The post London’s Bastille appeared first on The History Press.

Rumours in coffee shops and clubs of princely peccadilloes is common currency. An open secret. Bad behaviour by the gentry is expected and accepted, but it must remain an open secret. It must stay behind closed doors. The ruling classes can do what they will, but the rule that rules all is silence. The Establishment has always closed ranks when things got out of hand. A word here and there from powerful people always put rumours swiftly to bed. But this time it is different. The police are not playing ball.

Over the previous decades, the age-old tenets of Victorian social order were being eroded. The feeling that male homosexuality was an aristocratic vice that corrupted lower-class youths was growing. The press joined this popularist bandwagon, presenting rent boys as victims of the predatory upper class.

Onto this stage walks Detective Inspector Frederick Abberline of Scotland Yard, fresh from leading the debacle of the Jack the Ripper investigation the previous year. This is to be his last case before he retires. His last chance to salvage his career after the humiliation of the Whitechapel murders.

Testimonies are taken from Lord Arthur Somerset, an equerry to the Prince of Wales and patron of the Cleveland Street club, and from the rent boys themselves. The fact that people are talking is unheard of. The indignation is picked up in parliament by Liberal MP, the writer, publisher and theatre owner Henry Labouchère, who is outraged. ‘19 Cleveland Street.’ he said, ‘is no obscure thoroughfare. It is nearly opposite the Middlesex Hospital.’

As the cigars are lit and port passed in White’s, Pratt’s, Boodle’s and the Carlton Club, nervousness is turning to fear. The reputations of men who rule half the world are under threat from a scandal that stretches all the way to the corridors of Buckingham Palace.

The post The Cleveland Street Scandal appeared first on The History Press.

‘Philippa Langley has done it again.’ – The Times

A HISTORY HIT BOOK OF THE MONTH

History re-written: has the 540-year-old mystery been solved?

‘The totality of evidence revealed is astonishing. Following the discovery of King Richard III’s grave in a car park in Leicester in 2012, The Missing Princes Project will again rewrite the history books, redrawing what we know about Richard III and Henry VII and pressing the reset button of history.’ – Philippa Langley

In the summer of 1483, two brothers were seen playing in the grounds of the Tower of London, where they’d been lodged by the King’s Council – their uncle, the future Richard III, its chief member. From there the boys seem to vanish from the historical record, and so one of the greatest and most intriguing mysteries of British history was born. Over the centuries, historians have debated tirelessly about the fate of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York: did they die in the Tower? Did they escape? Were they murdered?

After astonishing success in locating and laying to rest Richard III, Philippa Langley turns her forensic focus onto this enduring case, teaming up with criminal investigative experts, historians, archivists and researchers from around the world in her groundbreaking The Missing Princes Project. Following years of extensive research, investigation and formidable dedication, this landmark study has finally reached completion, with stunning conclusions.

In The Princes in the Tower: Solving History’s Greatest Cold Case, join Langley as she records the painstaking investigative work undertaken and lays out the evidence to reveal the remarkable untold story. Here she is able, finally, to address any injustice and solve the mystery surrounding the Princes in the Tower once and for all.

Compelling in breadth and detail, this book asks its readers to re-examine what they thought they knew about one of our greatest historical mysteries. Perfect for fans of the period and the likes of Dan Jones, Philippa Gregory and Janina Ramirez.

The post The Princes in the Tower appeared first on The History Press.

He finds himself trapped in a Kafka-esque system, prevented from accessing the evidence to prove his innocence. For two months, he is locked inside Matrosskaya Tishina prison – infamous for holding Soviet-era coup-plotters and, later, oligarchs who dared to cross the Kremlin. His incarceration, reported widely in the international media, sends shockwaves through Russia and the international community. Presidents Trump and Biden both appealed directly to Putin for his release, but Putin characteristically stonewalled in response.

Calvey’s imprisonment leaves him with plenty of time to retrace the long path that led him to this place, from his arrival as the USSR collapsed in the early 1990s. A Cold War-kid and Wall Street hot-shot from the American mid-West, he spent almost thirty years living in Moscow, teaching himself the language and forging unmatched business contacts.

Bleak as his prison experience is, he nonetheless finds himself on a path of spiritual enrichment when he is locked in a tiny cell with seven cellmates. This band of hardened individuals, some of them victims of the regime like him, against the odds become his friends. Their collective story straddles sadness, courage, anger, hope, camaraderie and the uniquely Russian sense of humour.

