Sinclair McKay's portrait of Berlin from 1919 forward explores the city's broad human history, from the end of the Great War to the Blockade, rise of the Wall, and beyond. Sinclair McKay's Berlin begins by taking readers back to 1919 when the city emerged from the shadows of the Great War to become an extraordinary by-word for modernity—in art, cinema, architecture, industry, science, and politics. He traces the city’s history through the rise of Hitler and the Battle for Berlin which ended in the final conquest of the city in 1945. It was a key moment in modern world history, but beyond the global repercussions lay thousands of individual stories of agony. From the countless women who endured nightmare ordeals at the hands of the Soviet soldiers to the teenage boys fitted with steel helmets too big for their heads and guns too big for their hands, McKay thrusts readers into the human cataclysm that tore down the modernity of the streets and reduced what was once the most sophisticated city on earth to ruins. Amid the destruction, a collective instinct was also at work—a determination to restore not just the rhythms of urban life, but also its fierce creativity. In Berlin today, there is a growing and urgent recognition that the testimonies of the ordinary citizens from 1919 forward should be given more prominence. That the housewives, office clerks, factory workers, and exuberant teenagers who witnessed these years of terrifying—and for some, initially exhilarating—transformation should be heard. Today, the exciting, youthful Berlin we see is patterned with echoes that lean back into that terrible vortex. In this new history of Berlin, Sinclair McKay erases the lines between the generations of Berliners, making their voices heard again to create a compelling, living portrait of life in this city that lay at the center of the world.
Pit your wits against the brilliant minds of Scotland Yard and see if you have what it takes to solve dozens of the world's toughest crimes. "Scotland Yard" conjures up so much more than just London's Metropolitan Police. Since it opened its doors in 1829, Scotland Yard has been synonymous the world over with the highest level of detective work and famous for its ability to solve the most macabre of murders and catch the most audacious of thieves. The Scotland Yard Puzzle Book mines the history of this famous institution to recreate some of the most complex conundrums its detectives have ever faced. Armchair detectives can now try their hand and keen powers of observation and deduction to solve for themselves dozens of the most difficult and challenging cases. Activities include: Anagrams and cryptograms Logic, linguistic, and mathematical puzzles Map puzzles Coded and visual puzzles Brainteasers Hidden messages And more (answers are provided in the back of the book)!
Sinclair McKay's Bletchley Park Brainteasers was the runaway quiz book bestseller of 2017, now it's time to pit your wits against the secret heroes of MI5 and MI6 and find out if YOU have what it takes to be a spy! If you cracked the GCHQ Puzzle Book and followed the Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book, you MUST show off your James Bond credentials with Secret Service Brainteasers ... Whether you have linguistic flair, an instinct for technology or good old common sense, pit your wits against some of the greatest minds of our time with ingenious brainteasers including secret languages, sabotage themed brain bogglers, deadly countdowns and hidden codes. Weaving astonishing stories of the men and women who operate from the shadows, the secret heroes and heroines of MI5 and MI6 who have faced extraordinary and terrifying challenges and a wide range of mind twisting puzzles, Secret Service Brainteasers will test your mental agility to discover: Do YOU have what it takes to be a spy?
In "the lost world of Bletchley Park", Sinclair McKay tells the story of the park from its pre-war heyday, to its late 20th century resurrection to play host to both Antiques Roadshow and the Queen. With special access to the Park's archives, the 200 illustrations include many previously unseen and unauthorized photographs of Wrens and codebreakers minding machines or simply relaxing by the lake soaking up the sunshine.
From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Secret Life of Bletchley Park When Churchill made one of the most inspiring speeches of the 20th century - 'we will fight them on the beaches' – he was giving thanks for the miracle of deliverance, the harrowing and breathless evacuation of over 338,000 troops from the beaches and harbour at Dunkirk. Churchill was determined it shouldn’t be labelled a victory. He was already too late. Hours later, broadcaster JB Priestley was to call it ‘an absurd English epic’. Those days of Dunkirk are still invoked now whenever the nation finds itself in any kind of crisis. But there is a wider story too that involves a very large number of civilians - from nurses to racing enthusiasts, trades union leaders to dance hall managers, novelists to seaside café owners. And even wider yet, a story that starts in September 1939: of young civilian men being trained for a war that was already 25 years out of date; and the increasing suspense – and occasional surrealism - of the Phoney War. The ‘absurd epic’ of Dunkirk – told here through fresh interviews with veterans, plus unseen letters and archival material – is the story of how an old-fashioned island was brutally forced into the modernity of World War Two.
