GREATEST TRAITOR

Subtitle The Secret Lives of Agent George Blake

Roger Hermiston
Price £13.99
Description Description

Sober, accurate and all the more thrilling for it. The best thing on Blake that we are likely to get for a very long time.' JOHN LE CARRÉ On 3 May 1961, after a trial conducted largely in secret, a man named George Blake was sentenced to an unprecedented forty-two years in jail. At the time few details of his crimes were made known. By his own confession he was a Soviet spy, and rumours later circulated that his actions had endangered British agents, but the reasons for such a severe punishment were never revealed. To the public, Blake was simply the greatest traitor of the Cold War. Yet, as Roger Hermiston reveals in this thrilling new biography, his story touches not only the depths of treachery but also the heights of heroism. Drawing on hitherto unpublished records from his trial, new revelations about his dramatic jailbreak from Wormwood Scrubs, and original interviews with former spies, friends and the man himself, The Greatest Traitor sheds new light on this most complex of characters and presents a fascinating shadow history of the Cold War.

Format:
Format Trade Paperback 384 Pages
ISBN:
ISBN 9781781311639
Size:
Size5.08 in x 7.80 in / 129.00 mm x 198.00 mm
Published:
Published Date March 15th, 2014
Roger Hermiston
ROGER HERMISTON is a journalist and was assistant editor on BBC Radio 4's Today programme from 1998-2010. It was there that he first encountered George Blake, when editing an interview with the former spyin 1999. His first book, Clough and Revie, was an acclaimed dual biography of two of English football's most famous and controversial managers.
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