THE Duke of Wellington marched into town looking very pleased with himself. Not only had he defeated his nemesis Napoleon — a balding French lawyer whose car was towed away before the battle — he had also popped the question to his fiancée on the battlefield. Removing his cocked hat to reveal a sweaty forehead, Alan Larsen, 54, a historical events consultant from Bolsover, also announced his intention to bow out of his role as the Iron Duke. It seemed the stress of refighting the famous 1815 battle over two nights, to mark its bicentenary, had driven him to seek a new career. Politics perhaps? Outside Wellington's HQ — now a museum — he said: "Perhaps my biggest triumph was my proposal to Rosie Sales, who is from an acceptably good to middling family. Fortunately she said yes." Speaking near the grave of Lord Uxbridge's amputated leg, he even praised his defeated foe, played by Frank Samson, 47. "I had dinner with him. He's not a bad egg. I hear he'll also be taking a bow with a holiday to St Helena." [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]