A fascinating exploration of the uncrackable codes and secret cyphers that helped win wars, spark revolutions and change the faces of nations. There have been secret codes since before the Old Testament, and there were secret codes in the Old Testament, too. Almost as soon as writing was invented, so too were the devious means to hide messages and keep them under the wraps of secrecy. In The Hidden History of Code Breaking, Sinclair McKay explores these uncrackable codes, secret ciphers, and hidden messages from across time to tell a new history of a secret world. From the temples of Ancient Greece to the court of Elizabeth I; from antique manuscripts whose codes might hold prophecies of doom to the modern realm of quantum mechanics, we will see how a few concealed words could help to win wars, spark revolutions and even change the faces of great nations. Here is the complete guide to the hidden world of codebreaking, with opportunities for you to see if you could have cracked some of the trickiest puzzles and lip-chewing codes ever created.
A gripping work of narrative nonfiction recounting the history of the Dresden Bombing, one of the most devastating attacks of World War II. On February 13th, 1945 at 10:03 PM, British bombers began one of the most devastating attacks of WWII: the bombing of Dresden. The first contingent killed people and destroyed buildings, roads, and other structures. The second rained down fire, turning the streets into a blast furnace, the shelters into ovens, and whipping up a molten hurricane in which the citizens of Dresden were burned, baked, or suffocated to death. Early the next day, American bombers finished off what was left. Sinclair McKay’s The Fire and the Darkness is a pulse-pounding work of history that looks at the life of the city in the days before the attack, tracks each moment of the bombing, and considers the long period of reconstruction and recovery. The Fire and the Darkness is powered by McKay’s reconstruction of this unthinkable terror from the points of view of the ordinary civilians: Margot Hille, an apprentice brewery worker; Gisela Reichelt, a ten-year-old schoolgirl; boys conscripted into the Hitler Youth; choristers of the Kreuzkirche choir; artists, shop assistants, and classical musicians, as well as the Nazi officials stationed there. What happened that night in Dresden was calculated annihilation in a war that was almost over. Sinclair McKay’s brilliant work takes a complex, human, view of this terrible night and its aftermath in a gripping book that will be remembered long after the last page is turned.
Bletchley Park was where one of the war’s most famous – and crucial – achievements was made: the cracking of Germany’s “Enigma” code in which its most important military communications were couched. This country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to Britain’s most brilliant mathematical brains, like Alan Turing, and the scene of immense advances in technology – indeed, the birth of modern computing. The military codes deciphered there were instrumental in turning both the Battle of the Atlantic and the war in North Africa. But, though plenty has been written about the boffins, and the codebreaking, fictional and non-fiction – from Robert Harris and Ian McEwan to Andrew Hodges’ biography of Turing – what of the thousands of men and women who lived and worked there during the war? What was life like for them – an odd, secret territory between the civilian and the military? Sinclair McKay’s book is the first history for the general reader of life at Bletchley Park, and an amazing compendium of memories from people now in their eighties – of skating on the frozen lake in the grounds (a depressed Angus Wilson, the novelist, once threw himself in) – of a youthful Roy Jenkins, useless at codebreaking, of the high jinks at nearby accommodation hostels – and of the implacable secrecy that meant girlfriend and boyfriend working in adjacent huts knew nothing about each other’s work.
“Bring[s] alive the all-engulfing drama of 1940, as Hitler’s Luftwaffe attempted to establish air superiority over England. . . . Poetry and sharp politics.” —The Times During the dark days of 1940, when Britain faced the might of Hitler’s armed forces alone, the RAF played an integral role in winning the Battle of Britain against the Luftwaffe, thus ensuring the country’s safety from invasion. The men and women of Fighter Command worked tirelessly in air bases scattered throughout the length and breadth of Britain to thwart the Nazi attacks; The Secret Life of Fighter Command tells their story. From setting up the ground-breaking radar systems along the coast of the Southeast of England, to the distribution of spotters of bombing waves coming along the Thames Estuary, the boffins who designed and built the guidance and detection structures to organize a winning defense umbrella, to the Wrens who plotted enemy movements and then conveyed this to the various RAF squadrons stationed in the UK’s zonal defense system—all of them played a part in maintaining the security over Britain. Through exclusive interviews with various members of this unique and world famous organization, bestselling author Sinclair McKay tells the human story of how Britain survived the Nazi onslaught and enabled our Hurricanes and Spitfires to triumph over the German air force.
