Description
Just before dawn on May 10, 1940, German parachute troops rain down on Holland. Watching from his home on the Dutch coast is footballer Billy Marsden. It’s ten years to the day since the Germans saved his life in a Berlin hospital after he broke his neck playing for England but now it’s the German invasion of Holland that’s putting his life in jeopardy.
In The Hague, Margot Foteyn and the Sadler’s Wells Ballet watch the dogfights from the roof of their hotel. In Amsterdam, journalist David Woodward and his American wife, NBC war correspondent Margaret Rupli, are trying to file the story of the invasion, while young British diplimat Peers Carter is attempting to organise an evacuation just eight months into the job.
Set across one weekend in May 1940, this is the true story of how all these people came together, along with a dozen more British football coaches and three million pounds worth of diamonds, to escape on the last boat out of Holland before the Dutch capitulated.
About the author
Chris Hunt writes about football and music. His touchline memoir Doing It For The Kids told the story of his journey through grassroots football with his son, while World Cup Stories was published to accompany a BBC television series. He once wrote a monthly column titled ‘My Life with Stalin’ for Your Cat magazine. His sporting encyclopedia The Complete Book of Football, was published in the UK, Australia, the USA and in five foreign language editions, including Russian and German. He has also been editor of numerous special editions of Mojo, Q, NME and Uncut, including five magazines about The Beatles.
