The shocking true story of a diamond theft gone wrong offers a fascinating glimpse at the cultural currents of 1930s London. In December 1937, four young men, all products of elite English schools, lured a Cartier diamond salesman to the luxurious Hyde Park Hotel. There, the “Mayfair men” brutally bludgeoned the man and made off with eight rings that today would be worth approximately half a million pounds. The press had a field day with the story, playing to the public’s insatiable appetite for news about upper-crust rowdies and their unsavory pasts. In Playboys and Mayfair Men, Angus McLaren recounts the violent robbery and sensational trial that followed. Using the case to explore the world of interwar London, he sheds light on key social issues, from masculinity and cultural decadence to broader anxieties about moral decay. In his gripping depiction of Mayfair’s celebrity high life, McLaren describes the crime in detail, as well as the police investigation, the suspects, their trial, and the aftermath of their convictions.

This book traces the history of the London ‘white drugs’ (opiate and cocaine) subculture from the First World War to the end of the classic ‘British System’ of drug prescribing in the 1960s. It also examines the regulatory forces that tried to suppress non-medical drug use, in both their medical and juridical forms. Drugs subcultures were previously thought to have begun as part of the post-war youth culture, but in fact they existed from at least the 1930s. In this book, two networks of drug users are explored, one emerging from the disaffected youth of the aristocracy, the other from the night-time economy of London’s West End. Their drug use was caught up in a kind of dance whose steps represented cultural conflicts over identity and the modernism and Victorianism that coexisted in interwar Britain.

The shocking true story of a diamond theft gone wrong. In December 1937, four respectable young men in their twenties, all products of elite English public schools, conspired to lure to the luxurious Hyde Park Hotel a representative of Cartier, the renowned jewelry firm. There, the “Mayfair men” brutally bludgeoned diamond salesman Etienne Bellenger and made off with eight rings that today would be worth approximately half a million pounds. Such well-connected young people were not supposed to appear in the prisoner’s dock at the Old Bailey. Not surprisingly, the popular newspapers had a field day responding to the public’s insatiable appetite for news about the upper-crust rowdies and their unsavory pasts. In Playboys and Mayfair Men, Angus McLaren recounts the violent robbery and sensational trial that followed. He uses the case as a hook to draw the reader into a revelatory exploration of key interwar social issues, from masculinity and cultural decadence to broader anxieties about moral decay. In his gripping depiction of Mayfair’s celebrity high life, McLaren describes the crime in detail, as well as the police investigation, the suspects, their trial, and the aftermath of their convictions.

His most challenging conquest When you're as handsome, dynamic and wealthy as British tycoon Jeremy Barker–Whittle, there's no shortage of stunning women willing to share your bed. So when Alice Waterhouse says no, it's a challenge the jaded playboy can't refuse. But discovering Alice's carefully guarded innocence brings an end to Jeremy's thoughts of briefly stolen passion. The cynical CEO must put aside this delicate beauty...until Alice shocks him by asking him to take her virginity! As Jeremy toys with the temptation to be the first man to show Alice pleasure, he's unaware that she could be the first woman to tame him...

"A guide to the press of the United Kingdom and to the principal publications of Europe, Australia, the Far East, Gulf States, and the U.S.A.

The letters of a writer who is deservedly getting more and more attention, a fascinating insight into the life of a bohemian writer of the mid-20th century. This collection shows his brilliant story-telling talents and is a gripping narrative of love, money troubles, homelessness and drug-induced psychosis, as well as the more everyday concerns of a professional writer. Maclaren Roass was admired by Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene in his lifetime, and Harold Pinter, Michael Holroyd, Ian Sinclair and Melvyn Bragg since. He has recently achieved cult status.

Monograph surveying the images and attitudes presented by mass media with regard to women in contemporary society.