Convicted in 2021, he is given a suspended sentence – a de facto recognition by the State that he has done nothing wrong, without the Kremlin having to make such an embarrassing admission. His detainment and trial becomes a case study in the frequently unfair, arbitrary and absurd Russian criminal justice system.

Now back in the UK, Calvey has drawn on all these experiences to tell his story and share his personal experience of the best and worst of Russia, and to put his experiences into the wider context of its post-Communist history. Odyssey Moscow is not merely the story of one man, but of an era of hope and aspirations that tragically ended with Russia’s catastrophic invasion of Ukraine.

The post Odyssey Moscow appeared first on The History Press.

To those affected by a crime, it makes little difference whether a case has lived on in the public conscience. Famous or not, the crimes remain just as compelling, shattering, and unatonable. In A Deafening Silence, Farquhar tells those forgotten stories which have been shared with him.

Each of the chapter-long cases will be a new investigation, talking to surviving witnesses and investigators, and exploring police files and press coverage. However, he will also look at the aftermath of the cases, when the rest of the world lost interest, to tell a less-familiar story – what happened next? What became of those involved? What do these stories tell us about our changing society, our changing police force and justice system, and about our understanding of criminals and victims?

In researching the book, he has unearthed some remarkable stories. The first chapter, A Tragedy in Fairyland, tells for the first time the story of the ‘Red Riding Hood Murder’. On Christmas Eve, 1970, 15-year-old Janet Stevens set out from her home in the Surrey countryside with a bagful of presents to deliver to her grandmother on the other side of the village. She never returned.

A crime committed against one person has countless victims. Tragedy spreads out like a stain. Half a century on, having exhaustively researched the story, Farquhar has pieced together a heartbreaking and inexplicable crime, exploring the effects of a senseless, devastating act on one rural English village, on those who knew and loved Janet Stevens, and on those who killed her. Where are the children whose childhood was shattered by the crime today – and where are Janet’s killers? The answers are quite extraordinary.

Other cases include the still unsolved puzzle of the death of ‘70s sitcom star Barry Evans, and the remarkable and little-known story of David Bowie-guitarist Sean Mayes, who weeks before his death walked into a London police station to confess the family secret that he had carried with him for 20 years concerning the murder of his older brother.

The post A Deafening Silence appeared first on The History Press.

Most Europeans know Poland for pierogi, cheap domestic staff, and questionable LGBTQ+ policies. But back in the years after the fall of communism it was a gangster state where criminals bled the country dry while police and politicians looked the other way. You can’t understand Poland until you know what it was like to live there when the Cold War ended and everyone in this poor, icy corner of Eastern Europe was trying to get rich or die trying.

The post The Polish Mafia appeared first on The History Press.

The author’s profile of the killer reveals a detailed description of his trade, location and movements. She searches against that profile to find a known criminal with a similar modus operandi as the killer. Waterman and lighterman James Crick was sentenced to fifteen years for a single conviction of rape, although charges of rape and attempted murder were brought against him by two women. Crick’s method of accosting the women, and transferring them between his skiff and other vessels, explains how the killer secured temporary secure premises for his attacks and dismemberment.

Owing to its overlap with the Jack the Ripper series of murders, this book revisits many of the locations and personalities from that case. It compares and contrasts the Ripper and Torso killer, and the associated police investigations, while paying tribute to river policeman Detective Inspector John Regan.

The post Arm of Eve appeared first on The History Press.

Crypto Confidential tells the salacious story of the industry everyone is talking about right now. In doing so, it sheds light on some of the most scandalous financial crimes of the 21st century. From billion-dollar fraud cases to international money laundering cartels, political bribery and even faked deaths, it lifts the lid on the intricate and immense web of malpractice which crypto founders spin to trap ordinary investors. Written by a prominent and well-connected insider, it provides a first-hand account of how the industry truly operates, and how every aspect is engineered for one purpose: to make vast amounts of fast money for those on the inside, by any means necessary.

The post Crypto Confidential appeared first on The History Press.

Despite the plethora of general biographical material generated by the Windsor story during the last fifty years, an in-depth, balanced account of the greed and deceit permeating the horde of stolen jewels and artworks they acquired over a lifetime of subterfuge and public denial has never been published.

The post The King’s Loot appeared first on The History Press.

The post Victor Lustig appeared first on The History Press.