For July we welcome back our wonderful friend Graham Earnshaw and his trusted guitar. Many of you will remember Graham from his dramatised portrayal of The Formosa Fraud in the crucible of The Royal Society last year. In addition to one or two renditions from his personal song book Graham will, this time, present the arguments in connection with the West's failure, or was it sacrifice, of the Far East.
“Somebody knew. Who knew?“ Did Winston Churchill lure Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor as a cynical ruse to pull the United States into the war against the Nazis to save England? Did he deliberately weaken the defenses of Singapore and Hong Kong to convince the Japanese to jump? Did he even run a double spy to feed information to Tokyo? In the book author John Bell Smithback examines the evidence in a shocking new assessment of the origins and backstory of one of the turning points of the twentieth century—the Pacific War 1941 to 1945. He looks at Churchill's role in how Japan came to make one of the biggest strategic errors in history, and the horrific consequences for tens of millions of people across East Asia.
One of Graham's latest publications it has been described as an "engrossing history", "this is the best kind of history—rendered by a writer in comfortable command of his material and with a style that draws readers in—and then keeps them reading”, “Absolutely gripping!" and an "amazing book".
Join us to investigate and debate the circumstances, the facts and the spin. Do your research, it will be an engrossing ride.