A spell-binding account of an appalling miscarriage of justice. Charged with the "Cranborne Road murder" of Wavertree widow Alice Rimmer, two Manchester youths were hastily condemned by a Liverpool jury on the police-orchestrated lies of a criminal and two malleable young prostitutes. George Skelly's detailed account of the warped trial, predictable appeal result courtesy of 'hanging judge' Lord Goddard and the whitewash secret inquiry will enrage all who believe in justice. And if the men's prison letters (including from the condemned cells) sometimes make you laugh, they will make you weep far longer. Following his masterful expose of injustice in the Cameo Cinema murder case in 1950s Liverpool described in his book The Cameo Conspiracy, George Skelly now reveals a second police conspiracy-two years later in the same city involving the same senior detective-which this time led to the execution of two young men. In 2011, faced with countless proven contradictions and errors plus substantial previously undisclosed evidence, the Criminal Cases Review Commission unbelievably side-stepped the opportunity to refer this gross injustice to the Court of Appeal. So until justice is finally done, Teddy Devlin and Alfie Burns still lie together beneath the staff car park at Walton Prison, their only trace a tiny plaque numbered 55. 'A very powerful case of a miscarriage of justice': Former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith PC QC As featured in the Liverpool Echo. Author George Skelly is also the author of The Cameo Conspiracy (3rd edition Waterside Press, 2011) about an equally disturbing case where an innocent man was hanged in a famous miscarriage of justice.
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George & Darril Fosty controversial book "Where Brave Men Fall: The Battle of Dieppe and the Espionage War Against Hitler, 1939-1942" points a damning finger at American and British news organizations, including "Time" and "Life" magazines, accusing them of leaking pre-raid information to the Germans resulting in the deaths, woundings, and capture of over 4,300 American, British and Canadian soldiers. "Where Brave Men Fall" explores the controversial 1942 Battle of Dieppe looking at pre-raid advertisements in what the authors claim was part of a complex campaign initiated at the highest levels of American and British political and military circles designed to tip off the Germans prior to the August 1942 raid and thus ensuring the raid's failure. The revelations, stunning in detail and scope, are the latest accusations to surface concerning the battle. A Controversial Battle Becomes Even More Controversial On August 19, 1942, an Allied naval armada of 237 ships arrived off the coast of Dieppe, France carrying ten thousand sailors and soldiers determined to assault Adolf Hitler’s Fortress Europe in what was coined Operation JUBILEE. What these men thought would be a textbook lesson in amphibious warfare turned instead into a slaughter. In only seven hours of battle, the Allies, consisting mostly of Canadian troops, lost more men than the United States during either the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, or the Spanish-American War. Before the day was ended, the Canadians recorded a 68 percent casualty rate. Of the 5,086 Canadians who landed at Dieppe only 1443 returned to England, many of whom were wounded. What was to have been the first Allied attempt to land a large force on the European Continent since Dunkirk instead, turned into a horrendous failure. The Battle of Dieppe was the first serious Allied assault against Hitler’s western European defense system in World War Two. Historically, it is regarded as the preamble to the June 6, 1944, D-Day Landings. Yet, there has never been a detailed and complete examination of the political, military, or strategic reasons behind the raid, the countless security leaks preceding the battle, nor the claims by both German and Allied troops that the Germans had been forewarned. "Where Brave Men Fall" is a riveting journey across the pages of WWII military and political history. Painstakingly researched, the authors tell the story of American and British political, military, media, and espionage intrigues and the events leading up to and culminating in the Battle of Dieppe. Their conclusions are both profound and sobering, revealing how the Dieppe Raid was part of a grand British military deception resulting in the cold-blooded and calculated sacrifice of Canadian troops, in part to prevent Hitler from freeing up his western forces for an anticipated German invasion of Spain. A fact that has never been revealed before in any military history written on the Dieppe Raid. Of the more than five hundred books and studies written on the Dieppe Raid since the end of World War Two, "Where Brave Men Fall" is the first and only book to document German plans for an invasion of Spain and neighboring Portugal as they pertained to the Dieppe Raid. The book also goes into great detail showing the political and military links between the Dieppe Raid, the planning for the Second Front in Europe, and the subsequent Allied Operation Torch landings in North Africa. Twenty-Five Years in the Making At times, "Where Brave Men Fall" appears