The Winding Stair

“Few, if any, public servants can match Sir Rodney Brooke’s 60-year record ... six decades of unbroken service acrosslocal government, the NHS, education, utilities and beyond surely give him a unique perspective...” – The GuardianSir Rodney Brooke has had an eventful life at the sharp end – thanks to a career that led him from 15-year-old school-leaver in Yorkshire to the corridors of power at Westminster... and all points in between. In The Winding Stair, his sparkling collection of memoirs, he takes readers through its highs and lows – beginning as areporter on his hometown Morley Observer newspaper and ending with a CBE, knighthood and honours from five more countries. In so doing, he reveals hitherto unknown details behind six decades’ worth of controversial headline moments and colourfulpersonalities. As a former chief executive of West Yorkshire County Council, he shares fascinating background intothe mysterious death of Helen Smith in Jeddah; the Bradford City fire, in which 56 people were killed; and the handling of the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. As Emergency Controller in the event of nuclear war, he was told to shelter in a Pennine underground lair – and restoreorder as Geiger counters said to emerge. Read how Halifax invented the guillotine; why dogs could bark at night inOtley but not Ossett; how the law told householders in Huddersfield to whiten their doorsteps before 8.00am or be fined fiveshillings; and why the press camped on his Ilkley lawn after he resigned over the notorious ‘Homes for Votes’ episode –when Dame Shirley Porter was surcharged £42.5m.Accounts of how he organised the final reading of the Riot Act andinterviewed a talking dog with Mrs Thatcher’s press spokesman, Sir Bernard Ingham, are found among tales of PrincessDiana’s underwear in Roundhay Park, Princess Margaret and the cakes at Leeds/Bradford airport, sex and the Poll Tax, the murky Dolphin Square scandals and how Trafalgar Square very nearly became Nelson Mandela Square. For anyone interested in current affairs and the reality behind politics, The Winding Stair – From Morley Boy to WestminsterKnight is not to be missed.

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