During the 20th Century, Scotland Yard detectives and their uniform counterparts, rarely armed, needed to be physically tough and brave given the ruthless criminals they confronted. In this thrilling book the Author draws on his and his comrades' experiences. Among the incidents vividly described is that of a detective known as 'Pat the Cat' who was awarded British Empire Medal for Gallantry and Bar after being shot on one occasion, surviving a fusillade of bullets from a escape convict on another and, four years later, being severely injured thwarting an armed robbery. We learn of police officers, who despite being shot, went onto arrest the gunmen and the Flying Squad officer who dismantled an IRA bomb, primed to detonate outside Scotland Yard. PC Reggie Grose won his George Medal rescuing a group trapped in a building during the Blitz. After wartime service with No. 3 Commando he returned to undercover duties with the secretive Ghost Squad. Detective Sergeant Ryland only survived by sticking his thumb between the hammer of his assailant's gun and the bullet's percussion cap. Two officers tackled a mentally ill axe-man 50 feet above street level warding off his attack with a bin lid. An army deserter shot and wounded Police Dog Rex III before fire at a detective, who flattened him with his truncheon. These and many more tales of outstanding bravery await the reader in the pages of Scotland Yard's Bravest and Best. AUTHOR: Dick Kirby was born in the East End of London and joined the Metropolitan Police in 1967. Half of his twenty-six years' service was spent with Scotland Yard's Serious Crime Squad and the Flying Squad. Kirby contributes to newspapers and magazines on a regular basis, as well as appearing on television and radio. Killers and Kidnappers, The Guv'nors, The Sweeney, Scotland Yard's Ghost Squad, Brave Blue Line, Death on the Beat, Scourge of Soho, Scotland Yard's Flying Squad, London's Gangs at War, Scotland Yard's Gangbuster, The Mayfair Mafia, Scotland Yard's Murder Squad, Racetrack Gangs, IRA Terror on Britain's Streets, Scotland Yard's Casebook of Serious Crime, The Brighton Police Scandal and Missing Presumed Murdered and, most recently, Scotland Yard's Bravest and Best are all published under the Wharncliffe True Crime imprint and he has further other published works to his credit. On retirement he lives near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Kirby can be visited at his website: www.dickkirby.com. 62 b/w illustrations
