David Stirling

Celebrated as the founder of the legendary Special Air Service (SAS), David Stirling was the 'Phantom Major' of newspaper fame, a supposedly glamorous and fearless guerrilla fighter who, in the Second World War, struck terror into the hearts of the Nazis. Stirling, however, was neither a military innovator nor a daring warrior. He was immature, incompetent and reckless - character flaws that he carried through his troubled life. In this gripping new biography, Gavin Mortimer reveals why Stirling kept his private life so secret and why, ultimately, he was more 'Phoney Major' than 'Phantom Major'. He reveals how the SAS really came to be formed in the summer of 1941 and how - once one of the group's true founders was killed in a car crash - Stirling set to undermine the reputation of others while exaggerating his own. Charismatic but manipulative, Stirling shamelessly fashioned an alter ego out of half-truths and lies from which he derived fame and fortune. Unravelling a complex life, Mortimer's absorbing narrative draws on a wealth of previously unseen material, and includes among its supporting cast Winston Churchill, Evelyn Waugh and Colonel Gaddafi.