In early 1942 the Germans opened a top-security prisoner-of-war camp in Lower Silesia for captured Allied airmen. Called Stalag Luft III the camp soon came to contain some of the most inventive escapers ever known. They were led by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell code-named ' Big X' who masterminded an attempt to smuggle hundreds of POWs down a tunnel built right under the noses of their guards. The escape would come to be immortalised in the famous film The Great Escape in which the ingenuity & bravery of the men was rightly celebrated. The plan involved multiple tunnels hundreds of forged documents as well as specially made German uniforms & civilian clothing. In this book Guy Walters takes a fresh look at this remarkable event & asks the question what was the true story not the movie version? He also examines what the escape really achieved & the complex nature of the man who led it. The result is an authoritative & ground-breaking re-evaluation of the most iconic escape story of the Second World War. ...

Sixty years ago four men parachuted onto a Norwegian glacier carrying only the most basic equipment. Their mission was to prevent the Nazi regime from building an atomic bomb. Now wilderness expert Ray Mears tells the true story of this gruelling campaign showing how these men's ability to survive in extreme conditions influenced the outcome of the Second World War. The Telemark campaign was an example of the bravery & skill of the SOE trainees. The Norwegians transformed a military disaster into a triumph. This book tells the full story for the first time. ...

The Civil War is shrouded in legend & mythology
- but this new entry in the Real History" series provides a clear fresh view
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First published in 1997 this timely release offers a comprehensive & engaging account of the life & times of this great naval Admiral. Ever since C.S. Forester's fictional hero Horatio Hornblower began to delight & enthral readers there has been speculation as to whether his adventures were based on the career of a real naval officer. Several names were suggested; the general conclusion was that Hornblower was a composite character. However while researching the campaign that resulted in the burning of Washington's public buildings Bryan Perret consulted Forester's Naval War of 1812 & was surprised to discover that the author had been deliberately reticent regarding a Captain James Alexander Gordon RN who had led his squadron up the Potomac. Further inspection of naval records revealed a startling number of parallels between the careers of Gordon & Hornblower. Subsequent research spanning a period of ten years uncovered yet more similarities
- too many in fact to be a matter of simple coincidence. It became apparent that while Forester certainly included other episodes in the Hornblower cycle he was aware of Gordon when the first of his books were written & that when he decided to expand the series he chose Gordon's career as the framework on which his hero's life would be based. As a professional author it was neither surprising that he should conceal the fact nor that he should choose Gordon as his model. Gordon had entered the Royal Navy as a semi-literate eleven-year-old & rose to become Admiral of the Fleet. He took part in major sea battles frigate actions single-ship duels & operations far behind enemy lines. It was the fire of his ships directed against Fort Mc Henry Baltimore that inspired the National Anthem. He was the last Governor of the Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich & when he died having served for more than seventy five years in the Navy The Times commented that he was' the last of Nelson's captains'. That he should have attracted Forster's attention is not therefore surprising. In telling the largely unknown story of Admiral Gordon's active service career Bryan Perrett has produced a book that will be appreciated by the thousands of readers who have enjoyed the adventures of Horatio Hornblower & his successors. It will also be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the naval warfare of the Napoleonic era while those who take pleasure in biography will find that they have the added bonus of an absorbing literary & historical detective story.
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There are so many myths about the extraordinary presence & political life of Margaret Thatcher but what was it really like to work for her? In this remarkable collection Gillian Shephard
- who herself served as a minister under Margaret Thatcher
- has brought together a group of contributors with experience of working with the Iron Lady at all sorts of levels: members of her Cabinets such as Douglas Hurd & Tom King; other MPs & peers; & people who had worked for her at Conservative Central Office or in her constituency or behind the scenes at 10 Downing Street. The result is a revealing record of the way that Britain's only female Prime Minister approached her job
- her thoroughness her extraordinary capacity for hard work her rare ability to combine attention to detail with a grasp of strategic issues. There are plenty of clashes
- some with the contributor in the direct firing line others observed from a safe distance
- but there are also many acts of kindness & thoughtfulness toward the people with whom she worked. A unique insight into the working life of the real Iron Lady.




