The Glamour Boys

The Secret Story of the Rebels Who Fought for Britain to Defeat Hitler

By: Chris Bryant

Narrated by: Raj Ghatak

Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

We like to think we know the story of how Britain went to war with Germany in 1939, but there is one part of the story that has never been told. It features a group of MPs who repeatedly spoke out against their party and their government's policy of appeasing Hitler and Mussolini. Remarkably, nearly all of them were gay or bisexual.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain hated them. He had them followed, harassed, spied upon and derided in the press and called them 'the glamour boys' in reference to their sexuality. They suffered abuse, innuendo and threats of de-selection, yet they spoke out repeatedly against Hitler's territorial ambitions and his treatment of political prisoners and the Jews.

In doing so they risked everything, swimming against the overwhelming tide of public opinion at a time when even the suggestion of homosexuality could land you in prison. Forced by the laws of the day to hide their true nature, they ran the danger of exposure on a daily basis. Some of them used their capacity for lying as spies. Others saw brutality in Hitler's camps first-hand. Five of them died in action. Without them, this country would never have faced down the Nazis. This is their story.

©2020 Chris Bryant (P)2020 W F Howes

Interesting, important, flawed

There are lots of stories and characters here, all of them interesting but perhaps there are too many for one book. It’s sometimes hard to keep up with the many complex story lines, tangents and varied personalities, especially with an audiobook where you can’t easily leaf back through the book.

Stylistically it’s a bit sloppy and at times anachronistic. Czech is not an acceptable abbreviation of Czechoslovak, Russian isn’t an acceptable synonym for Soviet. England isn’t the UK (if a source uses England or English instead of British “sic” should be used. It isn’t). Anglo isn’t British. Countries aren’t female.

The reader is engaging but there are far too many pronunciation mistakes. Surely if you’re being paid to do a job like this you should check the pronunciation of unfamiliar words or names?

Slow to get going, but full of detail

I'm not sure this is best suited to audio. There are a lot of names to keep track of, and the first part of the book is heavy on "then he did this, then he did that" which I might have preferred to skim. The political detail is much more interesting once it arrives, though. The narrator is a bit irritating, often stressing the wrong word and obscuring the sense of a sentence, and generally just a bit flat.

Eye-Opening

Very interesting book and so many people I didn't know were homosexual or bisexual! Names I remember from my youth being fleshed out and given a whole new meaning for me. Also details about parliament in the lead-up to World War II. While I was, of course, aware of the general events in the country, the insight into the brouhaha in and around the House of Commons was all new to me. Let down somewhat by erratic narration; Raj Ghatak, who is so good in the Waringham Chronicles, is a bit out of his depth here. Too fast, too much wrong accentuation and far too many mispronunciations. Still a fascinating listen though.

Interesting but reading needed rehearsal

Some real clangers in the way this was read out. For example, the SA was a paramilitary, not a Parliamentary, organisation. HM meant His (not Her) Majesty in the 1930s. Lots of mispronunciations

Pride for those Glamour Boys

Fantastic book by Chris Bryant and well-performed by Raj Ghatak.

Such a fascinating insight into the inner workings of Government pre-war and the impact of a handful of queer and nearly queer MP's campaigning to take the government to war against Nazi Germany.

The book goes from insightful to inspiring and then politically, highly frustrating, you feel the shame and pain they went through just to be themselves.

I want this book to be in every school, we should celebrate the lives of those who fought so hard for our freedoms.

Tangential, poor performance

At the core, an interesting story. But made very difficult by wordy, in-depth tangents of seemingly little impact on the premise.
A very poor narrator, who at times sounded like he was reading the text for the first time - pauses and emphasis in awkward places made following the book very difficult.

Interesting story spoilt by poor narration

Whilst familiar with the names of some of the protagonist of this story, it was interesting to learn more about them and their fellow Glamour Boys as individuals and their hidden lives.

Unfortunately, the story was spoiled by the narrator. He continually mis-pronounced words, names and place names. It was as if he had never seen some of the words before and was trying to make an educated guess as to how they should be pronounced without bothering to check. I’m sorry this wasn’t picked up during recording. In addition, his delivery was flat with little intonation.

Despite these reservations, I enjoyed the story.

A Necessary work; insightful and atmospheric

An excellent book, which I also regard as an insightful reference book.The atmosphere of the times and class system is strong and informative.

I thought the choice of reader was problematic. Not the accent but the handling of the material. Insufficient regard for expression and pauses making too often a sense of list making and ‘drills’. This was a shame.

A Fascinating Story

I had no idea that this group of MP's existed. Though some of the names were familiar to me - Cartland and Cazalet because of their sisters. Harold Nicholson because of Vita. I am also ploughing my way through the tropical undergrowth that is the diaries of Chips Channon. Their collective, Channon was the sole exception, part in ensuring the UK and Commonwealth actually fought WW2 (a war that had to be fought, in my opinion) as opposed to just sitting down and letting Hitler rip to preserve their, as in the governing classes, investments and share dividends was not known to me. That they were a group of gay men, and as such in the code of the times were openly despised by Chamberlain and his fellow scum yet stood together to do the right thing regardless is something that as a Gay Man, I'm really rather proud of. One in the eye you might say. And good for them. It is a fascinating story that has waited a long time, too long, to be told.

Just brilliant

The best non-fiction I've read in ages. Heartbreaking true stories all told with a sensitive and skilled voice. I'm going to remember these chaps for a long time.