Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please,” later paraphrased as the journalists’ mantra, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story”. Google this phrase and you find yourself overwhelmed with quotes from every corner of the globe. Yet establishing the truth of this phrase alone is no mean feat. The quote first appears in Rudyard Kipling’s From Sea to Sea and other Sketches as part of an interview with Mark Twain. But is Mark Twain really the originator of the quote? Probably – but there is no way to know for sure. Only Mr Kipling and Mr Twain can be certain of the facts during that interview. As readers, we can only but trust that what we read is accurate.