We all have a favourite teacher – the one who made dull lessons seem bearable, fun even. Those lessons were often the ones where everyone already knew the storyline. To recap: the world’s most beautiful woman, Helen marries the Greek king, Menelaus; she’s kidnapped by Paris and taken to Troy; a Greek army sails to Troy to bring her back; the siege lasts nine years before the emergence of the cunningly deceptive Trojan horse sees the Greeks prevail.

So, why would Stephen Fry bother? This book could be distinguished by his depth of knowledge. For me, though, it’s all about humour. The dialogue sounds as if it comes from the mouth of General Melchett, Fry’s character in ‘Blackadder’ who pricks the pomposity of self-important characters.

Fry has the measure of the men. All are great warriors; all are flawed. Odysseus is deceitful; Paris lacks honour. It can be difficult to keep tabs on names when there are so many (and many of them the same), but Fry is an assured guide. His gentle, humorous footnotes help. ‘You. Will. Remember.’

The moral of this tale is told at the beginning: actions have consequences. None are spared, not even the gods. There is a dichotomy between them and mere mortals, so the latter attempt to find their own immortality ‘through history and reputation’. Here it’s through valour in warfare. But is the siege of Troy historical or pure invention? Fry talks of a ‘narrative dance [between] the complementary pleasures of the real and the unreal’. So, it doesn’t matter. The beauty is in the telling. This re-telling is a glorious pleasure.

Reviewed by Bob Moore