Following the death of Colonel Sir Jasper Speedicut in 1915, the Speedicut saga continues with the publication of the memoirs of his son, Charles.It is clear from his hair-raising exploits in pre- and post-revolutionary Russia and in the sands of Arabia, interspersed with adventures in a whole range of other people’s bedrooms, that Charles Speedicut inherited not just his name from his father...

Book 2 of The Speedicut Memoirs picks up Charles Speedicut’s story from the point in 1918 at which he is about to leave for the Crimea to rescue the Dowager Empress of Russia, a mission which he foresees will be the most dangerous of his life to date. But Fate intervenes and sends him back to the Middle East, where he has a hand in the end of the war in Syria, followed by a series of adventures rescuing members of deposed European royal families that ends, with perfect symmetry, in the Valley of the Kings ... “Speedicut, Lawrence and the Turks: the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.” Field Marshal Viscount Allenby “I am deeply indebted to Charles Speedicut for giving me the idea for Ninotchka.” Ernst Lubitsch “I should have killed Speedicut when I had the chance.” Marguerite, Princess Ali Fahmy

In the last volume of The Speedicut Memoirs, Charles Speedicut relates his involvement, as a member of the Special Operations Executive, in many of the highly successful deception strategies masterminded by the cross-dressing Colonel Dudley Clarke, including Operation MINCEMEAT. He also discloses his role in the high-profile assassinations of the Protector of Moravia & Bohemia, Reinhard Heydrich, the Vichy French Admiral, François Darlan, and the abduction of General Heinrich Kreipe. In the post-war period, Speedicut is principally concerned with uncovering Soviet spies in the British Establishment although, along the way, he recounts the true story on which The Third Man was based. He also reveals that he was responsible for stealing the Duchess of Windsor’s jewels, his pivotal role in the Vassall and Profumo scandals, the true identity of the ‘headless man’ in the notorious Argyll divorce case and the reason why his memoirs were written whilst serving time in HM Prison Ford. “The activities of the Special Operations Executive have been described as ‘ungentlemanly warfare’ entirely because of the exploits of Charles Speedicut.” The Rt Hon Sir Winston Churchill

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.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- 1 The city and its regulations: Unexpected margins -- Part I Space and state regulation: The urban interstices -- 2 Markets and marginality in Beirut -- 3 The tremendous making and unmaking of the peripheries in current Istanbul -- 4 Resilient forms of urbanity on the margins? Al-Kherba: A vivid market in a damaged section of the medina of Tunis -- 5 Whose margins? Marginality, poverty and the moral geography of pre-Soviet Bukhara -- 6 On the margins of the city: Izmir Prison in the late Ottoman Empire -- Part II Diversity and moral policing: Making claims through marginalisation -- 7 'Texas': An off-centre district at the heart of nightlife in Odienné -- 8 The Manyema in colonial Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) between urban margins and regional connections -- 9 On the margins: Suburban space and religious deviancy in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur -- 10 Ethnic differentiation and conflict dynamics: Uzbeks' marginalisation and non-marginalisation in southern Kyrgyzstan -- Index

Why did General Gordon remain in Khartoum? What really happened at the battle of Abu Klea? How and why did King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Crown Prince Rudolph of Austro-Hungary and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence & Avondale, actually die? Who was Jack the Ripper? And why was Oscar Wilde provoked into suing Lord Queensberry? For the first time convincing answers to these and many other historical questions are answered in the letters of Colonel Jasper Speedicut to his friend Harry Flashman. Speaking on behalf of the Faversham family, I can assure you that this book is an appalling travesty of the truth! A E W Mason Judging from these letters, the British Empire was coloured pink on the map for a very good reason. Alfred Kinsey