{"title":"Hugh Purcell","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the historical narratives of Hugh Purcell, where meticulous research meets compelling storytelling. Explore forgotten corners of the past and uncover the human stories within pivotal events. Start browsing now.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"we-re-going-on-book-hugh-purcell-9780955106101","title":"We're Going On!","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49504252625169,"sku":"GOR002445854","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0955106109.jpg?v=1751109032"},{"product_id":"very-private-celebrity-book-hugh-purcell-9781849548618","title":"A Very Private Celebrity","description":"John Freeman was one of Britain's most extraordinary public figures for over half a century; an achiever and thrower-away of high office after high office; a celebrity who sought anonymity. In the 1940s he was a war hero, then an MP who reduced Churchill to tears. In the 1950s he was tipped as a future Labour leader but resigned from politics and became the most famous television interviewer of his era.  The paradox of Freeman, the private celebrity, was symbolised by the series that made him famous: Face to Face. While he remorselessly interrogated the stars of his age, Freeman himself sat with his back to the camera, cigarette smoke curling up between his fingers.  He was the grand inquisitor, exposing the person behind the public figure, but never his own. Then followed an extraordinary range of careers: he resigned from the BBC to become editor of the New Statesman. Four years later he resigned again and became High Commissioner to India, then ambassador to Washington, where he famously befriended Kissinger and Nixon. Later he became chairman of London Weekend TV and then of ITN. In 1984 he moved to California as a humble visiting lecturer until his retirement.Finally, he became bowls champion of Southern England, aged 78. Here was a man who believed in changing his life, and his wife, every ten years. His lovers included the writer Edna O'Brien, the politician Barbara Castle, and the actors Eva Bartok and Rosemary Crutchley. Why did he want to forget what most old men would be proud to remember? Why did he try to erase himself from history? For ten years, Hugh Purcell has been tracking John Freeman, trying to get face to face with this enigma. Now that he has died, the true story of this extraordinary man may be told.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49505785282833,"sku":"GOR006753092","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53357989298449,"sku":"GOR008831448","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1849548617.jpg?v=1751314247"},{"product_id":"after-the-raj-book-hugh-purcell-9780750947862","title":"After the Raj","description":"The population of India today is 1.3 billion, of whom not more than 20 or so are Britishers who were born there under the Raj and never went home after Independence; a tea planter, a missionary, a businessman (‘boxwallah’), a tiger hunter, a taxidermist, an expert on the Anglo-Indian language and a soldier, amongst others. They have grown old with the new India; some have become Indian citizens; they will not come ‘Home,’ as they still call the UK. Nevertheless, they remember the Raj and, essentially, how their working lives passed on a British legacy which has contributed to the character of India today - its language, its Christian faith, its economy and tourism, its armed forces and its ethnic minority of Anglo-Indians. Hugh Purcell travelled round India and recorded the memories of a dying race that will evoke the memories of thousands of people who have a family connection with the Raj.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49525527544081,"sku":"GOR001899857","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50961328046353,"sku":"GOR006254332","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0750947861.jpg?v=1750881460"},{"product_id":"revolutionary-war-guerilla-warfare-and-terrorism-in-our-time-book-hugh-purcell-9780170061148","title":"Revolutionary War: Guerilla Warfare and Terrorism in Our Time","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49526363947281,"sku":"GOR013048470","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0170061140.jpg?v=1750940678"},{"product_id":"tragic-heroes-book-hugh-purcell-9781800991859","title":"Tragic Heroes","description":"The stories of two very different brothers from Hay-on-Wye and the part they played in World War II. 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Some stayed on; others who had grown up in India shortly returned there. Over the next sixty years they adapted to modern India while always being conscious of their legacy, the inheritance of the Raj. This is the story of the very last of the stayers-on. Through their eyes we see how the legacy has withered over the years but, with their help, also how it has evolved in a new millennium: from post-imperial hangover to heritage industry; from the singing of Victorian hymns in neo-Gothic churches to a new Christian evangelism; from Shakespeare wallahs to multimedia English language teaching and call centres. Tea planter, missionary, tiger hunter turned conservationist, club manager, 'box-wallah', antiques dealer, single mother in the ghost town of McCluskiegunge - they all have remarkable stories to tell. And now there are fewer than a dozen of the stayers-on left. 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