Duff Cooper's classic biography charts the remarkable progress of Talleyrand; Talleyrand held high office in five successive regimes from France's Ancient Regime, into the Revolution of 1789, Robespierre's Terror, Napoleon's epic wars, and on through restored kings to more revolution.
'The Man Who Never Was' is a "now it can be told" story of secret Operation Mincemeat. This was a carefully prepared ruse involving planted documents on a floating body which successfully misled the German commanders as to the Sicily invasion. Told by the British naval officer who originated the plot. In 1950 came Duff Cooper's poignant novel 'Operation Heartbreak', a romantic tale, one which the government--right up to PM Clement Attlee--attempted to suppress. Its publication prompted the intelligence services to pressurize the operation's mastermind, Ewen Montagu, into writing a factual account, 'The Man Who Never Was'. Spellmount is proud to present these two accounts, fictional and factual, of one of the greatest intelligence operations ever undertaken, with an introduction by Duff Cooper's son, John Julius Norwich.
A witness to numerous significant events from 1914 to 1950, the life of Duff Cooper is explored in full in this collection of diaries. From life as a young soldier at the end of World War I, as a politician during the General Strike of 1926, as King Edward VIII's friend at the time of the Abdication, and to Paris after being liberated in 1944 when he became British ambassador, this reveling and insightful resource is superbly edited by Cooper’s son, John Julius Norwich, whose familial link ensures all kinds of additional information as footnotes. With additional details on Cooper’s numerous, public love affairs, this enthralling diary captures history as it was being made.
Willie Maryngton always wanted to go to war. But he was born just too late to see action in the first world war, and it was a long wait until the second. Would he ever have his chance to be a hero?
