Much has been made of the contribution of the Bletchley Park code-breakers to the outcome of the Second World War. However, insufficient credit has been given to the weather forecasters who determined the success of the Normandy invasion. The fate of 2.5 million men, 3,000 landing craft and the whole of Europe depended on the right weather conditions for crossing the English Channel on one day.

At first glance Giles Foden’s latest novel is a world away from Africa, the setting of his first three novels (The Last King of Scotland, Ladysmith and Zanzibar). Turbulence is inspired by Lewis Fry Richardson, a distant relative whom the author calls ‘one of the great unsung heroes