From ancient Egypt to the Tudors to the Nazis, the film industry has often defin
ed how we think of the past. But how much of what you see on the screen is true?
And does it really matter if filmmakers just make it all up? Picking her way th
rough Hollywood's version of events, acclaimed historian Alex von Tunzelmann sor
ts the fact from the fiction. Along the way, we meet all our favourite historica
l characters, on screen and in real life: from Cleopatra to Elizabeth I, from Sp
artacus to Abraham Lincoln, and from Attila the Hun to Nelson Mandela.
