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List of SAS operations

The following is a list of known Special Air Service (SAS) operations.

Second World War Operations
The Special Air Service began life in July 1941, the brainchild of Lieutenant David Stirling of No. 8 (Guards) Commando. His idea was for small teams of parachute trained soldiers to operate behind enemy lines to gain intelligence, destroy enemy aircraft and attack their supply and reinforcement routes. The SAS carried out this role until the end of the war serving in a number of theatres and campaigns.

By the end of the Second World War on 8 May 1945, the SAS had suffered 330 casualties, but had killed or wounded 7,733 and captured 23,000 of their enemies.

North Africa

 * Operation Squatter, 16/17 November 1941, unsuccessful raid on forward Axis airfields in North Africa, in support of Operation Crusader
 * Operation Green Room
 * Operation Bigamy, September 1942, diversionary raid on the Port of Benghazi in support of Operation Agreement 13/14 September 1942
 * Operation Palmyra

Mediterranean

 * Operation Albumen, 7/8 June 1942, 4/5 July 1943, raids on Axis airfields in Crete.
 * Operation Chestnut, July 1943, raids supporting the Allied invasion of Sicily
 * Operation Narcissus, July 1943, capture of lighthouse in Sicily.
 * Operation Avalanche, Allied invasion of Italy.
 * Begonia/Jonquil, October 1943, rescue of POWs in Italy.
 * Operation Candytuft, October 1943, raid on railway targets in Italy.
 * Operation Maple Driftwood 1944, raid on railway targets in Italy.
 * Operation Baobab, January 1944, raid on rail targets serving Anzio, Italy.
 * Operation Galia, December 1944 – February 1945, 34 men from 3 Squadron, 2 SAS parachuted into northern Italy, conducted operations alongside local resistance fighters.

Northwest Europe
The below operations were overseen by the brigade formation known as Special Air Service Troops:
 * Operations in support of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France:
 * Operation Titanic, 6 June 1944.
 * Operation Nelson, June 1944, operation in the Orleans Gap.
 * Operation Samwest, 6 June 1944, 4th SAS Battalion (Free French) dropped in Côtes-du-Nord (Brittany) to hinder German troop movements
 * Operation Grog /Grog, 4 SAS in conjunction with Operations Dingson and Samwest 5 June 1944.
 * Operation Dingson, 6 June 1944, 4th SAS Battalion (Free French) dropped to Morbihan (Brittany).
 * Operation Bulbasket, 1st SAS mission, although partly successful operation 6 June 1944.
 * Operation Cooney, 8 June 1944, 18 teams of the 4th SAS Battalion (58 Free French) dropped to Brittany to break communications ways.
 * Operation Houndsworth, June 1944.
 * Operation Lost, 23 June – July 1944, British and Free French operation in Brittany.
 * Operation Swan II, 1944.
 * Operation Gain, 1944 (originally issued as Operation Cain but corrupted in transmission and the latter adopted).
 * Operation Defoe, July 1944, patrols in Normandy.
 * Operation Barker, 1944, (originally issued as Operation Barkers as it is named for a famous London department store, but subsequently truncated).
 * Operation Derry, 5/18 August 1944.
 * Operation Hardy I, 27 July to 19 August 1944, Raids near Dijon, France. Amalgamated into Operation Wallace.
 * Operation Wallace, 19 August to 19 September 1944, Raids near Dijon, France.
 * Operation Gaff, July 1944, attempt to kill or capture Erwin Rommel.
 * Operation Dunhill, August 1944, raid in support of the breakout of American forces from the Normandy beachhead.
 * Operation Loyton, August 1944, operations near the Belfort Gap.
 * Operation Pistol, September 1944, operations to blow railways south of Metz and east of Dieuze.
 * Operation Moses, September 1944, Take over from the ‘Bulbasket’ mission and aid the local French resistance forces.
 * Operation Haggard, (part of a series of randomly allocated cryptonyms derived from famous writers).
 * Operation Newton, August 1944, attacks on German rear areas.
 * Operation Noah II 16 August/13 September 1944, attack on retreating Germans in Belgium.
 * Operation Canuck, January 1945 operation in Northern Italy.
 * Operation Cold Comfort, February 1945 failed SAS raid on railway targets near Verona.
 * Operation Brake, (part of a series of operations named after parts of aircraft).
 * Operation Tombola, March 1945, major operation around Bologna.
 * Operation Archway, March 1945, reconnaissance in support of the crossing of the Rhine.
 * Operation Amherst, In the night of 7 April 1945, more than 700 Free French SAS of the 3rd and 4th SAS were dropped in the Netherlands between Hoogeveen and Groningen.
 * Operation Keystone, April 1945, operation near IJsselmeer.
 * Operation Howard, April–May 1945, B and C Squadrons of 1 SAS, provided reconnaissance ahead of the Canadian 4th Armoured Division's drive towards northern Germany.

Known Postwar Operations
Immediately following the conclusion of the Second World War the SAS was disbanded; however the continued necessity for a commando unit was recognised and they were reformed again in 1947. In 1950 an SAS squadron trained to be deployed in the Korean War, however they were eventually transferred to Southeast Asia to serve in the ongoing Malayan Emergency.

The SAS continued to serve successfully in a variety of theatres and roles throughout the Cold War, and following the September 11 attacks the SAS deployed in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, it has continued its diverse selection of roles to the present day.

1950s–1970s – the Cold War
Malayan Emergency Jebel Akhdar War Indonesian Confrontation Aden Emergency Lufthansa Flight 181
 * Operation Helsby, February 1952, series of deep penetration operations in Malaya.
 * Operation Hive
 * In 1958 two squadrons of 22 SAS were deployed to Oman to put down a rebellion. In January 1959 the SAS carried out a successful assault on a large guerrilla force on the Sabrina plateau.
 * Operation Claret, June 1964 – 1966, series of high risk cross-border patrols into Indonesia.
 * "Keeni-Meeni Operations", 10 December 1963 – 1967, the search for Yemeni-trained assassins.
 * Operation Feuerzauber (Fire Magic), 18 October 1977, supplemented German GSG9 commando operation.

1980s–1990s
Iranian Embassy Siege Falklands War
 * Operation Nimrod, 5 May 1980, successful rescue of hostages from the Iranian embassy in London.
 * Operation Corporate, 2 April–14 June 1982, the overall British operation to recover the Falkland Islands. The SAS alongside the SBS carried out numerous reconnaissance missions and diversionary raids in East and West Falkland to support the campaign. SAS forward observers also directed British artillery and aircraft.
 * Operation Paraquet, 25 April 1982, successful recapture of the Island of South Georgia.
 * Pebble Island Raid, 14–15 May 1982, successful attack on Argentinian-held airbase in West Falkland.
 * Operation Sutton, 21–23 May 1982, landings in East Falkland.
 * Operation Mikado, May 1982, abortive operation to destroy the three remaining Exocet missiles in Argentine possession.
 * Mount Kent, 29–31 May 1982, D Squadron of 22 SAS seized and then held the vital Mount Kent high ground for three nights against repeated Argentine assaults until being reinforced by 42 Commando.

The Troubles Persian Gulf War
 * Operation Banner, 1969–1997, deployment of the British army in Northern Ireland, the official SAS deployment from 1976. See also: Timeline of British undercover forces in Operation Banner
 * Forkhill, 1976, senior IRA member Peter Cleary killed in struggle after capture by SAS.
 * Coagh, 1978.
 * Maghera, 1978, IRA members and an SAS unit exchange fire near Maghera, County Londonderry. One British soldier shot dead. A prominent IRA member, Francis Hughes, was wounded and captured following the shootout.
 * Derry, 1978, ambush of IRA member in Derry.
 * Belfast, 1978, ambush of three IRA members, one civilian also killed
 * Dunloy, 1978, ambush of teenage civilian mistaken for IRA member.
 * M60 gang, 1980, eight IRA members arrested, SAS Captain Herbert Westmacott killed.
 * Kesh ambush, 1984, ambush of four IRA members, two IRA members and one SAS soldier killed.
 * Strabane ambush, 1985, ambush of three IRA members
 * Roslea, 1986, ambush of two IRA members.
 * Operation Judy, 1987, ambush of eight IRA members.
 * Flavious, 1988, operation against three IRA members in Gibraltar.
 * Belfast, 1988, ambush of IRA unit as it attacked an RUC Station in Belfast, passing taxi driver killed.
 * Drumnakilly, 1988, military confrontation that took place at Drumnakilly in County Tyrone.
 * Loughgall, 1990, ambush of two IRA members.
 * Strabane, 1990, ambush of INLA members, one killed.
 * Coagh, 1991, ambush of three IRA members.
 * Clonoe, 1992, ambush of six IRA members.
 * Coalisland, 1997, one alleged IRA member shot and wounded after a grenade attack on RUC barracks.
 * South Armagh Sniper, 1997, the SAS captured one of two IRA sniper teams employing .50 BMG calibre Barrett M82 and M90 rifles.

