h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I suspect that, every time there's an important historical event, people start creating myth around it. It's a kind of Chinese whispers to start with. 'Did you see that man take on five opponents at once?' 'Five? It was seven.'

You can weave myths into fiction. I've been reading Kate Mosse's Carcassone Trilogy. She intersperses the mythic past and the present day. I wondered whether weaving myth into the history of the French resistance, as she does in 'Citadel' distracted rather than contributed. But it gives the story a kind of timeless relevance - these actions are part of a pattern of defending the homeland and its people that has gone back for ages.

Sure, think of the 'Angel of Mons' myth.