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The true story behind the events depicted in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster Bridge of Spies On 10 February 1962, Gary Powers, the American pilot whose U2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace, was released by his captors in exchange for one Colonel Rudolf Abel, aka Vilyam Fisher - one of the most extraordinary characters in the history of the Cold War. Born plain William Fisher at 140 Clara Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, this bona fide British grammar schoolboy was the child of revolutionary parents who had fled tsarist oppression in Russia. Retracing their steps, their son returned to his spiritual homeland, the newly formed Soviet Union, aged just eighteen. Willie became Vilyam and, n...
Discover an extraordinary, true-life adventure that could have appeared straight from the pages of a John le Carré Cold War novel. In February 1962 Gary Powers, the American pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet Union airspace, was released by his Russian captors in exchange for one of their own, Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher. Colonel Fisher was remarkable, not least because he was born plain Willie Fisher at number 142 Clara Street, Benwell, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Willie's revolutionary parents fled Russia in 1901, settling in the north-east, where Willie was brought up to share the family ideology. Leaving England for the newly formed Soviet Union in 1921, Willie began a...
Positive shifts in attitudes mean that emphasis is now being placed on the person with dementia and their personal relationships, rather than the illness. There is also growing recognition of the significance of a person's spiritual life in forming an essential basis for their sense of identity, and in providing them with a resource for coping. Offering an inter-disciplinary approach to spirituality and personhood in dementia care, the contributors to this book are leading practitioners and researchers in the field. They provide both a theoretical structure and a practical understanding of the essential role that spirituality can play in the affirmation of personhood and identity, and of way...
James Bond, Ian Fleming’s irrepressible and ubiquitous ‘spy,’ is often understood as a Cold Warrior, but James Bond’s Cold War diverged from the actual global conflict in subtle but significant ways. That tension between the real and fictional provides perspectives into Cold War culture transcending ideological and geopolitical divides. The Bondiverse is complex and multi-textual, including novels, films, video games, and even a comic strip, and has also inspired an array of homages, copies, and competitors. Awareness of its rich possibilities only becomes apparent through a multi-disciplinary lens. The desire to consider current trends in Bondian studies inspired a conference entitl...
The crux of this absorbing and timely memoir of Cold War espionage is the swap of KGB agent Rudolph Abel for American pilot Frank Powers, back to their superpower homes in 1962. Abel had been caught spying in New York in the late 1950s; Powers shot down on a reconnaissance mission over Sverdlovsk in 1960. Yet astonishingly in 1983, it transpired that the man tried and convicted as Rudolph Abel was in fact Willie Fisher from Newcastle. The narrative traces Willie's story from Newcastle to Moscow to New York, tracing the birth of his father Heinrich to German parents in Russia. Despite marriage and a daughter and life in the northeast of England, Willie was dedicated to his Communist Party work, and an expertise with radio operation and his facility for languages. When Willie's spying activities were exposed in New York, cautious to the end he claimed to be Rudolph Abel, the name of an old comrade, and the Soviet authorities colluded in his deceit.
The full story of the thirty-nine female SOE agents who went undercover in France Formed in 1940, Special Operations Executive was to coordinate Resistance work overseas. The organization’s F section sent more than four hundred agents into France, thirty-nine of whom were women. But while some are widely known—Violette Szabo, Odette Sansom, Noor Inayat Khan—others have had their stories largely overlooked. Kate Vigurs interweaves for the first time the stories of all thirty-nine female agents. Tracing their journeys from early recruitment to work undertaken in the field, to evasion from, or capture by, the Gestapo, Vigurs shows just how greatly missions varied. Some agents were more adept at parachuting. Some agents’ missions lasted for years, others’ less than a few hours. Some survived, others were murdered. By placing the women in the context of their work with the SOE and the wider war, this history reveals the true extent of the differences in their abilities and attitudes while underlining how they nonetheless shared a common mission and, ultimately, deserve recognition.
SELECTED AS A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK Born and raised in America, Mildred Harnack was twenty-six and living in Germany when she witnessed the meteoric rise of the Nazi party. She began holding secret meetings in her apartment, forming a small band of political activists set on helping Jews escape, denouncing Hitler and calling for revolution. When the Second World War began, she became a spy, couriering top-secret intelligence to the Allies. In this astonishing work of non-fiction, Harnack’s great-great-niece Rebecca Donner draws on extensive archival research, fusing elements of biography, political thriller and scholarly detective story to tell a powerful, epic tale of an enigmatic woman nearly erased by history.
Covering all aspects of production safety, this is an invaluable reference guide for the independent programme maker, freelancer, manager, producer, tutor and student filmmaker. Robin Small identifies all the major risks and gives advice on how to control and/or eliminate them. Each hazard section includes useful references to the relevant legislation, documents and licences, as well as addresses of organisations for essential advice and recommended further reading. An appendix lists samples of vital certificates, with visual references provided on www.focalpress.com. Important information about hazard identification, risk assessment and safety policy is provided in the chapters covering leg...