SO it all boils down to this… the city council decided to open the gates, in poured Charles Stuart’s army, and one of the most decisive battles in British history was fought and lost.

Of course, it does depend on which side you’re on. Fans of Oliver Cromwell would say it had been won, but there you go. People are just as much divided now as they were back in 1651. Think the EU referendum.

Howard Robinson is a direct descendant of Cromwell and his lecture most surely drove a horse and cannon through most of the myths surrounding our Lord Protector.

For a start, he was actually a monarchist. It was only when Charles I proved incapable of compromise that Cromwell’s attitude hardened. And no, he didn’t ban Christmas, and if the theatres were closed down, then that was only because they were packed with prostitutes more preoccupied with pulling rather than plots.

However, Robinson is no blind apologist for his ancestor. He looks hard at the man, warts and all, tracing the meteoric ascent of an East Anglian farmer who rose from being a reluctant soldier into being one of the greatest generals and military strategists of all time.

Leading from the front on every occasion – now there’s a lesson in technique for a few present-day managers to be sure – he led his troops to victory after victory.

Cromwell knew how to maintain morale when things looked bleak, he inspired poor and humble men to risk life and limb on countless occasions, and he believed that God was on his side. And so am I.

Robinson examines his relative’s life with the sharpness of a cavalry sabre, never afraid to nail his colours to the mast just as firmly as his family hero’s effigy is nailed to the front of Worcester’s Guildhall.

And as for the Faithful City myth, then that comes crashing down like Sidbury gate on that fateful September afternoon in 1651. For unlike the other towns that had the good sense to slam its door on the Royalist army, Worcester’s great and good let them in, and so caused everyone a lot of trouble. Well, this being Worcester, they would, wouldn’t they?

But perhaps it was fortuitous that they did… for otherwise his eloquent descendant would have no need to share his story with the city where history was made.