He was a remarkable man, with an amazingiy active and fertile mind. Unfortunately some of his ideas were unpleasant. While I don’t think they completely wipe out the other achievements of his interestingly varied career, as an historian I must deal with them, where necessary. But families will naturally and rightly see famous people differently than the outside world.

It’s funny you should mention P-B’s conspiracy theories … I was going to post about claims that the libel suit was politically instigated, which I find hard to credit (not least because the suit seems more than justified on its own merits) but I should find out more about the claims themselves before I criticise them. Anyway, I started writing up an explanation of the conspiracy theories, but I didn’t think of relating it to events in France. Do you mean Mata Hari? (Who, come to think of it, was another dancer accused of using sex to undermine the Allied war effort.)

Revelations about German espionage in France could certainly lend plausibility to tales of the “Hidden Hand”, but I think there are plenty of indigenous sources as well - not least the pre-war spy paranoia (Germans under every hedgerow) combined with war-weariness (why haven’t we won yet?) Add to that, virulent anti-Semitism and homophobia, and the fear of venereal disease being spread by prostitution, and fears of race suicide … there are many elements contributing to the mix.

As for P-B, I wonder how much he based his conspiracy theory on the goings-on in France, when a real (probably) network of German agents was discovered, with consequences for the government.