I was sad to hear of the death of one of British Horse Racing’s well-liked personalities, Henry Cecil, after his successful long career as a trainer.

The late British historian Robert Kee said the one certainty about history is that nothing is certain.

I read your report (Jan 29) on an article by John Martin of the Center for Research and Globalization in Montreal, Canada on a part of our history that is not on the national consciousness yet, like the Great Famine. But it is getting there.