Mad Mike

Anyone with the slightest knowledge of the Burma campaign of 1942-45 will have heard not only of General Orde Wingate and the Chindits, but also of Mad Mike Calvert, Wingate's most intrepid column commander.

His success in Burma, followed by his time with the SAS in Europe, had made Calvert one of the best known soldiers in the army.

However, Calvert's life was to fall apart when he was convicted of gross indecency and dismissed the service. To the end of his days he maintained that the whole thing was a setup and it is vastly to the credit of the industrious David Rooney that he was proved, as far as it is possible after such a great passage of time, that this was indeed the case.

Nothing could ever remove the suffering unjustly inflicted on this very gallant soldier, however this book goes along way to clear his name, if not officially, at least in the public mind.