David Stafford

Arthur Skelton, a celebrated barrister, agrees to defend Mary Dutton, dubbed 'The Collingford Poisoner' by the press. But Skelton soon discovers that all is not as it appears.

Skelton's Guide to Domestic Poisons

When a woman's body is discovered, the husband that she was planning on leaving is immediately the chief suspect. But when Barrister Arthur Skelton is asked to represent the accused he suspects there's more to the victim's death...

Skelton's Guide to Suitcase Murders

An engaging and original account of 1921, a pivotal year for Churchill that had a lasting impact on his political and personal legacy After the tragic consequences of his involvement in the catastrophic Dardanelles Campaign of World War I, Churchill's political career seemed over. He was widely regarded as little more than a bombastic and unpredictable buccaneer until, in 1921, an unexpected inheritance heralded a series of events that laid the foundations for his future success. Renowned Churchill scholar David Stafford delves into the statesman's life in 1921, the year in which his political career revived. From his political negotiations in the Anglo-Irish treaty that created the Irish Free State to his tumultuous relationship with his "wild cousin" Clare Sheridan, sculptor of Lenin and subject of an MI5 investigation, this broad account explores the nuances of Churchill's private and public lives. This is an engaging portrait of this overlooked yet pivotal year in the great man's life.

1921 and the Making of Winston Churchill

Oblivion Or Glory

“[The book’s] power lies in a vivid re-creation not only of Churchill’s public roles but also his private life—of good fortune but also family tragedy.” —The Wall Street Journal An engaging and original account of 1921, a pivotal year for Churchill that had a lasting impact on his political and personal legacy After the tragic consequences of his involvement in the catastrophic Dardanelles Campaign of World War I, Churchill’s political career seemed over. He was widely regarded as little more than a bombastic and unpredictable buccaneer until, in 1921, an unexpected inheritance heralded a series of events that laid the foundations for his future success. Renowned Churchill scholar David Stafford delves into the statesman’s life in 1921, the year in which his political career revived. From his political negotiations in the Anglo-Irish treaty that created the Irish Free State to his tumultuous relationship with his “wild cousin” Clare Sheridan, sculptor of Lenin and subject of an MI5 investigation, this is an engaging portrait of this overlooked yet pivotal year in the great man’s life. “Sheds dazzling new light on both the man and the epoch.” —Piers Brendon, author of The Decline and Fall of the British Empire 1781–1997 “A brilliant portrayal of the triumphs and tribulations of Churchill’s middle age.” —Paul Addison, author of Churchill: The Unexpected Hero “Vividly adds perspectives and colour to a busy yet little known year of Churchill’s life that most biographies can only treat in monochrome.” —David Lough, author of No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money “A fascinating and fluent account of Churchill’s efforts to win the peace and hold together the Empire.” —Lawrence James, author of Churchill and Empire

Oblivion or Glory

Men of Secrets

Roosevelt and Churchill

Churchill and Secret Service

Concluir a narrativa da Segunda Guerra Mundial no Dia da Vitória é deixar a história apenas parcialmente contada. A guerra não termina quando cessam as batalhas. Soldados derrotados enfrentam longos dias como prisioneiros, os feridos continuam a morrer, pais buscam obstinadamente pelos filhos desaparecidos e os vitoriosos embarcam em missões épicas para caçar líderes inimigos. Em "Fim de jogo, 1945", o historiador David Stafford preenche algumas lacunas sobre o fim da Segunda Guerra. Ele revela como, para muitas pessoas, 8 de maio de 1945 – o Dia da Vitória na Europa – foi apenas uma breve pausa na ação. O horror e a dificuldade continuaram por muito tempo depois que os Aliados aceitaram a rendição incondicional da Alemanha Nazista. Para narrar em detalhes o contexto do final do conflito, o autor entrelaça as vidas de pessoas comuns com as maquinações de líderes políticos e militares. Baseando-se em diários, cartas, testemunhos pessoais, memórias e uma extensa bibliografia, ele remonta a elaborada teia de eventos que levaram à verdadeira resolução da guerra. A invasão soviética, o suicídio de Hitler e a consequente rendição por parte do Eixo são partes-chave da história, mas não eram as únicas tramas em jogo à época. Aclamado pela crítica, "Fim de jogo, 1945" reconstrói os meses turbulentos que moldaram o mundo moderno. Mais do que os principais eventos que levaram ao fim do maior conflito humano já ocorrido – como as mortes de Hitler e Mussolini e a libertação dos prisioneiros dos campos de Buchenwald e Dachau –, o livro oferece um panorama pouco conhecido de homens e mulheres comuns, da Europa em meados dos anos 40 e da derrota do fascismo.

O capítulo que faltava da Segunda Guerra Mundial

Fim de jogo, 1945

Planets

An account of the covert cold-war activities surrounding Operation Stopwatch/Gold traces the year-long high-risk surveillance of German Red Army intelligence from a secret tunnel and the activities of a British secret services mole who significantly impacted both sides. Reprint.

