A timely exploration of the twelve best qualities of the wartime generation - and how we can use these to improve our individual character and collective response in the face of crisis.
'We will overcome it [and] I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge, and those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any' Her Majesty The Queen
The Coronavirus pandemic forced the great British people to dig to the very depths of their resolve. It was during this crisis, the gravest crisis the country has faced since the Second World War, that members of the Greatest Generation - Tom Moore, Dame Vera Lynn, the Queen - proved vital reminders of the self-effacing stoicism required in times of emergency; to summon our 'Blitz spirit' and to 'Keep Calm and Carry On'.
Taking twelve qualities of the wartime generation, including fellowship, courage and integrity, and drawing on personal interviews with over two hundred Second World War veterans - from SAS officers to London firewomen to Dame Vera herself - Guidance from the Greatest shows us how we can improve our individual character and our collective approach to life.
Guidance from the Greatest reminds us of all that is great about Britain and shows how we can build upon that greatness for the future.
Gavin Mortimer was born in London 34 years ago. As a freelance journalist he has contributed articles to a diverse range of magazines and newspapers, including the Observer, the Guardian, History Monthly and Esquire. The Longest Night is his fourth book and the second to be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. The first, Stirling's Men: the Inside History of the SAS in World War II, was published in 2004 and is now available in paperback.