On April 7, 1998, the head of Northern Ireland's largest unionist party drafted a letter to the British prime minister announcing that he was leaving talks and that the latest attempt to end three decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland was over.
Three days later one of the most significant peace deals of the late 20th century had been signed.
The anecdote was recounted by former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who only recently learnt that Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble had put in writing how close he was to walking away.