Customer Reviews

Churchill's Bodyguard: The Authorised Biography of Walter H. Thompson

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very interesting book, giving insight to a job that of which

most of us are unaware. Walter Thompson, Churchill's bodyguard before

and during the war, gives lots of details and anecdotes about the Prime

Minister, the man who saved Britain and very possibly, the world.

It was worth buying, but the paper it is printed on is - I don't know how to describe it - not white, but darker colored (cheap quality paper?) - made it hard for my 58 y/o eyes to read.

For the espionage fan or Churchill admirer this is a must. Long and detailed it fills in all the gaps in our knowledge of the dangers the PM faced daily even long before WWII.

I fear that I must agree with Mr. Poirier's review of this book. It is fun to read and has many agreeable anecdotes but it does not seem to be much about Mr. Thompson. Perhaps it is just what one would expect when one man is a charismatic world leader and the others purpose is to be neither seen or heard.

An excellent, well-researched and highly readable account. I did not want this book to end and treated myself to chunks at the time.

Tom Hickman's biography tells us only part of the story behind Detective Walter Thompson who was Churchill's bodyguard during World War II.

While we are regaled with many colourful and interesting anecdotes concerning Churchill and his relationship with Thompson, we are given very few details of Thompson's own life. The reason isn't that the biography is authorized because Hickman does describe the failure of Thompson's marriage and two affairs he had; so key events of his private life are laid open to public scrutiny.

What's missing then? Facts and themes that are basic to the modern craft of the biographer. For example, Thompson's date of birth is never even mentioned. Apart from one episode, his school days aren't described. His courtship and the early years of his marriage aren't fleshed out. If there are no letters or family documents available, then some sort of general picture of life in late Victorian and early Edwardian England should have been drawn.

At the very least, Hickman should have given us an account of how Scotland Yard recruited and formed its policemen. This theme, even if it could not be presented with the facts of Thompson's own training, really should have been developed since it was by joining the Yard that Thompson came to guard Churchill.

Still, the stories are fun. Churchill's well-known disregard for his personal safety is illustrated through dozens of little stories about his walks through London despite air raids and his rushing to rooftops to see V1 flying bombs.

The saddest thing about this book is that it prevents a better biography from being written because this one is just interesting enough to grab the market. It's a missed opportunity.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo