What has [truth] got to do with it? What has that got to do with anything? Let’s go back to 1914 and I’ll put you a different case.”

It was those words, spoken by the character Irwin in Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys, that made me sit up. Up until that point, I had been rather enjoying the National Theatre’s production of the award-winning play, and especially Stephen Campbell Moore’s portrayal of the cynical history teacher Irwin, who is hired by the northern grammar school’s ambitious headmaster to coach his upper sixth Oxbridge candidates. But what Irwin went on to say about the first world war practically made me jump out of the stalls and on to the stage.