Spies Beneath Berlin

Alexei Sayle

Alexei Sayle's Great Bus Journeys of the World

J. L. Granatstein

Espionage and Canada from Gouzenko to Glasnost

Spy Wars

John Black

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to housing policy and finance in Britain. It describes changes in the condition and tenure of housing in the post-war period, and contrasts the massive investment in house building and improvement with allegations that housing conditions are deteriorating. It describes the rise of the public housing sector and the slight decline in the face of the Thatcher government's policy on council house sales, which followed. The book thus provides a background for the development of housing policy over the next decade.

Housing Policy and Finance

'Mission Accomplished' provides a complete and authoritative account of Britain's secret war in Italy - the heroic exploits, the larger than life participants and the extraordinary, against-the-odds achievements.

SOE and Italy, 1943-1945

Mission Accomplished

SOE and the American Connection

Camp X

Instead of retracing the much-dissected actions of heads of state, Stafford brings to life the preparations for history's most formidable invasion through the eyes of the ground-level participants.

Citizens and Soldiers on the Eve of the Invasion

Ten Days to D-Day

D-Day, 6th June 1944, was the climactic battle of the Second World War. Allied triumph was anything but inevitable - there was everything to play for and everything to lose. The story of the actual landings has been told and re-told many times, but no one has actually revealed the part that fate, human error, political infighting, deception and double agents played in the crucial ten days before the landings. David Stafford's compelling narrative, climaxing on the eve of D-Day, gives a day-by-day account of the untold human story behind this momentous event from both the Allied and Nazi perspectives. Stafford focuses on twelve very different human narratives - not only those of Hitler, Eisenhower, Montgomery, Churchill and Rommel, but of an American paratrooper; a Canadian infantryman; a French Jew in hiding, awaiting Liberation but helpless to do anything; and SOE agents fighting to keep their identity secret. TEN DAYS TO D-DAY recounts the entirety of events in the countdown that could have taken a fatefully different direction so many times along the way, revealing how narrow the margin was between victory and defeat. David Stafford, a historian tenured at the University of Edinburgh, is a critically acclaimed chronicler of World War II and is the author of CHURCHILL AND SECRET SERVICE and ROOSEVELT AND CHURCHILL.

Countdown to the Liberation of Europe

Ten Days To D-Day

The Silent Game traces the history of spy writers and their fiction from creator William Le Queux, of the Edwardian age, to John le Carré, of the Cold War era. David Stafford reveals the connections between fact and fiction as seen in the lives of writers with experience in intelligence, including John Buchan, Compton Mackenzie, Somerset Maugham, Ian Fleming, and Graham Greene. Le Queux used his spy fiction as xenophobic propaganda before and after World War I, and le Carré's novels have provided reflections on the Cold War and the decline of Britain's influence. Anxieties about the decline of the American “empire” have helped stimulate a more vigorous American literature of espionage, providing an index of contemporary American concerns about power relations. As Stafford suggests, the genre of espionage fiction rarely intends to document the real world of intelligence. Rather, it provides a popular vehicle for exploring themes of imperial decline, international crisis, and impending war.

The Real World of Imaginary Spies

The Silent Game

Wesley K. Wark

A. Stuart Farson

This book, first published in 1991, examines the changes to security and intelligence agencies envisioned in the uncertain world at the end of the Cold War. While the central focus is on the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, its history, function and future, there are also comparative studies of the British, Soviet, American and Australian systems.

New Perspectives for the 1990s

Security and Intelligence in a Changing World

Caroline Stafford

On paper, Kenny Everett's qualifications did not look promising – with little in the way of education, physique or social skills. What he had was a gift for funny voices, an oblique imagination and a way with a tape recorder. Yet, the British radio revolution in the ‘60s and ‘70s needed these exact qualities. Ever a corporate player, Kenny was frequently fired, but still went on to reinvent television. Meanwhile, outside the studios, the challenge to 'get a life' brought moments of ecstasy, frequent bother and at least one suicide attempt. And at the exact moment when tabloid frenzy about the AIDS epidemic reached its peak, he came out. This new biography, based on intricate documentary research as well as interviews with colleagues, friends and enemies – including Alexei Sayle, Barry Cryer, David Mallet and "Whispering" Bob Harris – not only gets under the skin of the man, but also gives a taste of the times. Cupid Stunts covers the novelty and excitement of hearing all-pop radio for the first time, the terror and bluster of the high-ups, the brilliant blossoming of gay culture throughout the 70s and 80s, and the tragedy and vile hypocrisy that surrounded the AIDS epidemic.

Cupid Stunts:The Life & Radio Times Of Kenny Everett

'A fascinating narrative and a scholarly exegesis' - SUNDAY TIMES Uniquely among modern British statesmen, Churchill believed passionately in the value of secret intelligence both in peace and war. As a young correspondent and soldier in Cuba, India, Sudan and South Africa, he experienced its worth at first hand. Later, preoccupied by fears of German spying before World War I, he was a member of the Cabinet that established the Secret Service. Churchill helped ensure the passing of the Official Secrets Act of 1911, and was the first Home Secretary to authorise general warrants for the secret interception of mail. As wartime Prime Minister he built a centralised intelligence community, created the Special Operations Executive to work behind enemy lines, and with Roosevelt built the transatlantic intelligence alliance that endures to this day. Based on wide-ranging sources, many never explored or only recently released, Churchill and Secret Service offers an intriguing insight into both modern intelligence and the mind and character of Churchill himself.

David Stafford

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