ANDREW WHITEHEAD

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A Devilish Kind of Courage: Anarchists, Aliens and the Siege of Sidney Street
=Andrew Whitehead=

to be published by Reaktion in March 2024
On 3 January 1911, in the heart of London’s mainly Jewish East End, police discovered Latvian revolutionaries wanted for the murder of three officers. A six-hour gunfight ensued, with a fire consuming the besieged building. Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary, arrived at the scene and ordered the blaze not to be extinguished. Afterwards two charred bodies were found; the elusive Peter the Painter, believed to have been the ringleader, remained at large. This gripping episode, known as the ‘Siege of Sidney Street’, was a nationwide sensation and ignited fierce debates on immigration to Britain, political extremism and law enforcement. This book unravels the full story of the siege, the Latvian émigrés and their ties to the vibrant anarchist movement in London’s East End.

'The Tottenham Outrage, the Houndsditch Murders and the Siege of Sidney Street rank among the most extraordinary events in modern London history. In this new and wonderfully readable account, Andrew Whitehead combines unrivalled knowledge with meticulous scholarship to reveal for the first time the full story behind these spectacular but mysterious crimes.' - Jerry White

'A Devilish Kind of Courage is a compelling history of the Siege of Sidney Street that deftly examines the event’s international dimensions and vividly brings to life the underground communities it outlawed. Andrew Whitehead’s argument that liberalism ultimately prevailed over media-fuelled public anxiety is a judicious and salutary reminder of the dangers of knee-jerk government legislation.' - Professor Ruth Kinna

Welcome!

I am a historian, lecturer and freelance journalist after 35 years with the BBC as a correspondent, presenter and Editor of BBC World Service News. I am an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham; I teach American undergraduates in London for Global Education Oregon; I'm also a visiting professor at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai, south India.

My biography of Freda Bedi was published in 2019 - more here! And the latest of my titles about Curious London is out too.

This website is about my enthusiasms, interests and the issues and topics which have caught my attention. These range from contemporary Kashmir to my collections of political pamphlets and badges.

I've also posted on the site listings of my interviews with those who lived through Partition in South Asia, my recordings of British political activists, a visual record of Kashmir in the turbulent year of 1947, and the audio of some of my radio documentaries and oral history.

There's a blog too - do take a look. And I'd be keen to hear from you about the site - here's where you can contact me. Thanks for paying my website a visit - do come again.

Andrew Whitehead