mankind may be constructed. J T Fraser, Time – The Familiar Stranger, 1987
The great house behind me is the ancestral seat of my family. A Sense of History 1992 starring Jim Broadbent & Stephen Bill & Belinda Bradley & Edward Bradley & Roma the dog, director Mike Leigh, Earl of Leete’s commentary
For us still to be here after nine hundred and some years is an achievement. ibid.
She was stupid, vain, lazy and craven. We adored her but she paid us scant attention. I do remember her. Particularly her smell. ibid. Leete’s mother
As a farmer he was catastrophically inept. ibid. Leete’s father
My father – this nasty booby of a man whom I hated ferociously. My mother – this astoundingly beautiful woman with whom we sometimes had tea. ibid. Leete’s parents
So it was that at the age of seven I committed myself to the murder of my brother. ibid. Leete’s brother
When I was fourteen my father hanged himself and I took the title ... It was three days before he was found. And the sad thing is no-one had missed him. Oh look, some of the rope is still here. ibid.
Here was a man who had single-handedly brought a bankrupt country to prosperity within a very few years. And as a farmer I had to respect that. ibid. re Hitler
We’ve kept those other bastards out. And that’s good, isn’t it? Isn’t it? ibid. commentary
A small island in the Bristol Channel known as Flat Home may be sold off by Cardiff City Council. Richplanet TV: South Wales/King Arthur, interview Wilson
South Wales has assets of huge historical importance ... One of these is the grave of the legendary King Arthur. ibid.
We have an ancient British alphabet. ibid. Wilson
There is enough contemporaneous record in the stones. ibid.
Chronicles of England: King Arthur II at least was a king of Glamorgan and Gwent. ibid.
Wales: The Land of King Arthur. ibid.
King Arthur was taught ... until about 1924 certainly. Richplanet TV: The Forensic Historians IV: King Arthur’s Grave, Wilson & Blackett; viz also On the Edge interview
The History of the Kings of Britain: Geoffrey of Monmouth. ibid.
Arthur I & Arthur II: they pushed the two together into one. ibid.
Ancestors: we know more about them than any country in Europe. ibid.
They’re kings of a mighty dynasty. ibid.
The idea he is unknown is inconceivable. ibid.
King Arthur d.579 A.D. who also held the title Arthur Uthyr Pendragon. Marriage: Gwenhwyfawr, Gwenhwyfach, Gwenhwyfar. ibid.
The ruin of St Peter’s Church ... abandoned the turn of the century ... We bought it ... And we did find a stone. ibid.
The King Arthur burial cross. ibid.
This is Arthur’s hill fort. ibid.
The Welsh and British ancient alphabet is identical or nearly identical to the old Etruscan alphabet and the Paladian alphabet. Richplanet TV: The Forensic Historians V: Alan Wilson & Baram Blackett, Wilson
Wilson and Blackett have produced many [Welsh] star/mound maps. ibid.
We’re heading to a place called Ynys-y-bwl which is the location that Alan Wilson strongly believes the Ark of the Covenant is buried. ibid. Richard D Hall
The [Holy] Cross is in the UK [viz Harleian 3859 manuscript]. ibid. Wilson
Thousands of years of explosive change. 70,000 years of human history. Stories that we thought we knew and others we were never told. Andrew Marr’s History of the World I: Survival, BBC 2012
We have been brilliantly clever at reshaping the world around us. ibid.
Africa: around 70,000 years ago. These people are fully developed modern humans just like us – homo sapiens: it means wise man. ibid.
Scientists have tracked it back to one migration out of Africa, one tribe, one woman. ibid.
It’s reckoned that some of us may have reached Australia fifty thousand years ago. ibid.
When we got to Europe we discovered we were not alone. ibid.
We probably co-existed with the Neanderthals in Europe for between five and ten thousand years. ibid.
Laziness turns out to be an underestimated force in human history. ibid.
Three grasses triumphed in ancient times: wheat, rice and corn. ibid.
Farming was the great leap forward. ibid.
Writing had developed in Egypt around 5,000 years ago. ibid.
Europe’s first civilisation – the Minoans. ibid.
The Minoans were pioneers of international trade. ibid.