Odd People
Page 29
We have lived through war: we have yet to live through peace with the economic fabric of civilisation shaken if not shattered. Let those who feel it difficult to face the lean years read the intimate records of the ten years after Waterloo and take heart again.
Copyright
First published in Great Britain in 1922 by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
This edition published in Great Britain in 2015 by
Biteback Publishing Ltd
Westminster Tower
3 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7SP
Copyright © Basil Thomson 1922, 2015
Basil Thomson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the publisher’s prior permission in writing.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them.
ISBN 978–1–84954–862–5
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Set in Bulmer
A real-life James Bond, alleged to have spied for at least four nations and executed on the direct orders of Stalin himself, Sidney Reilly left a trail of false identities that made him precisely the type of person the secret intelligence service needed as an agent. Hero, conman, master spy, womaniser – who really was the ‘Ace of Spies’?
In September 1925, Sidney Reilly journeyed across the Russian frontier on a mission to overthrow the existing Bolshevik regime and restore the Czar. Yet, soon after, he vanished without a trace…
Just like the life he led, the circumstances surrounding his death remain shrouded in mystery and speculation. This thrilling autobiography, including entries from Reilly’s own secret notes, reveals the intriguing, and often perilous, adventures and exploits of the man widely credited as being the original twentieth-century super-spy – and an inspiration for Ian Fleming’s 007 thrillers.
— AVAILABLE FROM ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS —
www.bitebackpublishing.com
Harry Chapman Pincher is regarded as one of the finest investigative reporters of the twentieth century. Over the course of a glittering six-decade career, he became notorious as a relentless investigator of spies, proving to be a constant thorn in the side of the establishment.
It is for his sensational 1981 book, Their Trade is Treachery, that he is best known. In this extraordinary volume he dissected the Soviet Union’s infiltration of the western world and helped unmask the Cambridge Five. He also outlined his suspicions that former MI5 chief Roger Hollis was in fact a super spy at the heart of a ring of double agents poisoning the secret intelligence service from within.
However, the Hollis revelation was just one of the book’s many astounding coups. Its impact at the time was immense, sending ripples through the British intelligence and political landscapes. Never before had any writer penetrated so deeply and authoritatively into this world. This eye-opening volume is an incomparable and definitive account of the thrilling nature of Cold War espionage and treachery.
— AVAILABLE FROM ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS —
www.bitebackpublishing.com
The British codebreakers at Bletchley Park are now believed to have shortened the duration of the Second World War by up to two years. During the dark days of 1941, as Britain stood almost alone against the Nazis, this remarkable achievement seemed impossible.
This extraordinary book, originally published as Action This Day, includes descriptions by some of Britain’s foremost historians of the work of Bletchley Park, from the breaking of Enigma and other wartime codes and ciphers to the invention of modern computing and its influence on Cold War codebreaking. Crucially, it features personal reminiscences and very human stories of wartime codebreaking from former Bletchley Park codebreakers themselves. This edition includes new material from one of those who was there, making The Bletchley Park Codebreakers compulsive reading.
All royalties from this book will go to the Bletchley Park Trust.
— AVAILABLE FROM ALL GOOD BOOKSHOPS —
www.bitebackpublishing.com