 * Operation Granby, January 1991, the deployment British forces during the Persian Gulf War. The SAS adopted its classic deep penetration role behind enemy lines, being deployed in numerous reconnaissance missions and raids on Scud launchers and communications sites. They also acted as observers for Coalition artillery and aircraft.
 * Bravo Two Zero, the task was to find and destroy Iraqi Scud missile launchers along a 250 km stretch of the MSR. The patrol was compromised which lead to contact with Iraqi Forces, eventually the 8 man SAS patrol withdrew and began trying to escape and evade the Iraqi forces. Unfortunately 3 members died, 4 were captured and 1 successfully managed to escape alone.
 * Operation Victor Two, February 1991, a successful assault on a Scud communications installation.

Bosnian War
 * Operation Joint Endeavor, 16 July 1992 – 2 December 2004, NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 * Operation Tango, 10 July 1997, the arrest of two suspected war criminals in Prijedor. The men were wanted for involvement in the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims.
 * Operation Ensue, November 1998, the arrest of a Serbian War criminal.

Japanese embassy hostage crisis
 * Operation Chavín de Huántar, 22 April 1997, supplemented Peruvian Army operation.

Sierra Leone Civil War
 * Operation Palliser, May 2000, deployment of British forces in Sierra Leone.
 * Operation Barras, 10 September 2000, joint SAS/SBS rescue of 6 captured members of the Royal Irish Regiment in Sierra Leone.

