Tales of Waterloo
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The 18th of June - a memorable day for several reasons, but most of all for the events 209 years ago at Waterloo.
That day marked the end of an era which had started a quarter of a century earlier.
The number of anecdotes around that day seems endless, some of them truer than others.
The Earl of Uxbridge lost his leg while next to Wellington, exclaiming "By God sir, I've lost my leg!"
Fitzroy Somerset, later Lord Raglan, lost an arm. When the surgeons amputated - in the days before anaestesia, rum or brandy had to do - he was sufficiently conscious to demand his arm be brought back, as there was a ring on finger, given to him by his wife.
Wellington giving up his bed, after the battle, to a wounded officer.
And three days after the battle Major Percy, exhausted, arrived at a ball in St. James's Square to lay the captured eagles at the Prince of Wales's feet. In later years, the Prince of Wales, later George IV was, it is said, heard to reminisce about the battle as though he had been there - which would have made him a very quick traveller to make it back in time to dress suitably for the ball.
Like the Prince of Wales' memories, truth and fiction may become blurred when it comes to this momentous day.