London - A leading military historian, Sir John Keegan, yesterday told the High Court Holocaust libel trial that the author David Irving's views about Hitler and the Final Solution were "perverse".
Sir John, defence editor of the Daily Telegraph, said Mr Irving's proposal that Hitler could not have known what was happening to the Jewish population until late 1943 "defied common sense".
Mr Irving (62), who is suing American author Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books for damages over a claim that he is a "Holocaust denier", had subpoenaed Sir John to give evidence. Sir John said that the fact that he "admired" Mr Irving's book, Hitler's War, did not mean that he endorsed his opinions.