Secret Classrooms (UK HB 1st - SIGNED by SHukman)

Elliott, Geoffrey - Shukman, Harold

ISBN 10: 1903608090 / ISBN 13: 9781903608098

Published by St Ermin's Press, 2002

About this Item

UK hardback first impression, INSCRIBED at title page by Harold Shukman. Good with some toning to page block in unclipped jacket with a small tear to bottom of rear flap join.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1659432382795

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Secret Classrooms (UK HB 1st - SIGNED by SHukman)
• Publisher: St Ermin's Press
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1903608090
• ISBN 13: 9781903608098
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author

About this title

Synopsis

Lambasted by the Soviets as a "spy school", the Joint Services School for Linguists (JSSL) was a major Cold War initiative, which pushed 5000 young National Servicemen through intensive training as Russian translators and interpreters, primarily to meet the needs of Britain's signals intelligence operations. Over its nine-year life it operated from military camps in Surrey, Cornwall and Scotland, and special enclaves created at Cambridge and London Universities. It had parade grounds rather than sports fields and pupils included a remarkable cross-section of talented young men who came to JSSL as National Servicemen and went on to a diversity of glittering careers: professors of Russian, Chinese, ancient philosophy, economics, history; authors such as Alan Bennett, Dennis Potter and Michael Frayn; screenwriter Jack Rosenthal; and churchmen ranging from a bishop to a displaced Carmelite friar. The two authors, both of whom emerged from JSSL as interpreters, have drawn on many personal recollections and interviews with fellow students, as well as once highly classified documents in the Public Record office.

About the Author

Geoffrey Elliott is a retired investment banker and an Honorary Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford. Harold Shukman retired recently as University Lecturer in Modern Russian History at Oxford.