If you cracked the GHCQ Puzzle Book and tore through the Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book, you must show off your brainteaser abilities with the newest puzzle book from the bestselling author of Bletchley Park Brainteasers... The Tower of London is one of the world's most famous landmarks, with its iconic Beefeaters guarding the gates, Crown Jewels that remain securely within and ravens that flock to its walls. It holds a rich history of invasion, intrigue and murder that has captured imaginations for decades. Even though the Tower of London is recognised by people all over the world, it is surprising how very few know about the stories that echo around the ancient walls. From the Norman Conquest to the Reformation and through the break with Rome; from the murder of a King to the execution of numerous queens; from exotic animals held captive, to Nazi spies in the 1940s, the Tower of London has seen a parade of pageantry, political violence and passionate revolution that is shocking and ultimately, fascinating. Now it's time to use your smarts to take on brilliant brainteasers and incredible conundrums inspired by the Tower of London's greatest events. From logic games involving daring attempts on the Crown Jewels to decoding messages smuggled around the Tower by its famous prisoners, to finally discovering what happened to the princes murdered in their sleep, this book will be a maze of addictively brilliant challenges that will take you through the most secret and sacred recesses of this extraordinary London citadel. So it's time to don your bearskin, and embark on a mind-bending journey into the depths and dungeons of London's most ominous landmark in The Tower of London Puzzle Book.
Behind the celebrated code-breaking at Bletchley Park lies another secret… The men and women of the ‘Y’ (for Wireless’) Service were sent out across the world to run listening stations from Gibraltar to Cairo, intercepting the German military’s encrypted messages for decoding back at the now-famous Bletchley Park mansion. Such wartime postings were life-changing adventures – travel out by flying boat or Indian railways, snakes in filing cabinets and heat so intense the perspiration ran into your shoes - but many of the secret listeners found lifelong romance in their far-flung corner of the world. Now, drawing on dozens of interviews with surviving veterans, Sinclair McKay tells their remarkable story at last.
Following on from the enormous success of his bestseller, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park, renowned author Sinclair McKay uncovers the story of what happened after the end of the Second World War. Once victory was declared, many of the individuals who had achieved the seemingly impossible at Bletchley Park by cracking the impenetrable Enigma codes and giving the Allies an invaluable insight directly into the Nazi war machine, moved on to GCHQ. This was the British government’s new facility established to fight a different, but no less formidable foe – Stalin and the KGB. Fascinating and insightful revelations from deep within the archives of this secret organisation reveal the story of the tumultuous early years of GCHQ as it navigated its way through an era of double agents, deception and betrayals. From the defection of the Cambridge Five and the treachery of the atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs, to the collapse of the British Empire, the ascension of Chairman Mao and the emergence of the US as a superpower, McKay deftly explores the impact these events had on the fledgling organisation. During the years of the Cold War the men and women of GCHQ penetrated Soviet encryptions and gathered crucial intelligence from all over the world. The Spies of Winter tells the story of the codebreakers themselves and how they used new technology to expand the horizons of cryptography in order to defend the nation and maintain the fragile peace in a world now under the shadow of nuclear holocaust.
‘Gripping, gothic and deeply poignant’ Mail on Sunday Standing four storeys tall in an elegant Bloomsbury terrace, number 4, Euston Square was a well-kept, respectable boarding house, whose tenants felt themselves to be on the rise in Victorian London. But beneath this genteel veneer lay a murderous darkness. For on 9th May 1879, the body of a former resident, Matilda Hacker, was discovered by chance in the coal cellar. The ensuing investigation stripped bare the dark side of Victorian domesticity, revealing violence, sex and scandal, and became the first celebrity case of the early tabloids. Someone must have had full knowledge of what had happened to Matilda Hacker. For someone in that house had killed her. So how could the murderer prove so elusive? In this true story, Sinclair McKay meticulously evaluates the evidence and, through first-hand sources, giving a gripping account that sheds new light on a mystery that eluded Scotland Yard.
