The Man Who Was Saturday

The Man Who Was Saturday
Patrick Bishop

Soldier, spy, lawyer, politician – Airey Neave was assassinated in the House of Commons car park in 1979. Forty years after his death, Patrick Bishop’s lively, action-packed biography examines the life, heroic war and death of one of Britain’s most remarkable 20th century figures.Airey Neave was one of the most extraordinary figures of his generation. Taken prisoner during WW2, he was the first British officer to escape from Colditz and using the code name ‘Saturday’ became a key figure in the IS9 escape and evasion organisation which spirited hundreds of Allied airmen and soldiers out of Occupied Europe. A lawyer by training, he served the indictments on the Nazi leaders at the Nuremburg war trials. An ardent Cold War warrior, he was mixed up in several of the great spy scandals of the period.Most people might consider these achievements enough for a single career, but he went on to become the man who made Margaret Thatcher, mounting a brilliantly manipulative campaign in the 1975 Tory leadership to bring her to power.And yet his death is as fascinating as his remarkable life. On Friday, 30 March 1979, a bomb planted beneath his car exploded while he was driving up the ramp of the House of Commons underground car park, killing him instantly. The murder was claimed by the breakaway Irish Republican group, the INLA. His killers have never been identified.Patrick Bishop’s new book, published to mark the 40th anniversary of his death, is a lively and concise biography of this remarkable man. It answers the question of who killed him and why their identities have been hidden for so long and is written with the support of the Neave family.

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Copyright (#u259efad4-bdbf-5dcc-aa5d-ecf4c20f45f7)

William Collins

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This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019

Copyright © Patrick Bishop 2019

Cover design and illustration by Leo Nicholls

Maps by Martin Brown

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Patrick Bishop asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780008309046

Ebook Edition © March 2019 ISBN: 9780008309060

Version: 2019-04-05

Dedication (#u259efad4-bdbf-5dcc-aa5d-ecf4c20f45f7)

TO MARY JO, THOMAS AND MARTHA ROSE

Contents

Cover (#u25bb4aaf-bf30-5514-a5a9-47a713571e2d)

Title Page (#ue111bb22-509e-554f-a543-dc727938ab94)

Copyright (#u4788dc53-c52c-5e8f-9623-0c304f251773)

Dedication (#ufa43752f-30c1-57ac-ac5e-5cccd4beb290)

List of Maps (#uc5c25c9c-a8b4-5a8e-9b18-ecb2113c4b07)

Preface (#uebe4fba9-3670-5348-9a21-b43b85e1ed56)

Prologue: ‘Some Devils Got Him’ (#u9b5bdcd0-a632-54bb-a4bd-ec9a46a4b0d0)

1 A Question of Upbringing (#ud43e8c8b-f3c7-5648-92f5-f8e8ba811a04)

2 Blooded (#ubfaa84fc-db10-58a3-a8b8-41cd5bf40ce9)

3 ‘In the Bag’ (#u66f8a384-4712-5af9-95a9-a395d3b14d9d)

4 The Escaping Club (#litres_trial_promo)

5 Home Run (#litres_trial_promo)

6 Room 900 (#litres_trial_promo)

7 From Normandy to Nuremberg (#litres_trial_promo)

8 The Long March (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Darkest Hour (#litres_trial_promo)

10 ‘A Perfect Woman, Nobly Planned’ (#litres_trial_promo)

11 The Arithmetic of Victory (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Warrior in a Dark Blue Suit (#litres_trial_promo)

13 ‘The Perfect Target’ (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue: Hinton Waldrist (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Notes (#litres_trial_promo)

Picture Section (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Patrick Bishop (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)