Christopher Joll – författare

Book 8 of The Speedicut Papers is primarily concernedwith Speedicuts involvement with the young Winston Churchillon the North-West Frontier of India, in the Sudan at the Battle ofOmdurman and in the Second Boer War, during which Speedicut is capturedalong with Churchill. When not acting as nursemaid to Britains futuregreatest Prime Minister, Speedicut plays a central role, invariablywith disastrous consequences, in the notorious Jameson Raid,Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee and the assassinationof the Empress of Austria.Speedicuts opinions on the great figures of our timegive a whole new meaning to the word iconoclastDr Samuel JohnsonIf all the men and women Speedicut slept with were laid end to end,I wouldnt be at all surprised.Dorothy ParkerIn defeat, defiance; in victory, magnanimity; in peace, goodwill except where that shit, Speedicut, is concerned.Winston S Churchill

In this, the final volume of the memoirs of Jasper Speedicut, the old soldier and courtier is deeplyand often hilariouslyinvolved in the 1900 siege of the Peking legations, the death and funeral of Queen Victoria, the final days of Oscar Wilde, the removal to safety of the personal correspondence of the Dowager Empress of Germany, the sinking of RMS Titanic, the start of the First World War, and the fates of Mata Hari and Edith Cavell. The Speedicut Papers Book 9 (19001915): Boxing Icebergs also solves the mystery of the manacled skeleton found on a building site in Leicestershire, first revealed in Flashmans Secret, and the existence of an illegitimate son to carry on the Speedicut familys adventures.

The Speedicut Papers recounts in very frank detail the life, loves, and adventures of Jasper Speedicutcharmer, sexual libertine, reluctant hero, and friend of the self-styled brigadier general Sir Harry Flashman, VC. Comprising a nine-volume series of linked adventures and anecdotes in memoir format, The Speedicut Papers lifts the lid from a veritable cesspit of Victorian and Edwardian upper-class debauchery that makes Downton Abbey look like a vicarage tea party. It is also a unique account of Speedicuts involvement in some of the greatestand also some long-forgottenevents in the British Empire and beyond during the period of 18211915. In Flashmans Secret, the first volume of the saga, Speedicut throws a searchlight onto some very murky corners of the nineteenth century, including the early careers of the notorious courtesan, Lola Montez, and the demon barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd. New insights are also provided into the formation of the IRA, the first Anglo-Afghan War, and the dubious acquisition by the British crown of the Koh-i-Noor diamond. If this were not enough, Flashmans Secret also reveals Nelsons actual last words and the existence of a sinister and murderous secret society at the heart of the British establishment.

Book 2 of The Speedicut Papers continues the first hand account of the life, loves and adventures of Jasper Speedicut: charmer, sexual libertine and reluctant hero. It is also a unique account of events in the British Empire and beyond, comprising a series of linked adventures and anecdotes which, when taken together, comprise a fascinating insight into many of the half-remembered or wholly-forgotten events of the second half of the 19th century.It is a matter of considerable regret to me that The Speedicut Papers were not available to me when I wrote my History of the English Speaking Peoples. Sir Winston ChurchillThis book contains the only lucid explanation of the Schleswig-Holstein question ... to which Ive completely forgotten the answer. Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount PalmerstonI was delighted to discover that, like me, Speedicut has committed every sin in the Decalogue. Sir Richard BurtonHaving read this remarkable narrative I would swim the Hellespont to meet the man who wrote it. George, 6th Baron ByronSpeedicuts adventures in Berlin have given me an idea for a book. Bram Stoker

Uncivil Wars opens in 1857 and takes the reader through the horrors of the Indian Mutiny to China and the Second Opium War, during which Speedicut is captured and tortured in the notorious Board of Punishments. Back in England, Speedicut remarries and he and his new wife spend their honeymoon in the United States, where they get caught up in the American Civil War along with Scarlett OHara, Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler, all of whose real characters he ruthlessly exposes

As Europe see-saws between war and peace,Charles Speedicut finds himself involved in a seriesof clandestine missions for both the British SecretIntelligence Service and the equally secretive Brotherhoodof the Sons of Thunder. From the concentration camp atDachau, where Book 5 of The Speedicut Memoirs opens, via Whitehall,Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bavaria, Switzerland and France,Speedicut is involved in plots to frustrate the British government spolicy of appeasement, assassinate Hitler, obtain an ENIGMAmachine and as German tanks roll through the Low Countriesinto France to rescue vitally important stocks of goldand diamonds, France s leading scientists and theworld s entire stock of heavy water . I attribute the failure of appeasement to theinterference of Charles Speedicut. In consequence,I blame him for the Second World War The Rt Hon Neville Chamberlain Speedicut will be the death of me, unlessI eliminate him first as I intend to. SS-Obergruppenfuhrer und General der PolizeiReinhard Heydrich

In the last volume of The Speedicut Memoirs,Charles Speedicut relates his involvement, as a member of the SpecialOperations Executive, in many of the highly successful deceptionstrategies masterminded by the cross-dressing Colonel Dudley Clarke,including Operation MINCEMEAT. He also discloses his role in thehigh-profile assassinations of the Protector of Moravia & Bohemia,Reinhard Heydrich, the Vichy French Admiral, Francois Darlan,and the abduction of General Heinrich Kreipe. In the post-war period, Speedicut is principallyconcerned with uncovering Soviet spies in the British Establishmentalthough, along the way, he recounts the true story on whichThe Third Man was based. He also reveals that he was responsible forstealing the Duchess of Windsor s jewels, his pivotal role in theVassall and Profumo scandals, the true identity of the headless man in the notorious Argyll divorce case and the reason whyhis memoirs were written whilst serving timein HM Prison Ford. The activities of the Special Operations Executivehave been described as ungentlemanly warfare entirely because of the exploits of Charles Speedicut. The Rt Hon Sir Winston Churchill