The Waterloo myth-debunkers had been doing the rounds before Andrew Roberts’ week-long series about popular misrepresentations of Napoleon and his achievements broke upon the airwaves (15-19 June). And so, armed with the knowledge – courtesy of a weekend newspaper – that so few home-grown soldiers had been in action on 18 June 1815 that the battle could scarcely be described as a British victory, one approached this brisk assessment of the great man’s life and times with a faint sense of resignation.It is not that Roberts is not an excellent historian. It is not that he lacks presentational skills; his manner is breezy, forceful and erudite.No, it is simply that the listener has become habituated to seeing these sacred cows of historical myth being taken out and sl