Her tales of the lengths to which brides and their mothers would go to plan a wedding were enlightening and very scary for a father with two daughters, to say the least.

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In the old days, before the ubiquity of television, tales of distant fighting would have raised little fuss.

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In those days hero was a simple label, the adventure magazines of schoolboys would have resounded with tales of men like Gordon, Livingstone, and Scott.

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While the first New Englanders had scant opportunity for distraction by fiction, concern over the consequences of the "sporting lie" would far outlast colonial days, when invented tales, in particular those published for young people, had no appreciable place in the cultural landscape.

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And, despite tales of a deep mutual antipathy between Mr Lake and Mr Holbrooke, it would be foolish to rule the pugnacious Mr Holbrooke out of contention for a big job.

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