TANKY CHALLONER - SAS and the Met by Challenor Harold, Draper Harold

Leo Cooper, London, 1990. Hardcover in dust jacket, 6 x 9, UK first edition, VG/VG CONDITION, 208 pages, illus., index.-----------------------------Until the events of 11 July, 1963, rocketed him into the headlines of the national press, Tanky Challenoy, was only known in - and admired by - the close-knit circles of his friends in the SAS and the Metropolitan Police. He was also known, but only grudgingly admired, by most of the villains in the • West End.On that fateful July day, however, a demonstration was staged outside Claridge's Hotel where King Paul and Queen Frederika of Greece were staying. The demonstrators were protesting at Queen Frederika's supposedly malign influence on Greek politics, and one of them was to claim that Challenor had "planted" a brick f on him. In no time the name of Tanky Challenor became a household word.-----------------------------------------With the help of Alfred Draper, a journalist of many years' experience, Tanky now tells the story of his life from his childhood, through his time in the SAS, where he won a well-deserved Military Medal, to his eventual downfall. In no way does he attempt to excuse himself nor to pour whitewash over events that have been long established. He simply sets out to explain how it came about that a young man of undoubted intelligence but limited educational background ended up in a mental home. Nor for one moment does he blame the Army, which clearly played a major role in the forming of his character, and his time in which he obviously much enjoyed. But when a man is obliged to spend months behind the enemy lines and is taught not only to kill but to take a pleasure in killing, it is bound to leave some mark on this personality.