2000s–2010s – The War on Terror
War in Afghanistan Iraq War
 * Operation Enduring Freedom– Afghanistan , 7 October 2001 – 28 December 2014, NATO deployment in Afghanistan. The SAS were involved in the initial invasion and remained active in the conflict.
 * Operation Determine, October 2001, A and G squadron of 22 SAS, reinforced by members of the Territorial SAS, conducted reconnaissance tasks in north west Afghanistan none of which resulted in enemy contact.
 * Operation Trent, November 2001, A and G squadron of 22 SAS, attacked an Al Qaeda opium plant and command centre 250 miles southwest of Kandahar, the operation was a success, but 4 SAS soldiers were wounded.
 * Operation Moshtarak, March 2010, as part of a U.S.-led operation in Helmand Province, operating with Navy SEALs striking against and capturing Taliban leaders.
 * Operation Jubilee, 28 May 2012, a team from the SAS and DEVGRU conducted Operation Jubilee to rescue 4 aid workers (1 British, 1 Kenyan, 2 Afghan) captured by bandits and held in two separate caves in the Koh-e-Laram forest, Badakhshan Province. The SAS and SEALs arrived by Blackhawk helicopters from the 160th SOAR at an LZ 2 km away and travelled on foot to the caves where the hostages were being held. The SAS and SEALs stormed the caves simultaneously – DEVGRU killed 7 bandits but didn't find any hostages, the SAS killed 4 bandits and recovered all 4 hostages, there were no casualties to hostages or rescuers.
 * Operation Toral, in December 2015, it was reported that 30 members of the SAS alongside 60 US special forces operators joined the Afghan Army in the Battle to retake parts of Sangin from Taliban insurgents.
 * Operation Telic, 19 March 2003 – 30 April 2009, the British deployment in Iraq. The SAS were involved in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq (they were designated as Task Force 14 ) and they were involved in later operations during the occupation.
 * Operation Row, 17 March 2003, was Britain's contribution to the taking of large parts of western and northern Iraq, this would pin down several Iraqi divisions stopping Saddam Hussein reinforcing his efforts against the main invasion. B and D squadron infiltrated Iraq (B by ground vehicles and D by air), a few members of D Squadron were deployed to southern Iraq to support the coalition advance on Basra, the team conducted forward route reconnaissance and infiltrated the city and brought in strikes on the Ba'athist loyalist leadership. After capturing H-2 and H-3 air bases, the British and Australian SAS teams moved to their next objective – the intersection of the two main highways linking Baghdad with Syria and Jordan, securing Highway 2 and 4. The SAS lost not a single soldier during the taking of Iraq, although two members of D Squadron had died in a training accident before the invasion. Later the SAS operated out of Baghdad International Airport; the force accompanied MI6 officers into Baghdad so they could carry out missions with security, by early May, B and D Squadrons were replaced roughly 30 members of G Squadron, who still had about a dozen members deployed in Afghanistan.
 * Assault on suspected WMD facility in al-Qa'im, 17 March 2003, two days before the Coalition invasion, the majority of B & D Squadrons 22 SAS were tasked to assault a suspected chemical munitions site at a water-treatment plant in the city of al-Qa'im. It's been reported that the site might have been a SCUD launch site or a depot, an SAS officer was quoted by author Mark Nicol as saying "it was a location where missiles had been fired at Israel in the past, and a site of strategic importance for WMD material." D squadron, along with their 'Pinkie' DPVs (the last time the vehicles were used before their retirement), was flown 120 km into Iraq in 6 CH-47s in 3 waves. Following their insertion, D squadron established a patrol laager at a remote location outside al-Qa'im and awaited the arrival of B squadron, who had driven overland from Jordan. Their approach to the plant was compromised, and a firefight developed which ended in one 'pinkie' having to be abandoned and destroyed, repeated attempts to assault the plant were halted, leading the SAS calling in an air strike which finally silenced the opposition.
 * Seizure of H-2 and H-3 Air Bases, 18 and 25 March 2003, after infiltrating Iraq at full strength, a combined force consisting of B and D squadron of British Special Air Service and 1 squadron of Australian Special Air Service Regiment set up observation posts around H-2 and H-3 air base and called in airstrikes that defeated the Iraqi defenders, the combined British and Australian Squadrons took H-2 virtually unopposed. H-3 airbase was defended by a battalion of Iraqi troops and significant numbers of mobile and static anti aircraft guns, the British and Australian SAS were joined by members of Delta Force and on 24 March by Green Beret ODAs from Bravo company, 1st Battalion 5th SFG, together they called in constant 24 hours of precision airstrikes on H-3 forcing the Iraqi defenders to flee, the Coalition SOF secured H-3 and seized around 80 assorted anti aircraft cannon guns and an enormous amount of ammunition. A company of Rangers and Royal Marines from 45 Commando flew from Jordan to reinforce the air bases. The British SAS then headed eastwards to search for and destroy Iraqi SCUD missile launchers – which Saddam might again use to attack Israel.
 * Capture of Lieutenant-General Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, On the night of 16 June 2003, members of G Squadron SAS and B squadron Delta Force captured Saddam Hussein personal secretary who was ranked fourth most important HVT (High Valued Target) in Tikrit, where British intelligence had traced him to. He was captured in a joint helicopter and ground assault without resistance or casualties and was considered a highly successful operation.
 * Operation Jocal, on 24 June 2003, six Royal Military Police soldiers from 156 Provost Company of the 16 Air Assault Brigade were assaulted and killed by an Iraqi mob numbering several hundred at a police station in Majar al-Kabir. The town was known for banditry and lawlessness, the people there insisted that they had liberated themselves from Ba'athist party occupation and did not want coalition troops there, British tactics in sweeping for weapons angered the population. Some of the soldiers were shot and others beaten to death. A couple of days after the incident, members of the G squadron arrived in the town to conduct Operation Jocal to find those responsible, they then gathered intelligence on who was responsible and withdrew from the town under fire by armed Iraqis, however British military commanders discouraged the SAS from going back in and arresting those responsible.
 * Operation Paradoxical, was authorised in the summer of 2003 and lasted until winter of that year when the SAS were placed under the command of the Chief of Joint Operations in Northwood. The broadly drawn operation was for the SAS to hunt down threats to the coalition, it also gave them greater latitude to work with US "classified" forces prosecuting the best available intelligence. They are known to have operated covertly in Ramadi and Fallujah in October and November 2003 and other more remote parts of Al Anbar Province. In A Squadrons four-month deployment in 2003 they carried out 85 missions. one mission, in late November, soldiers from A Squadron SAS launched a heliborne assault on a remote farm in Al Anbar province, after they came under fire from insurgents inside, air support was called in and hit the farm, after it was cleared; seven dead insurgents were found whom American intelligence believed were foreign fighters.
 * Operation Abalone, on the night of 31 October 2003, two dozen members of A Squadron (G Squadron left Iraq in August) with Delta Force, supported by a platoon of US M2A3 Bradley IFV's manning an outer cordon, assaulted four compounds/dwellings on the outskirts of Ramadi where US intelligence had tracked a Sudanese jihadist who was facilitating Islamist militants into Iraq. The SAS were tasked with assaulting 2 of the dwellings whilst Delta Force assaulted another 2 dwellings; both of Delta's and one of the SAS's target buildings were cleared without incident, but as the SAS assaulted their final dwelling the assault team were wounded by a hail of fire and an RPG-7 rocket, they returned fire and withdrew from the building. After a head count, it was realised that 2 soldiers were still in the building (one had been killed and another, an SAS Corporal, was wounded), A squadron's CO and several soldiers moved to the roof of another building from which they could fire onto the target building, whilst several soldiers re-entered the building to find the 2 missing personnel. After finding the body of one soldier and recovering the wounded Corporal under fire, Bradley IFV's 'pummelled' the dwelling with its armaments and then Delta force assaulted it, killing several terrorists; whilst the SAS assaulted another house that they were receiving fire from, killing 1 and capturing 4 foreign insurgents. The operation was brought to a successful conclusion, the more seriously wounded SAS soldiers were medevaced and as the SAS and Delta Force collapsed back to their cordon, they received small arms fire from the neighbourhood. Although they did not find the Sudanese jihadist, he's believed to have been killed with a dozen other insurgents; the soldier killed – Corporal Ian Plank, who had been attached to A Squadron from the SBS, was the first UKSF combat fatality in the Iraq War. The Operation turned up actual proof of an internationalist jihadist movement.
 * 2005 Royal Air Force Hercules shootdown, 2005, Iraqi insurgents shot down an RAF Hercules flying out of Baghdad in January 2005, in response to this G Squadron of the 22nd SAS Regiment immediately began hunting down the insurgents responsible, after a long intelligence operation that led to operations later in that year the SAS captured some of those responsible.
 * Task Force Black/Knight, 2004–2008, the new UKSF mission and deployment was codenamed Operation Crichton, a title that would remain in use until 2009 and the new UKSF codename for them in Iraq was known as "Task Force Black". An SAS team worked jointly with American Delta Force in a secret war against Al Qaeda and other insurgents based in Iraq. The Task Force size was roughly around 150 personnel and their "Black Ops" operation claimed to have cleared 3,500 insurgents off the streets with "several hundred" of them believed to have been killed. 6 SAS soldiers had also been killed and 30 injured in the Operation. General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of NATO forces in Iraq, commented that A Squadron 22 SAS Regiment, when part of Task Force Black and Task Force Knight, carried out 175 combat missions during a six-month tour of duty. In the early months of 2004, the SAS used their capabilities in reconnaissance and surveillance to watch suspects and develop/gather intelligence for the coalition intelligence services. The SAS operational process in Baghdad was known as find-fix-finish, working backwards with the 'finish' part being a raid to take down a suspect, 'fix' involved pinpointing a time and place which a target can be taken and 'find' would be finding the insurgent/terrorist. In February 2004, they almost captured/killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the leader of AQI when they assaulted a house in Baghdad; after forcing entry they withdrew when they discovered a booby trap, they still managed to overwhelm the occupants of the building and captured intelligence revealed Zarqawi had left a short time before. By autumn 2004, Task Force Black were operating in a 'semi detached way'; due to senior British officials taking issues with mistreatment and poor quality cells at JSOCs detention facility at Balad (handing over to regular US Army units rather than sending them to Balad), the deportation of detainees captured in Operation Aston etc. that JSOC had no other choice but to unconsciously end UK-US cooperation in special operations in Iraq – given the importance of rapidly exploiting intelligence. On 11 April 2005, G squadron, SAS captured Fadhil Ibrahim al-Mashhadani, one of Saddam Hussein's former apparatchik after assaulting a farm north-east of Baghdad that intelligence had traced him to. At about the same time, in an attempt to find the kidnappers of a foreigner, the SAS also captured a former senior Ba'athist party official and another man, they didn't find the hostage but the men were definitely connected to the kidnappers, however they were later released when US intelligence revealed that they were CIA assets. Due to the Basra Prison incident in which the name of the UKSF forces in Iraq 'Task force Black' was leaked to the press; the force was renamed 'Task force Knight' During the Spring and summer of 2007 the SAS suffered several men seriously wounded as it extended its operations into Sadr City. With Al-Qaeda surging in April 2007, Delta Force and Task Force Knight (in particular A squadron 22nd SAS) began conducting operations in Baghdad nearly every night. They also focused operations on takedowns of Shia and Sunni militants as well as Al-Qaeda bomb makers in May and June 2007, between May and November A squadron arrested 338 people and killed 88.
 * Operation Aston, February 2004, personnel from B Squadron of 22 SAS, assaulted a house in southern Baghdad that MI6 intelligence showed was part of a 'jihadist pipeline' from Iran to Iraq that American and British intelligence agencies were tracking suspects on and these suspects fell in with a jihadist group. Just before the SAS assaulted the house they were compromised by locals and a firefight with the jihadist ensued, the SAS pressed on and assaulted the house, as soon as they broke in a jihadist fired his AK-47 lightly wounding one SAS Sergeant. After a short-range firefight, the building was secured, killing two and capturing two foreign jihadist, the two captured jihadist were from LeT. Both terrorists captured were from/originated from Pakistan and were flown out of Iraq for interrogation at the US facility at Bagram Air base, this strained relations between the US and UK, (unknown to the British, there were no interrogators in Iraq that had the linguistic skills to screen the detainees) this in combination with the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse and the media reports about the First Battle of Fallujah, the government decided that they could no longer hand over detainees to JSOC if they were going to be flown elsewhere.
 * Operation Marlborough, 23 July 2005, members of G squadron 22 SAS, supported the SBS operation that killed 3 AQI would-be suicide bombers in Baghdad.
 * Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis, B squadron 22 SAS (along with a small team from JTF2) led an operation as part of Task Force Black to free British and Canadian peace activists in Baghdad who had been taken hostage in late November 2005 (one hostage was eventually murdered). The release effort was part of Operation Lightwater: the intelligence agencies and SAS initiated the operation with the aim of finding the hostages: which involved raiding houses and arresting suspects almost every day and night. The total number of building raids amounted to 50, (44 of them being conducted British special forces which in total detained 47 people). In the early hours of 23 March 2006, as part of Operation Lightwater, the SAS carried out Operation Ney 3: their target was a house in Mishahda, 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, they found two men they were looking for that revealed the location of the hostages in western Baghdad. At 0800, the SAS stormed the house, finding the insurgents had abandoned the building the SAS rescued the hostages.
 * Operation Traction, mid-January 2006, was the SAS upgrade into JSOC, they deployed TGHG (Task Group Headquarters Group): this included senior officers and other senior members of 22 SAS - to JSOCs base at Balad. This was the first deployment of TGHG to Iraq since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the upgrade now meant that the SAS were "joined at the hip" with JSOC and it gave the SAS a pivotal role against Sunni militant groups, particularly AQI.
 * Operation Larchwood 4, 16 April 2006, that night, soldiers from B squadron and a platoon of British paratroopers from the SFSG/Task Force Maroon launched the operation that was aimed at mid-level Al-Qaeda leadership, it had been developed out of raids carried out on previous days by Delta Force and the SAS against AQI in the outskirts of Baghdad, killing at least 7 insurgents. B squadron inserted by helicopter and assaulted the terrorist-occupied farmhouse on the outskirts of Yusufiyah whilst the paratroopers set up a cordon, soon after entering the house a firefight broke out and 3 SAS soldiers were wounded by gunfire, the SAS regrouped and continued to assault the house but two more were wounded. However the SAS overcame this setback and took the house and the combined force killed a total of 5 terrorists and captured five men and several women and children, it also gathered valuable intelligence on Al Qaeda in Iraq including its leader.
 * On 15 April 2007, G squadron of the SAS assaulted a house near Taji containing a suspected Sunni insurgent leader in the early hours, whilst inserting by helicopter two RAF Pumas collided, two SAS personnel and an RAF crewman were thrown from one of the Puma and crushed by it as it rolled onto its side, two died but one SAS soldier was saved, several others were wounded by flying debris.
 * On 6 September 2007, a 30-man SAS team from A squadron, supported by paras from Task Force Maroon part of Task Force Black assaulted a house in Baghdad that intel had pinpointed as the location of a senior Al-Qaeda figure and/or a Sunni group. The mission was a success with at least one insurgent killed, but it cost the life of one of the SAS servicemen; Sergeant Eddie Collins.
 * On 20 November 2007, A squadron, backed up by paras, attacked Sunni insurgents in Salman Pak from RAF Puma and Lynx helicopters, after engaging them from the air one Puma began inserting its SAS team when it crashed which trapped and killed two SAS men.
 * In early 2008, B Squadron of TF Knight performed a nighttime parachute assault into Anbar province from a C-130, their target was a man counterfeiting dollar bills for Al-Qaeda, after landing they assaulted the targets house and "got" their target.
 * On 26 March 2008, B Squadron were once again called upon to hit a terrorist bomb makers house in Tikrit at 0200, after trying to call him out and sending in a Combat Assault dog – receiving no response, they stormed the house, they received a hail of fire and one SAS soldier, Sergeant Nick Brown was killed and four more SAS personnel were wounded. An orbiting AC-130 fired on the house as the assault team withdrew from the house, grenades were thrown at them and gunmen from another building joined in the firefight until a circling helicopter destroyed most of the building with its rockets. With Helicopter support, they pressed on and the SAS chased their 2 targets into another house who used civilians as hostages who were then accidentally killed beside the terrorists by the AC-130.
 * Operation Hathor, The SAS maintained a detachment in southern Iraq called Operation Hathor: that consisted of a handful of personnel based with British forces in Basra. Their primary role was to protect SIS (MI6) officers and to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance for the British Battle Group.
 * Basra prison incident, 2005, two undercover Special Air Service soldiers who were operating in Basra as part of Operation Hathor were captured by Iraqi police after it was alleged they opened fire on a police check point. The British army used tanks to encircle the prison they were being held at and after nightfall members of A Squadron SAS stormed the house the prisoners had been moved to and rescued the captured operatives. According to the governor of Basra province, Mohammed al-Waili, the British had used "more than ten tanks backed by helicopters" to carry out the raid. After the British army left, around 150 other prisoners fled the prison. On 25 December 2006, the SAS again raided the Al Jameat station, killing seven gunmen and freeing 127 prisoners being held by Shia militias there. They then blew up the building. A British Army spokesperson stated that the 127 prisoners freed had been tortured and that there were fears that they were about to be executed.
 * On 17 July 2006, Hathor detachment spearheaded the mission that resulted in British troops from the Brigade Reconnaissance Company of 20th Armoured Brigade capturing Sajjad Badr Adal Sayeed, the leader of the Mahdi Army, in a raid on a building in Basra. Mahdi Army militia soon engaged the strike force cordon with assault rifles and RPGs, the engagement lasted for 2 hours resulting in 1 British soldier killed and at least 4 militiaman killed.
 * In September 2006, Hathor detachment carried out a raid on the residence of an important member of Al Qaeda international network called Omar al-Faruq in Basra, following an intelligence tip off. Faruq opened fire on the assault force and was killed, the operation was an intelligence coup and underlined the value of the detachment.
 * In November 2006, during an assault on a building block occupied by insurgents in Basra by 'Hathor' detachment, Sergeant Jon Hollingsworth of D squadron who had been detached to 'Hathor' was leading his team when he was shot and he died of his wound not long afterwards.
 * Operation Dover, December 2006, a team from G Squadron stormed a building in northern Basra and apprehended an insurgent cell and its leader whom were responsible for carrying a bomb attack on the Shatt al-Arab waterway in Basra in November that killed 2 soldiers and 2 Royal Marines, video of the attack and other intelligence was gathered.
 * Operation Traction 2, early 2007, was part of a drive by JSOC to target Shia militants particularly in the southern Iraq. G squadron was deployed to Basra in mid-March 2007 and 'Hathor detachment was upgraded and renamed 'Task Force Spartan'. They immediately began gathering intelligence and on the night of 20 March 2007 G squadron raided a house in Basra containing Qais Khazali; a senior Shia militant and an Iranian proxy, and Laith al-Khazali and Ali Mussa Daqduq, a Hezbollah advisor, without casualties. The raid turned out to be most significant raid conducted by British forces in Iraq, gaining valuable intelligence on Iranian involvement in the Shia insurgency, including the Karbala raid. 'Task Force Spartan' was disbanded when British forces pulled out of Basra in 2007.

Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa
 * Members of the SAS and the SRR were deployed to Djibouti as part of Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa to conducting operations against Islamist terrorists in Somalia; they have carrying out surveillance missions of Britons believed to be travelling to Somalia for terrorist training and they are also working with US counterparts observing and "targeting" local terror suspects. They have also been carrying out a similar role in Yemen.

Libyan Civil War
 * 2011 military intervention in Libya, an early operation was conducted by E Squadron, this was to contact the Libyan rebel and opposition leaders, however the mission was a failure after the team was captured and held prisoner for 72 hours by Libyan rebels.
 * Operation Ellamy, a BBC news broadcast on 19 Jan 2012 revealed that the SAS had, in fact been redeployed to Libya as part of the larger British deployment, in a joint operation with French and Qatari special forces. A troop of 20 personnel from D Squadron 22 SAS were in the East of Libya, operating in small groups in places like Misrata and Brega by August. They assisted in training, coordinating and commanding opposition groups on and off the front line, and they were very active directing NATO airstrikes. It was also alleged that 22 SAS were leading the hunt for Gaddafi after the Battle of Tripoli.

Military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
 * Operation Shader, In August 2014, the SAS were reported to be on the ground gathering intelligence and helping with the evacuation of Yazidi refugees from the Sinjar mountains At least one full squadron have been deployed to Iraq.and have reportedly been helping Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.  Sources say that SAS and US Special Forces fought alongside Kurdish forces during Siege of Kobane in Syria.
 * May 2015 U.S. special forces raid in Syria, On 15 May after surveillance by the SAS who confirmed the presence of a senior leader of ISIL/ISIS named Abu Sayyaf in al-Amr in Deir Ezzor, who was then killed in a US Special forces raid.

title: List of SAS operations


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Loans affair

The Loans affair, also called the Khemlani affair, was a political scandal involving the Whitlam government of Australia in 1975 in which it was accused of attempting to borrow money from the Middle East by the agency of the Pakistani banker Tirath Khemlani (17 September 1920 — 19 May 1991) and thus bypass the standard procedures of the Australian Treasury and violate the Australian Constitution.

Minerals and Energy Minister Rex Connor and Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns misled Parliament and were forced from the Whitlam Cabinet over the affair. This was a key precursor to the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, which led to the dismissal of the government in 1975.

Background
Minerals and Energy Minister Rex Connor wanted funds for a series of national development projects. He proposed that to finance his plans, the government should borrow US$4 billion: equivalent to US $25,000,000,000 (billion dollars) in 2024. It was a requirement of the Australian Constitution for non-temporary government borrowings to be through the Loan Council. Although the development projects were long-term, Whitlam, Cairns, Murphy and Connor authorised Connor to seek the loan on 13 December 1974 without involving the Loan Council. Connor had already been investigating the loan. Through an Adelaide builder, he had been introduced to the Pakistani dealer Tirath Khemlani. According to Khemlani, Connor asked for a 20-year loan with interest at 7.7% and set a commission to Khemlani of 2.5%. Despite assurance that all was in order, Khemlani began to stall on the loan, notably after he was asked to go to Zürich with officials of the Reserve Bank of Australia to prove that the funds were in the Union Bank of Switzerland, as he had claimed. The government revised its authority to Connor to $2 billion.

Khemlani played a pivotal role and was employed by Dalamal and Sons, a London-based commodity-trading firm.

It was common knowledge that funds were usually borrowed from European banks or financiers. Connor's attempt to secure the loan was unusual for several reasons:

 * 1) The size of the loan was extremely large for the time.
 * 2) When a project of such a scale and cost is undertaken, governments often attract foreign investment and ultimately form a business partnership whereby the foreign investor retains partial ownership and/or rights over the resources once the project is complete. However, that option was rejected by Connor, who was renowned for his desire to have Australian resources controlled and owned by Australians.
 * 3) The Minister for Minerals and Energy was raising the loan independently of the Treasury.
 * 4) Rather than attempting to raise the loan from US financiers, Connor attempted to raise the loan from Arab financiers, with Khemlani acting as the intermediary. There were unconfirmed reports that Arab financiers offered lower interest rates on governmental loans than US banks and financiers. The Middle East at the time was awash with petrodollars since the price of oil quadrupled between 1973 and 1974.

Connor was duly authorised to raise loans through Khemlani in late 1974. Between December 1974 and May 1975, Khemlani sent regular telexes to Connor that advised that he was close to securing the loan.

However, the loan never eventuated. In May 1975, Whitlam sought to secure the loan instead through a major US investment bank. As part of the loan procedure, the bank imposed an obligation on the Australian government to cease all other loan-raising activities pertaining to this loan. Accordingly, on 20 May 1975, Connor's loan-raising authority was formally revoked.

Leak of loan proposal
As news leaked of the plan, the opposition began questioning the government. Under questioning from Fraser, Whitlam said on 20 May that the loans pertained to "matters of energy", that the Loans Council had not been advised and that it would be advised only "if and when the loan is made". The following day, he told Fraser and Parliament that authority for the plan had been revoked. On 4 June 1975, Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister Jim Cairns, misled Parliament by claiming that he had not given a letter to an intermediary offering a 2.5% commission on a loan. Whitlam removed Cairns from Treasury, made him Minister for the Environment and later dismissed him from Cabinet.

A special one-day sitting of the House of Representatives was held on 9 July 1975 during which Prime Minister Gough Whitlam tabled the documents containing evidence about the loan and attempted to defend his government's actions.

Beset by economic difficulties at the time and by the negative political impact conjured up by the affair, the Whitlam government was vulnerable to further assaults on its credibility.

Although Connor's authority to seek an overseas loan was withdrawn after the leaking of the scandal, he continued to liaise with Khemlani. The Journalist Peter Game from the major Melbourne daily newspaper The Herald tracked down Khemlani in mid-late 1975 and following an interview revealed that Khemlani and Connor were still in contact, which brought the affair to a head. After Connor directly denied Khemlani's version of events, as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, Khemlani flew to Australia in October 1975 and provided Game with telexes sent to him from Connor that refuted Connor's denial.

