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In his latest book he veers a little off his usual path by tackling the seemingly tacky, but necessary, world of intelligence gathering, or espionage as it used to be more commonly known before the advent of high-technological gadgetry.

Foreknowledge is no protection against disaster, the British historian states in the concluding chapter of Intelligence in War, Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda. In a recent interview he points out, however, that without some form of intelligence, many historic battles might have turned out very differently. As for winning the war against terrorism, he is convinced that the West will have to combine modern intelligence gathering with some old-fashioned cloak and dagger spying to get results. "Whether we can bring it under control — I think there has been some success — or that it will be completely eradicated, or that it will be penetrated depends on many things," he says. "Terrorists are not amenable to reason. They don't behave like states."

Meeting Keegan in his suite on the 8^th floor of Toronto's King Edward Hotel is like meeting an old acquaintance. His face and voice are familiar from various PBS documentaries, his ideas from his many books. He unpretentiously excuses himself for remaining seated when we are introduced. A cane next to his chair tells the rest. He is awaiting a double hip replacement sometime in 2004, he later reveals. Also, a five-day book tour that took him from London to Washington and other US cities before coming to Toronto, has left its toll.

We think of historians as a somewhat stuffy breed, attached to the hallowed halls of academe. Keegan does not fit the picture despite teaching military history for 25 years at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. "[I was there] much too long, far, far too long," he exclaims when asked what made him leave the security of this institution at age 52. "I got married in the same year as Sandhurst (1960), and we had four children very quickly." He and his wife, writer Susanne Keegan (The Bride of the Wind: The Life and Times of Alma Mahler-Werfel, The Eye of God: a life of Oskar Kokoschka), liked the house they inhabited at Sandhurst, and the open spaces it offered their children.

"My eldest daughter got married at Sandhurst and I realized there was no more reason to stay at Sandhurst." Fortunately for him, a friend became the editor of London's Daily Telegraph and offered him the job of defence correspondent, later elevated to defence editor. It meant a complete change of life for the Keegans, and a change of career for him. They now make their home in rural Wiltshire in the South of England.

Although he had written papers on history before he entered the world of journalism, Keegan admits that putting his ideas on paper did not come naturally to him. "When I first started to write, I would start and start again and throw them [pages] into the fireplace. I would start 15 times and when the fireplace started to fill up, I put a match to it. It took years to get past that stage."

There is an impish glint in his eyes as he describes the scene, but behind it one senses the actions of a perfectionist. A perfectionism that has paid off not only in garnering him a good reputation, but also an OBE in the Queen's Gulf War honors list, and a knighthood in the Millennium honors list.

Taking into consideration that since Sir John left Sandhurst, he not only has been busy writing for the Telegraph, but has also published at least 12 books, he obviously has overcome the need to make use of the fireplace as a waste disposal unit. He is already working on a book about Iraq, and at least one publisher is challenging him to write a book about the Seven Years War (or French-Indian War in American parlance).

Keegan, who will celebrate his 70^th birthday in 2004, is of Irish Catholic background. His father was a school inspector. The WWII forced evacuation on the family to a place near the Dorset-Somerset border. From that period Keegan remembers what it was like for a 10-year-old to watch the mobilization of US troops for D-Day. It left a strong impression on the boy. Eventually he would write a book, Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America. It is interesting to note that he began and ended the book with this phrase: "I love America."

When asked what made him choose to major in history at Oxford, where he attended Balliol College, he credits his father with influencing his choice. Keegan liked reading even as a child. "I was reading grown-up books by age six," he reveals. "Then my father was very interested in military history. I caught that from him." He studied the Middle Ages and 17^th century history as part of general history education at Oxford. Then he needed to choose a specialized subject for his degree. He picked military history and the theory of war. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Keegan's books, including Intelligence in War, do not have the tone of something written by an academician. It seems natural, therefore, to ask whether the entry into journalism influenced his writing style. "Long before I was a journalist, I admired some journalists, especially those in the weekly journals and those writing for the literary pages of the major newspapers. It was that sort of journalism which inspired me," he explains. Besides, he had his first brush with journalism before joining the Daily Telegraph. He wrote about the Falkland War for London's The Spectator under a pseudonym.

In response to being asked why he makes no reference to intelligence gathering by the Soviet Union during WWII, or by the UN troops in the Korean War, he offers a straightforward answer, "I didn't feel I knew enough about the Soviets, and also felt that Korea, that the war did not relate to intelligence as far as I could see. The battles [in the book] were chosen because you could connect the outcome and the events," and then he emphasized, "a connection, not a direct relationship to the outcome."

The current war in Iraq is not covered in the book, but the question naturally arises if the situation confronting the Americans and their allies is the fault of a lack of intelligence. "Something very peculiar has happened there," he states. "Sadam undoubtedly possessed weapons of mass destruction. He killed his own people with them and others. Since 1991, his . . . the UN inspectors were finding weapons of mass destruction in the years after the first Gulf War. It is something peculiar that they can't be found. That doesn't mean they aren't somewhere. The inspectors destroyed a lot. I believe Sadam destroyed some of them too, but not completely, in the hope of avoiding an invasion." After a pause, he continues, "He probably sent some to Syria. He probably hid others in Iran and they will eventually be found. I don't subscribe to [the idea] that all weapons were gone."

Keegan, who spent two years in a Jesuit school, Wimbledon College, prior to entering Oxford, once said somewhere that " A civilized man is someone who has discovered something more satisfying than combat." He may be a war historian, but he is not a warrior, and he takes his faith seriously. I consequently take the liberty of asking him if he has read the controversial book by German historian Jörg Friedrich, Der Brand (The Burn, roughly translated). In it Friedrich not only breaks the former taboo in Germany of chronicling the bombardment of German cities by Allied air forces, but clearly makes an attempt through indirect allusion to mark the Allied leadership as war criminals, but specifically Winston Churchill.

Like all professionals, historians are loath to attack their own kind. Sir John admits that he has read part of the book, but feels that perhaps his German is not good enough to catch the book's undertone. "The strategic bombing campaign in 43-45 produced a most horrible outcome. The civilian deaths that resulted were really an affront to our conscience." He continues after a moment of reflection," But in 1940 when the British began to bomb Germany, by then the Germans had already killed tens of thousands of civilians." In his view the Allies had no other choice or means to stop Hitler's attempt to invade all of Europe and beyond. He also feels that it is hardly fitting for Germans to express moral outrage in view of the whole history of the period prior and during WWII.

The one question that appears to be on most people's minds these days and so I pose it for them: "Where will the world's next hot spot be?" Keegan thinks China's current government is more cautious than in previous times, and at present too preoccupied with domestic problems to pose a threat. He also feels that India and Pakistan, having achieved a stalemate through mutual deterrents of the atom bomb, are not likely to be troublesome. North Korea and Iran, which are both on the evil axis list of the United States may pose some concern. "The US may feel it has to deal with the situation with an aggressive multilateral action, but I wouldn't predict it." That leaves terrorism as the next question. "Terrorism will always be with us. That will go on and on." As for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "I see no solution at this time." Coming from Keegan, that is a sobering statement.