London - The historian Mr David Irving (62) was accused in the High Court yesterday of having "a gigantic appetite for distortion and exaggeration".
The allegation was made by counsel representing an American academic, Prof Deborah Lipstadt, and Penguin Books, who are being sued for libel by Mr Irving over claims that he is a "Holocaust denier".
Mr Richard Rampton QC, cross-examining the author of Hitler's War, said he had exaggerated the number of dead in the second World War bombing of Dresden "for your own base political purposes". Mr Irving, who is representing himself, rejected the accusation. The hearing continues today.