On 13 October 1975, Khemlani provided a statutory declaration and a copy of the incriminating telexes sent from Connor's office, a copy of which was forwarded to Whitlam. Upon receiving the documents, Whitlam dismissed Connor from his government for misleading parliament. In his letter of dismissal, date 14 October 1975, Whitlam wrote, "Yesterday I received from solicitors a copy of a statutory declaration signed by Mr Khemlani and copies of a number of telex messages between Mr Khemlani’s office in London and the office of the Minister for Energy. In my judgment these messages did constitute 'communications of substance' between the Minister and Mr Khemlani". Connor was replaced as Minister for Minerals and Energy by the Minister for Agriculture, Ken Wriedt.

Aftermath
The affair embarrassed the Whitlam government and exposed it to claims of impropriety. Malcolm Fraser led the opposition, which used its majority in the Senate to block the government's budget legislation, thereby attempting to force an early general election by citing the loans affair as an example of ‘extraordinary and reprehensible’ circumstances.

Fraser told Parliament that the government was incompetent and the opposition Liberal-Country Party Coalition delayed passage of the government's money bills in the Senate with the intention of forcing the government to an election. Whitlam refused to call an election. The deadlock came to an end when Whitlam was dismissed by the Governor General, Sir John Kerr, on 11 November 1975 and Fraser was installed as caretaker prime minister pending an election. At the general election held in December 1975, Fraser led the Coalition to a landslide victory.

In popular culture
The Loans Affair was dramatised in the 1983 Ten Network mini-series The Dismissal.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Loans affair


text:
Tallán

Tallán (or Tacllán, after the use of the taclla, a farming tool) was a conglomerate of ethnic groups with a common origin that settled in the plains of north-western Peru, an ethnos with a matriarchal system. (Due to their possible kinship, the tumpis, who settled in the current Department of Tumbes, are widely considered one of these ethnic groups.) They had migrated to the coastal plains from the Sierra.

In the beginning the Tallán lived in behetrias, which were simple settlements without a head or an organization, in which all its members were engaged in the same and unique activity, mainly agriculture and fishing. Then through barter with the neighboring partialities they obtained what was necessary to live. This need for others to subsist allowed the Chimúes first and then the Incas to impose their dominion over them. Although due to the short time that elapsed between the Inca conquest (c. 1470) and the arrival of the Spanish (1532) they were not completely assimilated into the empire.

Narihualá (17 km south of Piura) is considered the capital of the Tallán Nation and is the most important architectural evidence of a great monument, both in its size and the prominent platforms of two pyramids. The Narihualá Temple was built as a sanctuary in the honour of the Tacllán god Walac. Huaca El Loro, near Chiclayo, Peru is a Tallán archaeological site, where a 1000-year-old mummy of a nobleman was discovered.

title: Tallán


text:
Corrado Correggi

Corrado Correggi is an Italian businessman, football agent and football club owner.

He owns Algarve United, which he founded in 2004. He founded the club in partnership with his Scottish father-in-law, John McGovern, who is also a football agent.

Correggi developed business activity in corks for fine wine.

Correggi named his team, Algarve United, after the lynx, and has promised to donate 10% of the club's gate receipts and membership fees to lynx conservation.

title: Corrado Correggi


text:
Parker Pyne Investigates

Parker Pyne Investigates is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by William Collins and Sons in November 1934. Along with The Listerdale Mystery, this collection did not appear under the usual imprint of the Collins Crime Club but instead appeared as part of the Collins Mystery series. It appeared in the US later in the same year published by Dodd, Mead and Company under the title Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00.

The collection comprises twelve of her fourteen stories featuring detective James Parker Pyne; the two remaining stories, Problem at Pollensa Bay and The Regatta Mystery were later collected in The Regatta Mystery in 1939 in the US and in Problem at Pollensa Bay in the UK in 1991 although these were originally stories featuring Hercule Poirot when they were first published in the Strand Magazine in 1935 and 1936 respectively.

The book also features the first appearance of the characters of Ariadne Oliver and Miss Felicity Lemon, both of whom would go on to have working relationships with Hercule Poirot in later books.

Plot introduction
James Parker Pyne is a retired government employee who considers himself to be a "detective of the heart". Advertising his services in the "Personal" column of The Times, he works alongside his secretary Miss Lemon, novelist Ariadne Oliver, handsome "lounge lizard" Claude Luttrell and disguise artist Madeleine de Sara.

The first six stories deal with Pyne solving cases in England, while the second six stories detail Pyne's vacation, where he hopes not to have to do detective work only to end up helping others anyway.

The Case of the Middle-aged Wife
The marriage of George and Maria Packington is in difficulties. Mr. Packington has started to see a young typist named Nancy. When his wife protests, he states that he is merely trying to bring some happiness into the girl's life and that there is nothing in their relationship. At the end of her tether, Maria sees Parker Pyne's advertisement in the personal column of the paper which reads: "Are you happy? If not, consult Mr. Parker Pyne."

Maria goes to the address given and Parker Pyne instantly guesses the cause of her unhappiness from his knowledge of life and his previous occupation in statistics. He tells Maria that his fee is two hundred guineas, the sum to be paid up front. At first reluctant, Maria returns to the office with the money, as Pyne predicted. He has already lined up one of his associates, a good-looking young man called Claude Lutterell, and he tells her that she will receive instructions tomorrow.

That night George Packington is surprised at his wife's non-combative attitude towards him. The next day, Maria is sent for a beauty treatment and a dress-fitting followed by lunch at the Ritz Hotel with Pyne where she is introduced to Claude. Something of a whirlwind romance of ten days follows which culminates in a dance one night when Maria and Claude cross paths with George and his girl at a dance. George is jealous and shocked at his wife's behaviour and a couple of days later the two are reconciled. At the same time, Maria has grown closer to Claude who breaks off his relationship with her and confesses the shame of his past to her as a gigolo who uses women. He promises to reform and keep Maria updated with his progress with an annual advert in the personal column. It turns out that this confession was also planned and the advert arranged by Pyne to give a lasting romance to Maria. Pyne is satisfied that he has successfully saved a marriage (at a profit to himself).

The Case of the Discontented Soldier
Major Charles Wilbraham calls at Parker Pyne's office. He has recently returned after many years in the service of the Empire in East Africa and is retired. As Pyne instantly concludes, he is bored stiff living in an English village after a lifetime of excitement and adventure. Pyne charges him fifty pounds and instructs him to take Madeleine de Sara to lunch. She returns a few hours later unsuccessful: she has frightened the Major off, as he thinks her something of a vamp; his tastes run to fair-haired, blue-eyed women. Pyne consults a list and decides that Freda Clegg will be suitable...

The next day Wilbraham receives note from Pyne instructing him to go to an address in Friar's Lane, Hampstead and call at a house named "Eaglemont." In Friar's Lane, Wilbraham hears cries for help and going into an empty house sees a young blond-haired, blue-eyed woman being attacked by two black men. He fights them off and takes the young lady for a coffee to help her get over her attack.

She tells her story: her name is Freda Clegg and she is an orphan. The previous week she received a visit from an Australian lawyer who told her she might come into a legacy from business transacted by her late father but that it was dependent upon her having some papers of his. She handed him all of the papers she has, having no idea what the matter could be about and then received a letter from him asking her to call on him at his house, "Whitefriars" in Friar's Lane – the empty house, and it was there she was attacked and Wilbraham saved her. The Major's theory is that there is something in her father's papers that the man posing as a lawyer wants desperately. Freda remembers that she thought her room had been searched when she was out and that this attack was possibly to take such papers by force from Freda if she had them on her person, or to force her to tell where they are.

They go to her room in lodgings in Notting Hill and in a slit in the lining of her father's old chest find a document which the Major recognises as being written in Swahili. The Major can understand the writing and realises that it refers to a hidden cache of expensive ivory. The Major asks if he can keep the document for the moment and will call on her tomorrow at half-past-six when he has thought of a plan of action.

As promised, he returns the next night but finds a note from Freda asking him to join her at "Whitefriars." He buys a stamp from the landlady, posts a letter and then proceeds to Hampstead. Entering the empty house, he is soon knocked on the head and regains consciousness in the cellar. Freda is also there and the two of them are bound. She tells him that she too received a letter, purportedly from the Major, asking her to go to "Whitefriars". Suddenly the voice of the lawyer booms in the darkness. The two of them have interfered in his plans and he must dispose of them. A trickle of water starts to pour from a hole in the wall into the room and Freda realises that they are meant to drown. She remains somewhat calm while the Major strains successfully at his bonds. He frees himself, then her and they flee the house. Freda is full of admiration for Wilbraham and he impulsively proposes. She accepts and then worries about her father's paper which is missing from his pocket. He tells her that what they took was a spoof copy and he posted her father's paper on to his tailor in the envelope in Notting Hill.

