Nicholas Rankin's revelatory new book, whose cast of characters includes Haile Selassie, Anthony Burgess and General Sikorski, sets Gibraltar in the wider context of the struggle against fascism, from Abyssinia through the Spanish Civil War.
In 1942, Lieutenant-Commander Ian Fleming was personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence - the dynamic figure behind James Bond's fictional chief, 'M'. Here, Fleming had a brilliant idea: why not set up a unit of authorised looters, men who would go in hard with the front-line troops and steal enemy intelligence? Known as '30 Assault Unit', they took part in the major campaigns of the Second World War, landing on the Normandy beaches and helping to liberate Paris. 30AU's final amazing coup was to seize the entire archives of the German Navy - thirty tons of documents.
The real story of how Winston Churchill and the British mastered deception to defeat the Nazis - by conning the Kaiser, hoaxing Hitler and using brains to outwit brawn.
Follow the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson in a thrilling and meticulous travelogue that retraces his journey from Edinburgh to the South Seas - where he died in Samoa at the age of just 44. A deliciously gossipy and beautifully researched book."Rankin is a wizard...a natural sleuth, writes well in slim nuggety paragraphs, and he teaches us a great deal about Stevenson en route." - Vogue."Delightful...the ideal book to take with you on holiday." - Independent.