Music, perhaps by Shirley Bassi, perhaps by Adele, or perhaps knowing my co-presenter Dominic

Sandbrook by Juran Juran.

Then, a familiar theme strikes up, we're looking down the barrel of a gun.

Dominic appears from the right of the frame dressed in a smart black tuxedo.

He's across a white background before bang!

He swivels and shoots the camera holding the pose.

Red trickles down.

Q stylized title card which reveals the words, the rest is history.

Welcome to the show, Dominic.

Do you fancy yourself as James Bond?

I'm actually, to be honest, I see you as more a kind of lacaree figure.

Tom lurking in the background.

Everything about that introduction has been quite offensive.

From the sort of erotic tone with which you did my bond-like appearance, to then the implied

comparison with George Smiley, and of course the truth is, we all fancy ourselves as James

Bond, don't we?

But if you ever read those Smiley books and there's that sort of description of him, the

sort of shabby man in the Mac, trudging from a library to a library in the pouring rain,

I mean, that basically is the life of a historian.

But you see, I wouldn't even be George Smiley.

I'd be so useless, I'd miss all the key clues and kind of end up shot by Carla in some

back street or something.

...