Nigel Jones

Trainspotting

The Secrets of Rue St Roch: Intelligence Operations Behind Enemy Lines In The First World War

By

Allen Lane 408pp £18.99 order from our bookshop

 

FEW, IF ANY, of the well-heeled, hedonistic young Londoners who use the splendid sports facilities of the Hurlingham Club – gym, swimming pools, tennis courts and croquet lawns – are aware of the rather different function that the Putney site performed during the First World War. In those distant days the Hurlingham was the Naval Ballooning School, where one William ‘Pink Tights’ Pollock perfected the use of balloons as weapons of war, and made possible the daring flight which lies at the heart of Janet Morgan’s engrossing spy story.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • Something of an 'eccentric billionaire’s hobby': reviews 'The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and… ,
    • "At the age of fifteen, drunk on stolen Chardonnay or stoned on pot at a swimming party, the thoughts that come imm… ,
    • For the latest Bookends, here's Alan Taylor musing on his stint as an assistant librarian. ,
    • A ‘pretentious ass and impotent arriviste’ who surrounded himself with ‘degenerates, hooligans, childish layabouts,… ,
    • . reviews 'Aristotle’s Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life' by ,
    • "As Beevor shows, it was one of the most daring, dangerous and fiercely fought operations of the whole war. It was… ,
    • "The characters are very rich and very male, with astronomical ambitions. The potted biographies in this book sugge… ,
    Follow Us