Talk about hedging your bets and playing yourself down ... In 1815 Arthur Wellesley, the newly created Duke of Wellington, began his 100 days campaign today which culminated in his great victory at Waterloo. In case he lost however ( and he nearly did) he wrote a little package of excuses to Lord Stewart - 'I have got an infamous army, very weak and ill-equipped and a very inexperienced staff' ... He might have added, 'So if it all goes tits-up, it's not my fault, all right?'
In other news ...
Back in 1947 Henry Gordon Selfridge died leaving an estate of only £1544. Perhaps he'd spent all the rest at Selfridge's.
