Matthew Parris discusses with Ivan six things which he thinks should be better known.

Matthew Parris is a columnist for The Times and presents Great Lives on BBC Radio Four. He was a Conservative MP from 1979 to 1986 and was a Parliamentary Sketchwriter for the Times for nearly fourteen years. He has been Columnist of the year at the British Press Awards. His books include Fracture: Stories of how great lives take root in trauma, which discusses geniuses who have suffered childhood trauma, and Scorn: The Wittest and Wickedest Insults in Human History. His autobiography Chance Witness: An Outsider’s Life in Politics won the Orwell Prize. He was an awarded an RSPCA medal for jumping into the River Thames and rescuing a dog.

1. Britain did not win the Second World War https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/02/empire-britain-second-world-war-hitler

2. A dessert spoon of vinegar in a glass of cold water https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/apple-cider-vinegar-the-right-way-and-time-to-drink-it/articleshow/79994734.cms

3. The Boer War was a small British disgrace https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/boer-war

4. Calvados https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/food-drink/spirits/best-calvados-uk-brandy-b1796934.html

5. The English treatment of the Irish https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2019/02/how-britains-dark-history-with-ireland-haunts-brexit

6. How to empty a bottle of ketchup https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2016/12/03/how-to-empty-the-ketchup-bottle-every-time

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