It is difficult to imagine two leaders less alike than Hitler and Churchill. They were chalk and cheese. Hitler is usually compared with his fellow dictators; there are differences here too, but at least we are talking about varieties of cheese (or chalk). Comparing two men so distant in upbringing, personality, tastes and reputation is not an easy task. Each was a leader in his own mould.

Andrew Roberts has accepted the challenge on the back of his forthcoming television series exploring the qualities of leadership that brought the two men face to face across the English Channel in 1940. The result is lively, thought-provoking, and hugely entertaining. Roberts makes no bones about the fact that his