LONDON BOMBED, BLITZED AND BLOWN UP

The author argues that London is the most bombed city in the world, not measured in terms of the weight of explosives detonated but in the frequency and variety of attacks. The first terrorist bomb of 1867 was the work of the IRB, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and was an attempt to spring one of their number from Clerkenwell gaol. A white ball was thrown over the wall to warn the man in question to move out of the way, then a barrel of explosive was detonated. The authorities had got wind of the plot, but they had not warned local residents, several of whom died in the blast. Both Marx and Engels condemned the attack as counter-productive and, worryingly, the man who was hanged for it had witnesses to say he was in Glasgow at the time. London is a huge economic and tourist centre and an inevitable target for random attacks of terrorism, designed to create a climate of fear among ordinary people that will lead politicians to give in to the terrorists' demands. Since the bomb of 1867, the capital has continued to suffer from both terrorism and from aerial bombardment, being highly vulnerable to aerial attacks because the river Thames snaking through the centre is a clear navigation point for skyborne predators. Terrorism is devastating for the innocent people caught up in it, but it is the aerial attacks that cause the most damage in terms of quantity. The Zeppelin and Gotha raids of WWI provided a foretaste of what would happen in the Second World War, when the nightly raids of 1940-41 placed London's citizens on the front line as they demonstrated the famous "blitz spirit". Towards the end of the war, the V1 and V2 bombs were retributive rather than strategic, with the sole aim of attacking morale. The author describes the Blitz in detail, and finally focuses on the terrorist bombs of 7 July 2005, reconstructing the movements and motives of the bombers and quoting eyewitness accounts. The subsequent 21 July plot which was foiled is also examined. Written by a former Explosives Officer who worked for the Counter Terrorism Command of the Metropolitan Police. 16.5 x 24cm, 320pp.