Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
The Mavericks who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat
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Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Keeble
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By:
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Giles Milton
About this listen
'This was a secret war whose battles were lost or won unknown to the public.... No such warfare had ever been waged by mortal men.' (Winston Churchill)
Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, a country house called The Firs in Buckinghamshire was requisitioned by the War Office. Sentries were posted at the entrance gates, and barbed wire was strung around the perimeter fence. To local villagers it looked like a prison camp. But the truth was far more sinister. This rambling Edwardian mansion had become home to an eccentric band of scientists, inventors and bluestockings. Their task was to build devastating new weaponry that could be used against the Nazis.
Led by the gung-ho Millis Jefferis, the men and women who worked at Churchill's Toyshop, as it became known, devised many of the key weapons of the Second World War. Their prototype limpet mine made possible the Cockleshell Raid on Bordeaux Harbour. Churchill said that this one raid alone shortened the war by six months. Next they pioneered the water bomb that closed the Rhine to German shipping.
Although the team at Churchill's Toyshop proved extraordinarily adept, they were not working alone. Other country houses were also requisitioned and handed over to the specialists. Some focused on developing new weapons; some planned sabotage missions in occupied Europe; some became training schools for agents. But all were working towards a common goal: the destruction of the Nazi war machine. Collectively they were known as the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
©2016 Giles Milton (P)2016 John Murray PressListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Bob Upndown
- 02-12-16
A truly incredible story.
Takes a short while to get going but it takes hold and becomes gripping to the end. I knew so many of the stories contained within but never knew how they were linked to so few people. Story superbly written and fabulously narrated. A top notch purchase.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Anthony Williams
- 01-03-19
Brilliant
The stories in this book are so good that they inspired me to start studying to become an engineer. Brilliant book.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Bookaholic
- 09-03-21
A fascinating history, of both the social attitudes of the time and the units concerned.
A well written and equally well read book that kept me engrossed throughout. Although some of the exploits and people are relatively well know, most are not and deserve a more prominent place in history.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 29-11-20
Absolutely brilliant
I loved this book. Brilliant detail and great stories that I hadn't heard before, and I have read a lot of WW2 historical books. This book tells the stories of some of WW2's most heroic and most unsung heroes. It is great to hear all the daring stories of whose who trained in Arisaig in the Highlands, where I grew up, a perfect location to train men like Anders Lassen - SBS - Victoria Cross.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- sam l.
- 31-10-18
a fascinating piece of history
a great non fiction piece written with all the panache of your favourite bond novel.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Pete R
- 18-10-20
Riveting from start to finish
Exciting, enlightening and riveting. A very special story of real life daring do which kept me hooked.
Terrific narration
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- John Freeman
- 24-10-20
Excellent listening
Well written and brilliant narration by Jonathan Keeble , A gripping series of accounts of daring and bravery and proving that necessity is definitely the mother of inventing really dirty tricks. Excellent all round
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- Amazon Customer
- 27-08-20
giles milton
brilliant book
the narrator brilliant
enjoyed it tremendously
am looking at more milton books
also narrator voices quite brilliant
mr keeble
will be getting another with either
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- andrew
- 19-12-21
Not just action - epic insight from how it happened
Not just action - epic insight from how it happened - Cracking read which shows the sheer operations to get people behind the lines
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- George
- 21-03-18
Brilliantly researched and beautifully read
An enchanting look at the concept of ethics in modern history, really bringing an obscure subject into a rather thrilling foreground.
Equally fascinating (and somewhat saddening) at the end to learn that these unsung veterans mostly disappeared into the ether. This book I suppose finally shines a spotlight on the men and women who fought a very different war, for better or worse.
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