Parker Pyne visits Mrs Oliver, the novelist and congratulates her on the story she thought up for him to use with the Major and Freda, although he thinks the cellar of water was something of a cliché. "Whitefriars" is a house Pyne bought long ago which he has so far used for eleven exciting dramas.

The Wilbrahams, happily married, are in Africa. Without telling each other, both think that they paid money to Pyne and he did not provide anything for them. Neither bears a grudge though – if they had not gone to see Pyne, the train of events that led to them meeting would never have happened...

The Case of the Distressed Lady
A young lady calls at Parker Pyne's office. Her name is Mrs. Daphne St. John and she says that she is in a great deal of trouble and needs help. She produces a diamond ring that Pyne examines and declares to be worth at least two thousand pounds. Daphne tells him that she stole it from a friend of hers, because she was in desperate straits. The background is that her husband is careful with money and does not know that she has got herself into debt. Daphne went with friends to Le Touquet and lost a great deal of money in the casino.

Soon afterwards she went to stay in the country at the house of Sir Reuben Dortheimer whose wife, Naomi, was at school with Daphne. During the visit the setting of the diamond ring became loose and Naomi asked Daphne to take it to Bond Street for her to be fixed. Instead, Daphne had a paste copy made and pawned the real ring for money to pay off her debts, the paste being sent to Lady Dortheimer.

Soon after, she came into some money when a cousin died and has now reclaimed the real ring. However she cannot return it as the husbands have quarrelled and the two couples are no longer on speaking terms. In addition, Naomi's character would not allow forgiveness of such an act of theft, if Daphne was to confess. She has heard news that Lady Dortheimer is thinking of having the stone reset. The jeweller she will send it to is bound to notice that it is a paste copy.

Asked for ideas, Daphne admits that she has heard that the Dortheimers are going to be having a party on the coming Wednesday and she needs some exhibition dancers. After she has left the office, Pyne calls in Claude Luttrell and Madeleine de Sara and tells them that they are going to be famous dancers...

The party and the exhibition dance go well. Lady Naomi Dortheimer is very taken with Jules, the dancer (in reality, Claude) and they are on the dancefloor when the lights suddenly go out, as arranged by Madeleine out in the hall. In the darkness, Lady Naomi's ring "slips" from her finger, but is soon replaced by Claude.

Daphne calls at Pyne's office the next morning. He passes her his bill for expenses, which she pays in cash. Pyne then gives her the ring. He has had it examined and it is definitely a paste copy. Daphne seems a little put out at this. Pyne tells her that he knows that she is in reality Ernestine Richards, who is the secretary of Lady Dortheimer. The ring she brought in the previous visit was the paste copy which Richards wanted Pyne and his people to substitute for the real thing, absolving her of any real crime. He does not charge her a fee as he has not made her happy, as his advert had promised. The angry young lady storms out of the office.

The Case of the Discontented Husband
Parker Pyne receives a new client. Reginald Wade is a slightly inarticulate young man whose marriage is in a mess. His wife of nine years has given him six-months' notice that unless he changes his ways she wants a divorce. He leads a blameless life, playing golf and tennis whereas Mrs Wade likes the arts – galleries, operas and concerts. She is bored with her husband and she has become friends with a long-haired art lover called Sinclair Jordan. Pyne's solution to the problem is for Reggie to have a mild flirtation with a beautiful woman. This will make Iris Wade jealous and also make her think twice about Reggie's attractiveness to women. Although he admits that there is a possibility that Iris is so completely in love with Jordan that the plan will fail, Pyne thinks the scheme has a ninety-seven percent chance of success and he charges Wade two hundred guineas, payable in advance.

Reggie subsequently "invites" Madeleine de Sara down to his house for the weekend, with his wife's agreement and to her amusement. She is pleased that her divorce will be simpler in that Reggie will not be so upset, but she is less pleased to see the attraction between the pair and the compliments that Miss de Sara bestows upon Reggie. Madeleine makes small comments about his ability as a golf teacher and how not playing a sport makes one feel left out. She also compliments Iris on letting Reggie have such friendships when other jealous women wouldn't. Little by little, Iris' veneer of acceptance starts to slip away.

Later that day Reggie and Madeleine take a walk in the rose garden and, seeing that Iris is watching them from the terrace, Madeleine makes Reggie kiss her. Iris is livid and in a private row with Reggie threatens a separation. Madeleine tells him to suggest that he leaves as she won't like the idea of him being alone in London, "amusing" himself. A war of nerves breaks out between the couple, but Madeleine tells him to keep calm – at this rate, all will be well in less than a fortnight.

A week later, Madeleine returns to Pyne's office and reports on the case. Matters reached a head when Sinclair Jordan joined the house party. He fell for Madeleine, but she made outrageous fun of him and his appearance. Iris demanded that Reggie throw her out, but he told his wife he wanted to marry Madeleine as per her instructions to him. Iris has staged a collapse, but Reggie has nevertheless gone to town and Madeleine is sure that Iris is following him to effect a reconciliation on his terms. Suddenly the office door bursts open and Reggie runs in, proclaiming his genuine love for Madeleine. Iris quickly follows and a scene ensues, ended by Madeleine when she screams hysterically for them to get out. They leave and Pyne accepts responsibility for this turn of events. He writes across the file that this case's result was a "failure" but that the result "should have been foreseen."

The Case of the City Clerk
Parker Pyne receives his next customer: Mr. Roberts is a city clerk of forty-eight years of age. He is happily married with two healthy children and a steady job. However his life has been one of steady work and survival with no moments of adventure. He consequently feels in a rut. His wish is to "live gloriously", if only for a few minutes. He can only afford to pay five pounds for this privilege but Pyne accepts this offer, although warning Mr. Roberts that danger could be involved...

Pyne goes to the Bon Voyageur restaurant and meets a Mr Bonnington there. The previous evening, an absent-minded professor called Petersfield was murdered in an attempt to steal some secret plans from him. Fortunately, the plans were not taken but they have got to be sent safely to the League of Nations in Geneva. Their usual agents to carry out this task are either indisposed or, in the case of one by the name of Hooper, are not trusted as he is suspected of being a double agent. Pyne knows of someone who could take on the case...

Consequently, Mr. Roberts, his wife and children fortuitously staying with her mother, finds himself travelling by first-class sleeper train from London to Geneva and a hotel where he will receive further instructions. He is not told the true nature of what he is carrying but that it is a cryptogram revealing the hiding place of the Romanov crown jewels. He arrives safely in Geneva and meets a tall bearded man who makes himself known to Roberts. The man gives him instructions to take a sleeper train for Paris. Roberts is also given password phrases to exchange with his next contact, and a revolver for safety.

The next day at the station, he soon bumps into a glamorous foreign girl who uses the correct password phrases with him and tells him to meet her in her next-door compartment after they have passed the border. He does so and the girl reveals that she is frightened as someone called Vassilievitch is on the train in the compartment on the other side of hers. He is out to murder the girl and get the jewels. At Roberts' offer, she passes him a rolled-stocking with the jewels secreted inside for him to look after during the night. Embarrassed, he turns down her suggestion that he should sleep in her compartment to keep an eye on her. He does agree to sleep in the connecting washroom.

In the hours of darkness, Roberts thinks that he hears a noise coming from her compartment. He quickly enters it. She has gone and there is a smell of chloroform in the air. At the end of the carriage, Roberts spots the sleeping conductor and his discarded jacket and cap. Disguising himself as that official, he gets Vassilievitch to open his door. Roberts pushes past him, locks the Russian out and unties the bound and gagged girl. They wait in the man's compartment until the next morning and upon arrival in Paris go on an extended run through the city in a bid to shake off any pursuers.

The duo fly from Le Bourget to Croydon where they are met by a man identified as Count Paul Stepanyi (who looks similar to the tall bearded man in Geneva) who takes them to a country house. The stockings are handed over and Mr. Roberts is given a jewel-encrusted order in a Morocco case as thanks. He is also introduced to the girl properly – the Grand Duchess Olga. After Mr. Roberts has gone, the Grand Duchess, aka Madeleine de Sara, in reality Maggie Sayers, goes home to Streatham.

Pyne meets with Bonnington again. The plans were successfully transferred and he admits to giving his courier another more embellished story as a gun would seem too mundane. Three agents of the other side meet in Paris, annoyed that their plans failed and they blame each other for their loss.

Mr. Roberts sits at home reading a book. Pyne sends onto him a cheque for fifty pounds with thanks from "certain people". Mr. Roberts is more than satisfied that he has had his bit of adventure.