Have you daydreamed of being approached to be a secret agent? Imagined yourself being propelled into the dangerous and elegant world of spies? Blending extraordinary and illuminating historical tales of the British Secret Intelligence Service from over the years with a wide range of mind-twisting puzzles, Secret Agent Brainteasers will test your mental agility to discover: Do YOU have what it takes to be a spy? Long gone are the days when the tap on the shoulder was largely a result of social connections. Now the secret intelligence services have cast their nets wider, and it's your chance to join the ranks. Whether you have a linguistic flair, an instinct for technology, or good old common sense, pit your wits against some of the greatest minds of our time with ingenious brainteasers including secret languages, sabotage-themed brain bogglers, and hidden codes.
Yet the role of James Bond, which transformed Sean Connery’s career in 1962 when Dr No came out, still retained its star-making power in 2006 when Daniel Craig made his Bond debut in Casino Royale. This is the story of how, with the odd misstep along the way, the owners of the Bond franchise, Eon Productions, have contrived to keep James Bond abreast of the zeitgeist and at the top of the charts for 45 years, through 21 films featuring six Bonds, three M’s, two Q’s and three Moneypennies. Thanks to the films, Fleming’s original creation has been transformed from a black sheep of the post-war English upper classes into a figure with universal appeal, constantly evolving to keep pace with changing social and political circumstances. Having interviewed people concerned with all aspects of the films, Sinclair McKay is ideally placed to describe how the Bond ‘brand’ has been managed over the years as well as to give us the inside stories of the supporting cast of Bond girls, Bond villains, Bond cars and Bond gadgetry. Sinclair McKay, formerly assistant features editor of the Daily Telegraph, works as a freelance writer and journalist. He is also the author of A Thing of Unspeakable Horror: The History of Hammer Films, which the Guardian called ‘A splendid history’ and the Independent on Sunday described as ‘Brisk, cheerful and enthusiastic.’
From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Secret Life of Bletchley Park When Churchill made one of the most inspiring speeches of the 20th century - 'we will fight them on the beaches' - he was giving thanks for the miracle of deliverance, the harrowing and breathless evacuation of over 338,000 troops from the beaches and harbour at...
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Go behind the scenes of Bletchley Park, where everyday men and women risked everything for Queen and Country. A remarkable look at day-to-day life of the codebreakers whose clandestine efforts helped win World War II Bletchley Park looked like any other sprawling country estate. In reality, however, it was the top-secret headquarters of Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School—and the site where Germany’s legendary Enigma code was finally cracked. There, the nation’s most brilliant mathematical minds—including Alan Turing, whose discoveries at Bletchley would fuel the birth of modern computing—toiled alongside debutantes, factory workers, and students on projects of international importance. Until now, little has been revealed about ordinary life at this extraordinary facility. Drawing on remarkable first-hand interviews, The Secret Lives of Codebreakers reveals the entertainments, pastimes, and furtive romances that helped ease the incredible pressures faced by these covert operatives as they worked to turn the tide of World War II.
In 1860, a 70 year old widow turned landlady named Mary Emsley was found dead in her own home, killed by a blow to the back of her head. What followed was a murder case that gripped the nation, a veritable locked room mystery which baffled even legendary Sherlock Holmes author, Arthur Conan Doyle. With an abundance of suspects, from disgruntled step children concerned about their inheritance and a spurned admirer repeatedly rejected by the widow, to a trusted employee, former police officer and spy, the case led to a public trial dominated by surprise revelations and shock witnesses, before culminating with one of the final public executions at Newgate. This is the case Conan Doyle couldn’t solve and, after confounding the best detectives for years, has finally be solved by author Sinclair McKay. Discover 'whodunit' as the real murderer is revealed for the first time exclusively in this captivating study of a murder case in the nineteenth century, a story never told before.
Bletchley Park Brainteasers was the runaway Christmas bestseller in 2017 and delighted hundreds of thousands of devoted puzzlers with its fiendish puzzles, riddles and enigmas. It's never to late to join the code breakers of Bletchley Park in their enjoyment of a devilish challenge! Would you love to master morse code? Could you have have outsmarted an enigma machine? Would your love of chess have seen you recruited into the history books? When scouring the land for top-level code breakers, the Bletchley Park recruiters left no stone unturned. As well as approaching the country's finest mathematicians, they cast their nets much wider, interviewing sixth-form music students who could read orchestral scores, chess masters, poets, linguists, hieroglyphics experts and high society debutantes fresh from finishing school. To assess these individuals they devised various ingenious mind-twisters - hidden codes, cryptic crosswords, secret languages, complex riddles - and it is puzzles such as these, together with the fascinating recruitment stories that surround them, that make up the backbone of this book. The code breakers of Bletchley Park were united in their love of a good puzzle. If you feel the same, why not dive in, put your mental agility to the test and discover: Would Bletchley Park have recruited YOU?
