Product Description

Son of the victor of Jutland, George Jellicoe has enjoyed power and privilege but never shirked his duty. His war exploits are legendary and, as a founder member of Stirling's SAS and first Commander of the Special Boat Service, he saw action a-plenty. A brigadier at 26 with a DSO and MC he liberated Athens as the Germans withdrew and saved Greece from a Communist revolution.

After the war Jellicoe joined the Foreign Office and worked with spies Burgess, Philby and Maclean in Washington and on the Soviet Desk. His political life saw him in the Cabinet of the Heath Government and he is frank with his biographer over the issues and characters of his fellow ministers.

Jellicoe's Achilles heel is his weakness for, and attraction to, women. His resignation over an involvement with a prostitute was a national scandal but he is refreshingly honest and devoid of self-justification. He remained an active member of the Lords pursuing a top level business career.

A British Achilles is a superb biography of a major public figure and exemplary wartime soldier.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #526240 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Book & History Lesson About a Great Man
I have just finished reading A British Achilles by Lorna Almonds Windmill. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was fantastic. I have to believe that the book is receiving rave reviews in the UK, including one from the Earl himself. The book was informative, balanced, honest - a real history lesson. The chapters on the Earl's wartime adventures were riveting, as I had to keep telling myself that this was indeed fact, not fiction! I often wonder how these men - Jellicoe, the author's father "Gentleman Jim" Almonds, David Sutherland, Anders Lassen, et al, did it, what made them so brave, so daring, so utterly fearless, and yet so completely modest? One simply did not, or in Jellicoe's case, does not talk about the wartime experiences. The decorations speak for themselves. But in the Earl Jellicoe's case, the author has brilliantly brought this heroic life into the open. I, as an American born some 15 years after the end of World War II, can now fully learn about and appreciate the fascinating life of the Earl Jellicoe. This book was well worth the wait!!

a missed opportunity
Sadly this is the only book that details the remarkable life of George, Earl Jellicoe KBE DSO MC FRS, a man of his age, an impossibly varied, extravagantly courageous life - told with a prose that makes you wince and your teeth grind. It is mixture of half told anecdote, unfinished allusion and ultimately, tiresome minutiae of parliamentary life while never really getting to grips with the man behind and the spirit of the age he lived through.
It is a story that needed to told, to be recorded while those involved were still alive but it is a shame that there are not more interviews with people who served with Jellicoe, who could provide insights into a complex character, an extremely talented, yet faulted, polymath, a life impossible to live now. The book skates over the surface mistaking detail for insight, and inclusiveness for interest.
I only hope that someone takes up the challenge again one day soon.