The Case of the Rich Woman
Parker Pyne receives an original problem from his latest customer: Mrs. Abner Rymer is the widow of a man who worked out a new engineering process which made him a rich man. She was a farmgirl who was courted by Rymer and married him when they had no money and lived through years of gruelling poverty. When he first struck his riches, the two people at first enjoyed their new life of luxury. But the novelty of servants, foreign trips, expensive clothes and food soon wore off. Abner Rymer was a weak man physically and his new-found wealth could not reverse his deterioration. He died at the relatively young age of forty-three some five years ago. Mrs Rymer has no friends now; her old friends are shy of her new lifestyle and her newer acquaintances are always after subscriptions. She feels certain that they are snobbish about her behind her back. She basically wants help in spending money in an enjoyable way, but without giving it away. Pyne promises to restore her interest in life and charges her one thousand pounds up-front for his service. After she has gone, Pyne tells Claude Luttrell that the services of Dr. Antrobus will be needed...

A week later he calls Mrs Rymer back to his office and introduces her to Nurse de Sara who takes the lady up one floor to the waiting Dr. Constantine. He appears to be of eastern extraction and the room is decorated in oriental fashion. Mrs Rymer is told that she has a sickness of the mind, not of the body. She is given a cup of coffee to drink, and then falls asleep...

...and wakes up in bed in a somewhat bare room. She is soon attended by a plump little woman in an apron called Mrs Gardner and an elderly doctor who both call her "Hannah". They say that she had a seizure two days previously, and has been unconscious ever since. She will soon be up and about. She should not worry about her work, as a Mrs Roberts has been helping Mrs Gardner.

When the duo leave her alone, Mrs Rymer goes to the window and sees that she is in a farmhouse. Later she questions Mrs Gardner who tells her that she has lived there for five years and even shows her a photograph of her and the other residents together. She keeps her thoughts to herself for the moment. She soon sees a newspaper which confirms that some three days have passed since she was in Pyne's office. She also sees a report that Mrs Abner Rymer has been removed to a private nursing home. She reportedly has delusions that she is a servant girl named Hannah Moorhouse. Rymer also sees in another column a report that a Dr. Constantine has given a lecture stating that it is possible to transfer the soul of a person into the body of another. Mrs Rymer is furious with Pyne but, bearing in mind the newspaper story of her transfer to a nursing home for mental delusions, she is not sure just what she can do or say that will be believed.

She bides her time at the farm, carrying out "Hannah"'s duties which, in themselves, take her back to her old life with some ease. After several weeks, she has saved up enough money to be able to afford the trip back to London, with the intention to confront Pyne. Yet she hesitates, again afraid of what the result might be. She is also mindful that a change of scene does a person good.

Months go by and Mrs Rymer becomes good friends with Joe Welsh, a widowed farmhand. They enjoy the lambing season in Spring, walks in the Summer and the harvest in October. It is on the eighth of that month, and almost a year has passed since her new life started, when she looks up from her work in the vegetable patch and sees Pyne watching her from over a fence. She starts to curse him and he admits to all the deceptions. He agrees that Hannah Moorhouse never existed and tells her that Mrs Gardner is in on the act. Pyne has had Mrs Rymer's power of attorney for the past year and her fortune has been safe and actually improved in the interim. He asks her a simple question: "Are you happy?"

Mrs Rymer stops at this question and admits that she is. She and Joe have become engaged and she is satisfied with having her old life back. She tells Pyne she wants just seven hundred pounds of her fortune to buy her and Joe a farm which they want. Pyne can distribute the rest to hospitals, but her new husband is never to know of her previous life. Pyne agrees and leaves another satisfied client behind him.

Have You Got Everything You Want?
A young, attractive woman named Elsie Jeffries boards the Orient Express at the Gare de Lyon. She is shown to her compartment but is obviously in something of a mental quandary. Once the journey has started, she makes her way to the restaurant car. She spots that the suitcase in the next door compartment to hers is labelled "Parker Pyne", and this triggers something in her memory. She checks the personal column of The Times but doesn't see what she expected to see there. Going to the restaurant car again, she is placed on the same table as the owner of the case and strikes up a conversation with him. She asks him if he is the same Parker Pyne of The Times' adverts. He confirms that he is and he asks her whether she is unhappy. She confesses that she is. The cause is her husband of the past eighteen months. He is a sober and puritanical soul, who has been working in Constantinople for two weeks. She is on her way to join him. One week ago, in his study, she found a piece of blotting paper. On the paper was part of a message, which referred to her. It used the words, "just before Venice would be the best time." She cannot imagine what is going to happen to her when the train reaches this point. Pyne checks when they will arrive at Venice, and promises to help.

The next day they are almost at the appointed spot when there is a cry of "Fire!" The two rush out into the corridor where a Slavic woman is pointing to the smoke coming out of one of the compartments further down the train. The conductor assures the passengers that there is no emergency. Pyne is suspicious, and returns to Elsie's compartment. He finds the Slavic woman there, supposedly recovering from the shock. Pyne refuses to let her leave when she wishes to. When Elsie returns, Pyne asks her to sort through her belongings. She does so and finds that her jewellery is missing. The Slavic woman is detained in Venice, but the jewels are not found on her and she has to be released. On the way to Trieste, Pyne and Elsie discuss the puzzle of where the jewels could possibly be. No one else had the opportunity to take them. The Slavic woman could not have thrown them to someone outside the train, as they were on the bridge passing over the sea. They have not been hidden in the compartment. Pyne decides that he must send a telegram at Trieste.

The train reaches Constantinople and Pyne meets Edward Jeffries. He asks Elsie to meet him at the Tokatlian Hotel in thirty minutes time. She does so, and he hands all of her jewellery back to her. He refuses to say how he recovered it. He leaves the hotel and goes to a café where Edward Jeffries joins him by appointment. It was Jeffries who received Pyne's telegram and handed the jewels back.

Pyne tells him about his wife finding the message on the blotter. He puts it to Jeffries that the jewels were actually taken by him before he left London. He only left paste copies behind. It was these that had to be "stolen" again and disappear at some other point. In a way that would not bring an accusation on any innocent person. The point before Venice is the only time on the journey that the jewels could be taken and thrown into water, and not end up in land where they could be found.

Pyne suspects that Jeffries is not a thief, but a victim. Edward confesses that he has been blackmailed for some time by a Mrs. Rossiter. They shared a bedroom together in the West Indies, on the purely innocent grounds of protecting her from her supposedly violent husband. It was a scam and Jeffries has been suffering ever since. Needing the money for the latest demand, he "stole" his wife's jewels. Pyne tells him to leave the blackmailer to him and to confess all to his wife. Everything, except for the fact of being scammed in the West Indies. He is sure Elsie will be delighted to believe that she has reformed a rake.

The Gate of Baghdad
Parker Pyne is on a vacation in the Middle East, and is currently in Damascus. He is soon to set off on the 400 mi-long journey across the Syrian Desert from Damascus to Baghdad by a Pullman motor coach that will traverse the wastes in some thirty-six hours instead of the months that the trip used to take. There are various other people sharing the journey including the young attractive Netta Pryce and her austere aunt; three Royal Air Force officers called O'Rourke, Loftus and Williamson; a Mr Hensley of the Baghdad public works department; an old Etonian called Captain Smethurst; General Poli, an Italian; and an Armenian mother and her son.

The day before the journey, Pyne passes the time by talking to General Poli about items in the newspaper. The main news item discussed is the search for a crooked financier called Samuel Long, who is on the run and is rumoured to be in South America. Pyne goes to the cinema and then to a somewhat seedy nightclub. In the club, he finds a slightly drunken Captain Smethurst. Smethurst seems depressed, but is vague as to the reason why. He claims that he does not "like to go back on a pal". Pyne introduces his profession, glibly announcing that he is a sort of "confidence trickster". This prompts a strange reaction from the Captain, who asks, "What – you too?"

The journey starts the next day. The bus driver is worried about the possibility of them getting stuck in the desert mud after their stop at Ar Rutba. There have been heavy rains in the area. Sure enough, the bus does become bogged down as it drives through the night. The men step out to assist in freeing it. As they work, they realise that Smethurst is not assisting in their effort. When O'Rourke investigates, he finds the Captain's corpse in his seat. Loftus, a doctor in the RAF, suggests that he may have hit his head on the roof of the vehicle as it went over one of the heavy bumps on the ground. Loftus examines the corpse, and declares that he cannot find an obvious wound. The only other possibility is that he was hit with something in the nature of a sandbag whilst the other passengers were asleep.

As the passengers discuss the reason why someone would do such a thing, Williamson remembers overhearing a conversation that Smethurst had with an unknown third party in Damascus. Smethurst said that he would keep quiet, until they arrived in Baghdad. But not a moment longer. Pyne joins in with his story of his own conversation with the dead man in the nightclub. Loftus also recalls Smethurst talking to Hensley about "a leakage" in his department. Recalling that Hensley said he always carried spare socks with him, Pyne suggests that Loftus should fetch these. Sure enough, one is found to contain wet sand. Pyne now knows the murderer.

