Dominic Sandbrook

Worcester College, Worcester College.

And I wrote a column for the Times with the excellent headline, drinking from skulls is a noble tradition.

Well, it is.

It clearly is.

He is.

And he's a bright fellow because actually we learned that one of the Spanish conquistadors said he's the most educated and capable Indian that's ever been seen to such an extent that he plays chess very well.

So they taught him chess.

Yeah.

He sounds like a tremendous companion.

Yeah.

So Francisco Pizarro's page, who was a cousin of his, a teenager called Pedro, he wrote down an account of Atahualpa's daily rituals, which is actually really interesting.

Atahualpa would sit on this little stool and he was always attended by beautiful young women.

They would bring him his food in golden bowls.

He'd point at what he wanted and then they would feed him with their bare hands.

And if he wanted to spit afterwards, he would spit into their hands and they would kind of, you know, hold out their cupped hands.

I mean, I think he's a kind of model for relaxed lifestyle.

He has these lovely soft tunics and robes made from the skin of vampire bats.

And you do wonder whether Spanish is slightly exaggerated here, but then there's this nice detail.

So when he's worn anything or when he's eaten anything, they gather everything up.

And this includes basically the stuff that he spat out and also even the sort of rushes that have been placed on the floor under his feet.