Neal Bascomb – författare

The inspirational story of three international runners attempting to achieve what no one had managed – to break the four-minute mile barrier. It was the ultimate test of endurance, and the human drama that unfolded is told here for the first time.In sport, running the four-minute mile was the elusive Holy Grail, considered by most to be beyond the limits of human endeavour.Then in late 1952, shortly after the Helsinki Olympics, three men set out to challenge the record books: Roger Bannister, the Oxford medical student, the great British hero who epitomised the ideal of the amateur athlete; John Landy, the tireless Australian, the romantic who trained night and day in search of perfection; and the American Wes Santee, son of a Kansas ranch hand, a natural runner and the quickest of the three ('I was just born to run fast').Three men, each of contrasting character, competing thousands of miles apart, but all with the same valedictory goal. The Perfect Mile is the stirring account of their quest for sporting martyrdom, charting their journey through triumph and failure, culminating in the moment when Bannister broke the record in a monumental run at the Iffley Road cinder track in Oxford in May 1954. It was a feat that became one of the most celebrated in the history of British sport.Far from bringing an end to the rivalry, this watershed moment turned out to be merely the prelude to a final climactic battle three months later – the ultimate head-to-head between Bannister and Landy in what was dubbed ‘the mile of the century’ at the Vancouver Empire Games.Bascomb provides a fascinating account of what happened and an invaluable insight into the motivations and characters of three amazing achievers.

The dramatic story of Gandhiand India's long march to freedom by award-winning author Neal Bascomb.In 1930, the Indian people, long ruled by their Britishoccupiers, were at a breaking point. No more could many stand theterrible demands of colonial rule. At this pivotal moment, MohandasGandhi, who had suffered firsthand for decades the cruelty ofhis oppressors, saw an opportunity to win his people's freedom.And so, Gandhi led a small band of his followers on a grueling marchfrom his ashram in western India to the Arabian Sea. After 24days and 241 miles under a withering sun, the marchers arrived onthe Dandi seashore. There, Gandhi scooped up a handful of saltto protest the much-hated British salt tax, demonstrating to theworld the injustice of Britain's yoke and setting the stage for apopular national uprising.In the dramatic months that followed, Gandhi led acts of nonviolentresistance against the British Raj across the country thatwould eventually culminate in a brutal crackdown. But Gandhi andthose who bravely stood with him faced arrest, beatings, and evenbullets without ever raising a hand in retaliation.These events inspired India to demand its liberty from Britain,awakened the world to a movement that would forever change thecourse of history, and inspired generations of freedom fighters allover the globe.Award-winning author Neal Bascomb chronicles what was arguablyGandhi's most notable campaign in his struggle for India's independence.His focus on nonviolent protest and revolutionary actionintroduces young readers to a pivotal historical moment with timelyimplications for today's world. thought-provoking retelling of India's liberation from Britishcolonial ruletimely look at how historical figures used their voices to createpositive changeBeautifully written by award-winning author Neal Bascomb

In the winter trenches and flak-filled skies of World War I, captured soldiers and pilots narrowly avoided death only to find themselves imprisoned in Germany's archipelago of brutal POW camps. After several unsuccessful escapes, a group of Allied prisoners of Holzminden - Germany's land-locked Alcatraz- hatched the most elaborate escape plan yet known. With ingenious engineering, disguises, forgery and courage, their story would electrify Britain in some of its darkest hours of the war.Drawing on never-before-seen memoirs and letters, Neal Bascomb brings this little-known story narrative to life amid the despair of the trenches and the height of patriotic duty.

It's 1942 and the Nazis are racing to build an atomic bomb. They have the physicists, but they don't have enough 'heavy water' – essential for their nuclear designs. For two years, the Nazis have occupied Norway, and with it the Vemork hydroelectric plant, the world's sole supplier of heavy water. Under threat of death, its engineers push production into overtime. For the Allies, Vemork must be destroyed. But how could they reach the plant, high in a mountainous valley? The answer became the most dramatic commando raid of the war: the British SOE brought together a brilliant scientist and eleven refugee Norwegian commandos, who, with little more than parachutes, skis and tommy guns, would destroy Hitler's nuclear ambitions. Based on exhaustive research and never-before-seen diaries and letters, The Winter Fortress is a compulsively readable narrative about a group of young men who survived the cold of a Norwegian winter and evaded the clutches of the Gestapo, to save the world from destruction.