as two stories in one. In 1986, George and Darril Fosty, two young researchers who were just beginning their careers as historians received an invitation to attend the South Saskatchewan Regiment Reunion in Langley, British Columbia, for the purpose of interviewing veterans of the Dieppe Raid. The invitation had been arranged by their uncle, a Canadian military veteran who had fought alongside these prairie warriors during the Battle of the Scheldt and the 1944 Liberation of Holland. The South Saskatchewan Regiment was one of the greatest military regiments in Canadian military history. There exploits at Dieppe made famous in James Leasor's book, "Green Beach." Recounts George Fosty, "We were just two young kids who wanted to write about Dieppe. Darril was only 17- years of age at the time, and I had just turned 26. Together we drove down from our home in Kamloops to the reunion and were shocked to find that we were the only so-called 'historians' on hand for the event. A reporter from a local newspaper eventually showed up, but she seemed very uninterested in these men and their stories, and she quickly left. At the time, Expo 86 was taking place in Vancouver and it appeared that the last thing the local media wanted to do was to interview a group of old men at some war reunion. Darril and I spent two-days interviewing these veterans and attempting to document their stories. It was our first project together and Darril and I had no idea where it would lead nor how many years we would continue to research this history." Little did the Fosty brothers realize that the 1986 Reunion would mark the beginning of a 25-year journey which would lead from a Canadian Legion Hall in British Columbia to the espionage streets of New York City, the back rooms of American and British politics, and the forgotten battlefields of France. Along the way, the brothers would not only discover new and disturbing truths behind the Dieppe Raid, but would also succeed in recording a rare account of the lives of a group of South Saskatchewan Regiment veterans forever changed by Dieppe. Adds Darril Fosty, " Two-years after the reunion we sent letters to a number of veterans seeking additional information in hopes of confirming some of our research. During the 1990's we continued to research the story on and off, often failing to find the answers we were seeking. By 1996, we were frustrated by our lack of success and we turned our attention to other projects in order to take a break from the project. In 2002, I went over to France and toured the battlefields. I was disturbed by what I found. Walking those beaches, I gained a perspective of Dieppe that I had never had before. I returned home even more determined to see us finish this book and to answer some of the political and military questions that previous historians had failed to resolve." Were 10,000 Allied Troops Betrayed? At the heart of the Fosty brother's latest research and claims are disturbing and detailed evidence documenting the role played by the American and British press in the months preceding the Battle of Dieppe. The authors point to a series of articles, images, and advertisements in both "Life" and "Time" magazines in the months and days prior to the Dieppe Raid which appears to telegraph the upcoming operation. According to George Fosty, "Early in our research, we were told by a number of Dieppe veterans that they believed the Germans had been forewarned. These men recounted specific incidents during the battle and following their capture that could only be explained if one accepted the fact that the Germans had forehand knowledge of the Raid. The dilemma we faced as historians were to either dismiss these accounts outright or to investigate these allegations to their proper end. We chose to accept the accounts of the veterans as fact and then set out to find proof of security leaks and pre-raid breaches to support their claims. It was a process that took us years to complete with more dead-ends than one could imagine. It was not until after we began to research American magazines and newspapers from the 1942 era that we began to see disturbing references and evidence implying a serious security breach. The more we researched New York City-based American magazines and newspapers, the more disturbing these so-called 'coincidences' became. It was these security breaches that led us to examine the espionage operations staged by the U.S., the British, and the Germans in the New York area during World War Two in hopes of determining who was behind these postings. These discoveries were both disturbing and amazing as they validated the accounts of the Dieppe veterans and answered questions that had for too long eluded us." One of the most glaring security breaches discovered by the authors was an August 17, 1942 Honeywell advertisement that appeared in "Life" Magazine. The ad was titled: "194? We'll Be Ready." The authors write: "On August 17, 1942, Life Magazine followed up their earlier Commando 'postings' with a cover magazine photo of a Canadian Guerrilla fighter. The magazine was notable for the unusual advertisement from Brown and Minneapolis-Honeywell that simply stated: "194? We'll Be Ready." This advertisement was unique. When taken in