Quotes from Giles Milton

desk simply to say: "Would you be willing to be parachuted into Greece next week?"' Woodhouse thought about it for a moment. 'There seemed no reason to say No, so I said Yes.'5 He reasoned that it would be a good opportunity to practise his Greek.

He penned a letter to the Company in London, a letter whose unfailing spirit would become legendary among the sailors of the East India Company. 'I cannot tell where you should looke for me.' he wrote, 'because I live at the devotion of the winds and seas.' (Written by/about Captain James Lancaster, on the ship Red Dragon, during a terrible storm, 1603)

Hawkins was annoyed but placed his trust in tact and diplomacy. He sent a polite but firm letter to the Portuguese commander reminding him that their two countries were at peace and asking that 'he release my men and goods, for that we were Englishmen.' The commander was in no mood to be lenient and sent Hawkins a return letter 'vilely abusing His Majesty [King James I] terming him King of Fishermen, and of an island of no import'.

Yet they are unmoved when told of the cruel blow that fortune has dealt them, happy to see out their days on this unknown and unspoiled atoll. They will tell you that the view from their windows is infinitely more magnificent than Manhattan's glittering skyline.

antagonist having one hand strapped behind his back and the other

a most Gallant Company of Gentleman Adventurers'.32

Realising that Mauritius could be a valuable port of call for Dutch ships Heemskerck put a rooster and some hens ashore and planted orange and lemon seeds, invoking 'the Almighty God's blessing that He may lend His power to make them multiply and grow for the benefit of those who will visit the island after us'.

Not many weapons could relieve a man of his underwear.

If you wanted to win – and win at all costs – there was no place for gentlemanly behaviour. Guns, gas or grenades; you should be prepared to get your hands dirty. 'A spiked mace smashed in the face,' he reasoned, 'is probably quite as

the whole art of guerrilla warfare lies in striking the enemy where he least expects it and yet where he is most vulnerable

The Art of Guerrilla Warfare and The Partisan Leaders' Handbook.

The W-Bomb was to be the first weapon of war that could both sink a ship and cure a hangover.

Prior to the arrival of both the president and prime minister, listening devices and directional microphones had been concealed in the principal rooms of both the Villa Vorontsov and the Livadia Palace. Members of the British Military Mission in Moscow—all too familiar with eavesdropping—recommended discussing sensitive issues in the bathrooms, with the taps gushing water to drown out their conversations.

We really believed in our hearts that this was the dawn of the new day we had all been praying for and talking about for so many years. We were absolutely certain that we had won the first great victory of the peace—and, by 'we,' I mean all of us, the whole civilized human race.

As radioman Rudolf-Günter Wagner broadcast the news to the crowds of newly liberated Berliners, his words were drowned out by joyous whoops and shrieks. "Hurrah!" they shouted. "Wir leben Noch!" (We're still alive!). Berliner Manfred Knopf had lived through four years of uncertainty. Now he felt a sense of victory. "We belonged to the Western world!