I'm tempted to say one of the unique things about my book is that there's less of it. There are a lot of very long biographies of Churchill and de Gaulle, and what I hoped, in a funny kind of way, by putting the two men together, was to make a shorter book rather than a longer book. That focuses attention on things that really matter, like the differences between the two men, and then the ways in which that perhaps reflects the differences between their two countries as well.

I was a historian of France for many years, and then became a historian of Britain, so I've always got a slightly cross-channel view of European history. I studied de Gaulle as an undergraduate 40 years ago, so I've been thinking about some of these issues for a very long time. 

I suppose the other reason why I'm particularly interested in Churchill and de Gaulle is that, as an Englishman, I'm very conscious of Churchill's presence. But it seems to me that Churchill has become more present in British public life in recent years, rather than less present. You might think this is part of the legacy of the Second World War, and as we move away from the Second World War, people would forget Churchill.

Now, my own family  are interesting in this respect. My parents have died now, but they were alive until very recently. My father would have voted for the first time in the 1951 British general election, and I’m absolutely certain he voted against Churchill. My father and my mother were not particularly left-wing people, they were very standard, kind of center-left British people. I think that Clement Attlee, the leader of the Labour Party in 1945, would have been their political hero. And you've got to remember, Britain voted against Churchill in 1945. As soon as the British people got a chance, they removed Churchill from power.

I think there was a time when lots of British people admired Churchill as a war leader, recognised him as necessary in very extraordinary circumstances, but were very happy to move on at the end of the Second World War. And then, in my own life, I've seen the kind of cult of Churchill become more pronounced.

This is slight similarity with de Gaulle. Obviously my relationship with him has been less personal, but I spent a lot of time in France, particularly around 1990, which was de Gaulle's centenary. And what struck me was that de Gaulle, having been very unpopular for much of his life, and a very divisive figure in France, became a more consensual figure after his death in 1970. So these men have a particular importance, which has actually changed even in the years since their death, and that's one of the things I was trying to capture.

Ongoing thread. More from Richard Vinen to follow.