Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Historic or historical?

Historic: adjective - famous or important in history; having great and lasting importance; known or established in the past; dating from or preserved from a past time or culture.

Historical: adjective - of, relating to, or having the character of history; based on history; used in the past and reproduced in historical presentations; famous in history.

As can be seen, there is a slight element of interchangeability here. However, the primary use of each of these alternatives is as follows:

If it’s historic, it’s something of note that happened in the past.

If it’s historical, it’s something based on the past.

So:

‘The Battle of Trafalgar, culminating in the defeat of the French and the untimely death of Admiral Lord Nelson, was an historic event in the Europe of the early 19^th century.’

‘Jean Plaidy is a well-known writer of historical novels.’

Pic: A field of ripening barley.