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Who was the real Jane Austen? Overturning the traditional portrait of the author as conventional & genteel bestseller Paula Byrne's landmark biography reveals the real woman behind the books. In this new biography bestselling author Paula Byrne (author of Perdita Mad World) explores the forces that shaped the interior life of Britain's most beloved novelist: her father's religious faith her mother's aristocratic pedigree her eldest brother's adoption her other brothers' naval & military experiences her relatives in the East & West Indies her cousin who lived through the trauma of the French Revolution the family's amateur theatricals the female novelists she admired her residence in Bath her love of the seaside her travels around England & her long struggle to become a published author. Byrne uses a highly innovative technique whereby each chapter begins from an object that conjures up a key moment or theme in Austen's life & work-a silhouette a vellum notebook a topaz cross a laptop writing box a royalty cheque a bathing machine & many more. The woman who emerges in this biography is far tougher more socially & politically aware & altogether more modern than the conventional picture of 'dear Aunt Jane' would allow. Published to coincide with the bicentenary of Pride & Prejudice this lively & scholarly biography brings Austen dazzlingly into the twenty-first century. ...

As Britain's highest paid female singing star of the 1960s Kathy Kirby enjoyed a showbusiness lifestyle with all the trappings of success
- a home in Mayfair minks diamonds & champagne on tap. In this explosive new book Mark Willerton has attempted to strip away the facade of fame to reveal the 'real' Kathy Kirby...the girl behind the lip-gloss. Here at last is the truth behind the headlines; a compelling account of Kathy's enigmatic life & career which has never been told so frankly. The author was a friend of the star for almost thirty years & alongside his own recollections he has drawn on commentary by Kathy's friends neighbours contemporaries song-writers & managers. Part biography & part memoir there are many exclusives within the book; rare & previously unseen photos taken by the author during Kathy's reclusive years. Kathy was a complex character beautiful glamorous & hugely talented
- but flawed by debilitating mental illness & an addictive personality. Her story reveals the other side of showbusiness
- what happens when a star fades & falls to earth.


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Katie Lavender has always thought she was pretty unshockable until a year after her mother's death she receives a letter from a solicitor telling her that the man she thought was her father in fact wasn't. Her real father a man named Stirling Nightingale has for years been building a trust fund for her. & now she's of an age to collect it. But Katie's not interested in the money. She wants to know about the man instead. So decides to do some snooping. She tracks him down to a beautiful riverside home on the night he's hosting a birthday party for his 90-year-old mother. & as she's hovering outside Katie is mistaken for a replacement waitress
- an opportunity just too good to miss. & so Katie discovers that the Nightingales are far from your normal family.. . But what makes a normal family anyway?
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Does an exciting weekend for you mean scrubbing all the grouting in your bathroom with a toothbrush? Have you ever felt the urge to kidnap the cable guy & tie him to the bed like Kathy Bates in Misery" because you are terrified the TV will stop working once hes gone? Do you ponder marrying the Albanian builder who has just fitted alcove shelving because hes brought you more happiness in three days than your useless ex-boyfriend brought you in three years? Are you engaged in endless rows with call centre staff called Keeley who hang up on you because you are shouting & hysterical? Are you convinced the entire world is engaged in a conspiracy to drive you insane especially the automated phone system that generates ten text messages whenever you try to book a minicab? Do you write to-do lists that need paginating & include items such as re-mortgage house get pregnant climb Kilimanjaro? Welcome to Melissa Kites life. If you answered yes to three or more of these questions clearly you too are a desperate single woman trying to survive in the modern world. If not congratulations: you will have a good laugh reading this book." ...

Spurred on by admiration for his novelist half-brother & irritation at the biography written about him by Mr Goodman (his slapdash & very misleading book) the narrator V sets out to record Sebastian Knights life as he understands it. But buried amid the extensive"ing digressions seeming explanations & digs Sebastians erratic & troubled persona remains as elusive as ever. Nabokovs first novel written in English The Real Life of Sebastian Knight" is a nuanced enigmatic potrayal of the conflict between the real & the unreal & the futile quest for human truth." ...