context with the previous Time and Life Magazine postings it implies some code or message was being sent. August 19 - 4 a.m. was the time when the first Allied troops were scheduled to begin landing on the beaches in and around Dieppe. The unusual advertisements appearing in British and American publications along with a series of breaches in security leading up to the operation suggests the Germans were being forewarned of the raid. What also raises serious questions is the fact this Honeywell ad, along with Time Magazine’s Mountbatten of the Commandos - His boys in blackface will see the day of wrath, would appear in Henry Luce owned publications. An early organizer in moving the United States towards direct intervention and conflict, Luce remained the editor-in-chief of all his publications until 1964. He was a man noted and respected for his painstaking attention to detail supervising every aspect of the content for both Time and Life Magazines. Luce’s editorial and advertising offices operated out of Rockefeller Center adjacent to the very men of the intelligence services of which he had worked closely during his time with The Century Group - Office of War Information’s Elmer Davis, American Intelligence’s William Donovan and Allen Dulles along with British Intelligence’s William Stephenson. Coincidence is one thing. However, a series of unusual postings indicate something more sinister. Were the Allies deliberately forewarning the Germans through Luce’s and other publications?" Another example of security and espionage leaks documented by the authors concerns a Sylvan Flakes soap advertisement that appeared in British newspapers less than a week before the battle. They write: "On August 13th a Sylvan Flakes advertisement was run in various London Newspapers subsequently raising eyebrows. The ad titled "BEACH COAT from DIEPPE" showed an image of a woman in a coat pruning a rose bush. It was later claimed by many, including the great English writer George Orwell, as evidence of a tip-off to the raid. Some speculated this ad could be interpreted as BEACH ... Combined Operations ATtack from Dieppe. The date of the planned landing was to be August 19th, six days after the publication of the ad, corresponding with the six buttonholes on the coat. As later reported in newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic in September of 1942, "The spare time Sherlocks figured the shears were a warning to somebody that the British were bringing tanks - to cut through barbed wire on the beach." In an October 4, 1963, article in the Daily Sketch newspaper entitled “Did This Betray 6,000 Men At Dieppe,” writer Louis Kirby asked the obvious question, "How many women had holidayed in Dieppe before the war - and brought back with them a "flippant" beach coat?” By holding the Sylvan ad horizontally, the true nature of the image is revealed. What appears is the aerial layout of the beachfront of Dieppe, including the Casino and the curved beach wall. The beachfront also contains the natural curvature of the mile-long shoreline. The striped pattern on the woman's jacket no longer appears as a simple design but is now clearly the image of the ocean. The four buttons suddenly serve a new purpose as they now reveal the exact landing points for the Royal Marines, Fusiliers-Mont Royal, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, and the Calgary Tank Regiment. The tree limbs also take on a new meaning when viewed horizontally. Again, the map is of Dieppe, though this time at a higher altitude. Visible is the coastline, the harbor, and the nearby rivers that run to the ocean. Three branches point inland from the ocean. These three limbs are again the exact landing and directional routes for the Royal Marines, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, and the Calgary Tanks. The limb representing the Calgary Tanks even has a bend at the tip showing the last directional change the tank landing craft were to take moments before they were to reach the shore. After news of the failed Dieppe Raid many came to question whether this ad was intended to tip-off the Germans. The Sylvan ad kicked off such a controversy British government officials were forced to investigate the claims. Sylvan claimed the ad was part of a series of garments with geographical ties like Bali, the Tyrol, and China. In addition, the agency responsible was seemingly above recuse as their "work consists of a series of anti-fifth-column posters for the government." On September 17th, officials concluded, after giving due consideration to all of these interpretations, "they found the ad was just that, without any sinister hidden motive." How military investigators could later dismiss this advertisement and claim the ad was not espionage-related remains one of the great mysteries surrounding the raid." No Strangers To Controversy In 2003, George and Darril Fosty released their first book, "Splendid Is The Sun: The 5,000 Year History of Hockey." The book angered many in Canada for its contention that the roots of hockey dated back to ancient times. A year later, they added more fuel to the fire with the release of "Black Ice: The Lost History Of The Colored Hockey League Of The Maritimes, 1895 to 1925." "Black Ice" would