This insightful portrait of Winston Churchill delves beyond well-known political moments, incorporating perspectives from various individuals who encountered him throughout his life. From Bletchley Park codebreakers and Hollywood stars such as Charlie Chaplin, through writers as varied as H. G. Wells and P. G. Wodehouse, to the likes of Harold Wilson, Mahatma Gandhi and Queen Elizabeth II, these lesser-known interactions reveal glimpses of the man behind the legend. We meet Churchill the exuberant schoolboy thug with an early mania for bull-dogs, and Churchill the elder statesman shedding a tear in the House of Commons smoking room. Other incidents include a young journalist rudely dismissing a call from Churchill as a prank, and a visiting Dwight D. Eisenhower dreaming of being strangled, only to awake entangled in Churchill’s borrowed nightshirt. The book showcases the profound transformations during Churchill’s lifetime, which ran from Benjamin Disraeli’s premiership to the release of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Route 66’, and the shift from steam to atomic power. Examining controversial aspects of his legacy, this multifaceted portrait challenges preconceived notions, inviting readers to reconsider the complexities of Churchill.
WOULD BLETCHLEY PARK--THE TOP-SECRET HOME OF BRITISH WORLD WAR II CODEBREAKERS--HAVE RECRUITED YOU? PUT YOUR MENTAL AGILITY TO THE TEST WITH THESE FIENDISHLY CHALLENGING PUZZLES AND FIND OUT. Have a knack for mastering Morse code? Want to discover whether your crossword hobby might have seen you recruited into the history books? Think you could have contributed to the effort to crack the Nazis' infamous Enigma code? Then this book about Bletchley Park was custom-made for you. When scouring the population for codebreakers, Bletchley Park recruiters left no stone unturned. They devised various ingenious mind-twisters to assess the puzzle-solving capacity of these individuals--hidden codes, cryptic crosswords, secret languages, and complex riddles. These puzzles, together with the fascinating recruitment stories that surround them, are contained in this book, endorsed by Bletchley Park itself. Though they had diverse backgrounds, the codebreakers of Bletchley Park were united in their love of a good puzzle. If you are of the same persuasion, put your intelligence to the test with the mind-boggling puzzles on these pages and ask yourself: Would Bletchley Park have recruited YOU?
Musaicum Books presents to you this unique collection, designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. BabbittFree AirMain StreetThe Trail of the HawkThe InnocentsThe JobOur Mr. WrennThingsMoths in the Arc LightThe Willow WalkNature, Inc.The Cat of the StarsThe Ghost PatrolThe Kidnaped MemorialSpeedYoung Man Axelbrod
This meticulously edited collection is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: Babbitt Free Air Main Street The Trail of the Hawk The Innocents The Job Our Mr. Wrenn Things Moths in the Arc Light The Willow Walk Nature, Inc. The Cat of the Stars The Ghost Patrol The Kidnaped Memorial Speed Young Man Axelbrod
A brand-new collection of Sinclair Lewis's prolific body of short fiction, focusing on the author's primary concerns: the issue of class, work and money in America.
During the dark days of 1940, when Britain faced the might of Hitler's armed forces alone, the RAF played an integral role in winning the Battle of Britain against the Luftwaffe, thus ensuring the country's safety from invasion. The men and women of Fighter Command worked tirelessly in air bases scattered throughout the length and breadth of Britain to thwart the Nazi attacks; The Secret Life of Fighter Command tells their story. From setting up the ground - breaking radar systems along the coast of the Southeast of England, to the distribution of spotters of bombing waves coming along the Thames Estuary, the boffins who designed and built the guidance and detection structures to organise a winning defence umbrella, to the Wrens who plotted enemy movements and then conveyed this to the various RAF squadrons stationed in the UK's zonal defence system - - - - all of them played a part in maintaining the security over Britain. Through exclusive interviews with various members of this unique and world famous organisation, bestselling author Sinclair McKay tells the human story of how Britain survived the Nazi onslaught and enabled our Hurricanes and Spitfires to triumph over the German airforce.
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