At the start of the decade, some predicted we’d see a revival of the legendary Roaring Twenties, the period of a century ago in which “bright young things”, wanting to forget the horrors of war, blazed a hedonistic trail fuelled by cocktails, drugs, sex and jazz.

In this issue we too seek some escapism from post-election austerity headlines, while asking what lessons we have learned from history in the period since Paris last hosted the Olympics in 1924. Writers including Boris Starling, Lucy Moore, Gavin Esler and Antony Beevor share their insights.