eventually climb to number 71 on the Amazon bestseller's list becoming one of the highest-charting hockey books in history. To this day, both books are considered landmark achievements and are credited with rewriting hockey history and resurrecting the legacy of African-Canadian hockey, a history that had been deliberately removed from the Canadian historic record. About The Book "Where Brave Men Fall" is guaranteed to re-ignite long-simmering controversies and emotions surrounding the Battle of Dieppe, the role of the Canadian Army, and the actions of British and American politicians, the press, and military officials in World War Two. Twenty-five years in the making, the book is a groundbreaking and disturbing history that exposes Allied backroom politics, treason, and wartime espionage while laying bare the story of one of the greatest military disasters and betrayals of World War Two. Adds Darril Fosty, "Dieppe was our first project. Our most difficult project. This has been a long journey with amazing story twists and discoveries." "Where Brave Men Fall" is a must-read guaranteed to leave the reader angry and shaken, forever changing one's perspective of World War Two history.
This book represents the first monograph-length study of the relationship between Protestant Bible translation and the development of Mandarin from a lingua franca into the national language of China. Drawing on both published and unpublished sources, this book looks into the translation, publication, circulation and use of the Mandarin Bible in late Qing and Republican China, and sets out how the Mandarin Bible contributed to the standardization and enrichment of Mandarin. It also illustrates that the Mandarin Union Version, published in 1919, was involved in promoting Mandarin as not only the standard medium of communication but also a marker of national identity among the Chinese people, thus playing a role in the nation-building of modern China.
The Tale of Tea is the saga of globalisation. Tea gave birth to paper money, the Opium Wars and Hong Kong, triggered the Anglo-Dutch wars and the American war of independence, shaped the economies and military history of Táng and Sòng China and moulded Chinese art and culture. Whilst black tea dominates the global market today, such tea is a recent invention. No tea plantations existed in the world’s largest black tea producing countries, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka, when the Dutch and the English went to war about tea in the 17th century. This book replaces popular myths about tea with recondite knowledge on the hidden origins and detailed history of today’s globalised beverage in its many modern guises.
Liang Fa holds a unique place in the history of Christianity in China. Baptized and ordained by the first Protestant missionaries to China, Liang aided the first two generations of missionaries and conducted his own work as an evangelist and writer. Liang alone in the first generation wrote and published under his name, and his most famous tract is believed to have influenced the Taiping Rebellion. While George McNeur's biography of Liang has been republished regularly in Chinese, this is the first republication in English since the 1930s. It remains the best work on an influential but little-studied figure. Annotated and with a critical introduction, this work seeks to revive scholarship on Liang as we approach the two-hundredth anniversary of his baptism.
This book is a selective and fascinating history of scientific speculation about intelligent extraterrestrial life. From Plutarch to Stephen Hawking, some of the most prominent western scientists have had quite detailed perceptions and misperceptions about alien civilizations: Johannes Kepler, fresh from transforming astronomy with his work on the shape of planetary orbits, was quite sure alien engineers on the moon were excavating circular pits to provide shelter; Christiaan Huygens, the most prominent physical scientist between Galileo and Newton, dismissed Kepler's speculations, but used the laws of probability to prove that "planetarians" on other worlds are much like humans, and had developed a sense of the visual arts; Carl Sagan sees clearly that Huygens is a biological chauvinist, but doesn't see as clearly that he, Sagan, may be a cultural/technological chauvinist when he assumes aliens have highly developed technology like ours, but better. Basalla traces the influence of one speculation on the next, showing an unbroken but twisting chain of ideas passed from one scientist to the next, and from science to popular culture. He even traces the influence of popular culture on science--Sagan always admitted how much E. R. Burroughs' Martian novels influenced his speculations about Mars. Throughout, Basalla weaves his theme that scientific belief in and search for extraterrestrial civilizations is a complex impulse, part secularized-religious, and part anthropomorphic. He questions the common modern scientific reasoning that life converges on intelligence, and intelligence converges on one science valid everywhere. He ends the book by agreeing with Stephen Hawking (usually a safe bet) that intelligence is overrated for survival in the universe, and that we are most likely alone.
This is a story of George Henry Nolan spanning four decades between 1920 and 1960. His eldest brother Joe had controlled the family purse strings and lost his father's fortune, amassed on the diamond diggings in South Africa, to the smooth operators on the Bikita Tinfields in 1932. George chose to go it alone. His story is also the tale of the many colourful characters he met along the road from wattle and daub to Lithium Lodge. Life in the mining camps and Jo-burg slums in the early days was tough, but, at times both hilarious and tragic. Prospecting in unexplored wild malaria infested country a health risk. His struggle with the incompetence and prejudice of the Ministry were endless. In the fifties he proved the economic value of the world's largest petalite deposit. He then had to deal with the chicanery of the metal brokers, the lithium corporations and mining magnates. George had to learn fast the complicated art to straddle the ropes of big business.
Brass Buttons, Blue Coats “Remembering All Who Served 1871 to 1971” By: George E. Rutledge As a young police sergeant in 1976, George E. Rutledge met a veteran who told him, “I served 35 years in our police department and the day I retired was the very last time I ever heard from anyone in the police department. And the same thing will happen to you.” Rutledge has dedicated his life to making sure all who served in the Yonkers Police Department are remembered and honored. Brass Buttons – Blue Coats is a thorough documentation of all individuals who have served from the beginning of the Yonkers Police Department to 1971. Personal profiles and photographs create a lasting memorial of service. In 1866, still suffering from the turmoil of the Civil War, the town of Yonkers voted to hire fourteen Metropolitan Policemen from New York, creating the first Yonkers police force. From this humble beginning, the Yonkers police force has grown to over 600 dedicated men and women. From foot patrols to squad cars, notebooks to computers, the Yonkers police force has grown and adapted with the times. But the purpose has never wavered: to Serve and Protect. Civil War veterans, Vietnam veterans, rescue workers after 9/11, and Special Olympic volunteers – the Yonkers force is filled with people who have dedicated their lives to their country and their community. Rich with details of service and crimes over 100 years, Brass Buttons – Blue Coats is both a fitting tribute to brave men and women as well as a fascinating look at the history of Yonkers and the history of crime.
Walter Cronkite called him “one of our best war correspondents.” His stories from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific during World War II won him the Pulitzer Prize. Now, George Weller is immortalized in a collection of fearless, intrepid dispatches that crisscross a shattered globe. Edited by his son, Weller’s War provides an eyewitness look at modern history’s greatest upheaval, and also contains never-published reporting alongside excerpts from three books. From battlefront to beachhead, Weller incisively chronicles the heroism and humanity that still managed to triumph amid horrific events. Following the Nazi seizure of Eastern Europe and his own “quarantine” in Greece by the Gestapo, George Weller accompanies Congolese troops freeing Ethiopia for Haile Selassie. He remains in doomed Singapore until the colony falls. On Java, he watches brave American fighter pilots delay the island’s collapse. Strafed by Japanese planes, he escapes by small boat to Australia. He covers the Pacific, from the Solomon Islands to the jungle hell of New Guinea. Back in Europe he sees a liberated Greece beset by civil war, then crosses the Middle East. In Burma, he risks guerrilla raids behind enemy lines. At the war’s close, he hurries from China to a defeated but uncowed Japan, where new horrors await. And he struggles throughout against a tireless adversary—censorship. Vivid and heart-stopping, the dispatches of World War II reporter George Weller are as intimate, memorable, and relevant today as they were nearly seventy years ago—and demonstrate what it meant to be a foreign correspondent long before the era of satellite phones and the Internet. From the Hardcover edition.
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