Pyne examines the body more closely. Loosening the collar, he finds a small stab wound made by something in the nature of a stiletto. Pyne suggests that within their party is the absconding financier Samuel Long, who is travelling in disguise. Smethurst knew of this, which would explain his unusual reaction to Pyne's statement that he works as a confidence trickster. Pyne declares that Loftus is Mr. Long. Within his doctor's kit, he would have something which could have caused Smethurst's death. Loftus was also quick to pinpoint the cause of death as being a bump on the head, prompted by an earlier conversation reminiscing about the former rigours of the journey. The final proof is that he tried to pass suspicion onto Hensley. Pyne had already examined Hensley's socks before he asked "Loftus". At that moment, they were free of sand.

Samuel Long lights a cigarette and languidly confesses. He met the real Loftus in Egypt and bought his identity for twenty thousand pounds. Smethurst was his fag at Eton and recognised him. He did not give him away instantly, as he had a case of hero worship for the man when he was younger.

Long suddenly collapses and Pyne theorises that the cigarette contained prussic acid. He has escaped justice.

The House at Shiraz
Parker Pyne is still in the orient on his way to Teheran, then Shiraz. He is taking the route by a monoplane flown on the first leg on the journey by a young German pilot called Herr Schlagal. Disappointed with the modernity of Teheran, Pyne invites Schlagal to dine with him. They talk about his job, flying across the Middle East. The pilot tells Pyne of his first two passengers, a young titled lady called Esther Carr and her beautiful companion who Schlagal fell in love with. Soon after, the second young woman was dead. Schlagal suspects Lady Esther of the murder, seeing insanity in her eyes and in her manner. Pyne knows of Lady Esther's parents and of her family. Insanity has been a curse for them for several generations.

Arriving in Shiraz on the second day of the Nowruz festival, Pyne makes the acquaintance of the English consul and dines with him. He enquires after a striking house that he saw just outside the town on a visit to the tomb of Hafez, the poet. The consul tells him that this is none other than the home of Lady Esther. She now lives as a recluse, refusing to see anyone from her old country. The consul took over his post the very day after the death of the companion. The woman fell from a balcony in the courtyard, while carrying a breakfast tray. The consul also mirrors some of the comments of the German pilot about the strangeness of Lady Esther. He describes speaks her "dark, flashing eyes".

The next day, Pyne writes to Lady Esther from his hotel room and encloses a cutting of his "personal" advert from The Times. He duly receives a request to visit the woman and goes to her house. There they talk of England. Pyne talks at length of people, places and social events as frequented by all classes of people. Lady Esther is obviously pining for home but states that she can never return. Pyne responds that he already knows the reason why.

Pyne takes her through the story of the German pilot and asks if she would receive him. Lady Esther refuses and he accuses her of play-acting – but not to cover up a murder. He knows that she is the companion – Muriel King – and that it was Lady Esther who died, not the other girl. Muriel tells of the real sequence of events. Lady Esther was jealous of Herr Schlagal's infatuation with Muriel and turned on her in her madness. She fell by accident. Muriel was terrified of being accused of her murder, put the breakfast tray down by the body. and adopted her identity. She refused to see anyone in case they spotted the substitution. The new consul was one of the people who had never met the real Lady Esther and therefore was not suspicious. Pyne knew something was wrong when he heard of Lady Esther's "dark, flashing eyes". He knew that Esther's parents were both blue-eyed. His talk of England confirmed his suspicions. The supposed titled lady in front of him did not react to stories of high society events, but her face showed how much she missed the everyday life of ordinary people. He promises to help her convince people of her innocence and effect a reunion with Herr Shlagal.

The Pearl of Price
Parker Pyne is with a party of people who have travelled through Jordan from Amman to Petra. His companions are Caleb Blundell, an American millionaire, his daughter Carol and secretary, Jim Hurst, Sir Donald Marvel, a British MP, Doctor Carver, an archaeologist and Colonel Dubosc, a Frenchman. Camping in the night, Doctor Carver tells the others of the Nabataeans, the traders who built the city and who were no more than professional racketeers who controlled the trade routes of the area. This talk prompts a discussion on the nature of honesty, the suggestiveness of people and the riches accumulated by Mr. Blundell. These riches are demonstrated in part by the expensive pearl earrings worn by his daughter, and which keep coming loose. Pyne detects an undercurrent of embarrassment within the discussion.

The next day the party makes its way to the top of a plateau to marvel at the view. When they reach their destination, Carver points out to Carol that she has lost one of her earrings. She is certain that she had it when she reached the plateau. At that moment, Carver had seen it was loose again and had screwed it in for her. They search the ground around them, but the object is not there. The suspicion grows that it has been stolen. Colonel Dubosc demands to be searched to prove his innocence. The others agree, especially Mr. Blundell who states that he has his own reasons for doing so, "though I don't want to state them". The pearl is not found.

Just after lunch, Carol appears in Pyne's tent and employs him to find the pearl. She especially wants to prove the innocence of Jim Hurst who is a reformed thief. He was stealing from her father's house when she met him. She saw how desperate Jim was, and convinced her father to employ him. He has proven his worth and she is in love with him, although Mr. Blundell wants her to marry Sir Donald. Pyne asks why her father wanted to be searched. Carol thinks that he wanted to be searched, because she could think that it was him who stole the pearl. His motive would be to blame Hurst and to not let him marry Carol.

Pyne agrees to help and after a small amount of thought confronts Doctor Carver. The archaeologist admits that he took the pearl, wrapping it in a small piece of plasticine that he carries to take imprints from carvings. The comments made about the suggestiveness of people prompted him to tell Carol that the jewel was loose and to offer to fix it back into place. In fact, this was a pretext to take the jewel from her. He was planning to use the enormous price the earring would fetch to finance an archaeological expedition. Pyne replies by informing him that this plan would not have worked. The pearl is worthless, and Blundell's boasting of his riches the previous night was bluff. His fortune has been badly affected in the economic slump.

Death on the Nile
Parker Pyne is in Egypt, and is about to start a journey on a Nile steamer. The only other passengers on the vessel are Sir George and Lady Grayle, her niece Pamela, her nurse, Elsie MacNaughton and Sir George's young secretary, Basil West. Sir George married Lady Grayle to try to find a way out of his financial difficulties but the price he has paid is in having a difficult, bad-tempered, hypochondriac for a wife. Lady Grayle is annoyed that Pyne is on the boat, having been assured that her party would be the only people on board. Pamela is not sympathetic to her aunt's complaints, telling Sir George that his wife's claims of illness are fraudulent and feeling appreciative of the problems Miss MacNaughton faces in dealing with her. The only person who does not seem to find her too much of a trial is Basil West, who has an easy-going relationship with everyone he meets.

Pyne is surprised to receive a note from Lady Grayle. She is asking him not to leave the boat for an excursion to the Temple of Abydos, but to instead meet her for a consultation. He does so and she asks him to find out if her husband is poisoning her. She has been unwell for some time when she is with him. She recovers when he is away. Pyne suspects that there is more to the matter than she is telling him. He voices this suspicion and, in doing so, offends his latest client. Lady Grayle walks off in a huff. Soon afterwards, Miss MacNaughton appears and voices almost the same concern – that Lady Grayle is being poisoned. But she does not want to suspect Sir George, even though she has also spotted the timing of the Lady's recoveries being linked to his absences.

That night, Pyne is summoned to Lady Grayle's room where the woman is very ill. She dies, showing the unmistakable symptoms of strychnine poisoning. Remembering when he saw the victim earlier on burning a letter in the lounge cabin, Pyne hurries there and retrieves a scrap of paper which has "...chet of dreams. Burn this!" written on it.

The evidence seems insurmountable; packets of strychnine have been found in Sir George's cabin and in the pocket of his dinner jacket. The powder itself came from Miss MacNaughton who carried some on her for her patient's supposed heart trouble. Pyne speaks with Pamela, who thinks that Lady Grayle poisoned herself. She tells him that her aunt has been acting strangely lately, imagining all sorts of things. Her delusions including Basil being in love with her.

Pyne then sees Basil and asks him to write out his confession; he made love to the older lady but planned to slowly poison her and make sure the blame would be laid at the husband's door. He would then marry the rich niece. Pyne tells him that the final note he sent to Lady Grayle, with a "cachet of dreams" to take was not burnt, despite his instruction to do so, as she kept all of his letters to her (a bluff by Pyne). Basil falls for this deception and implicates himself. The people Pyne has had outside the half-closed door hear this confession. Pyne is determined to have his holiday after all this work and decides to go incognito to Greece.

The Oracle at Delphi
A well-off widow, Mrs Peters is travelling through Greece with her intellectual son, Willard and their retinue of a maid and a chauffeur. She is not enjoying the trip, disliking the basic amenities of the hotels they stay in and not entranced by the sights of the ancient ruins of the region. At Delphi there are four other people in the hotel; an arty mother and daughter, a Mr Thompson who has a reserved manner with anyone who tries conversation with him and a balding middle-aged man who falls into friendly easy conversation with her and who thinks he recognises Mr Thompson.

In the afternoon, Mrs. Peters comes back to her hotel after enjoying a relaxing few hours reading a detective novel in a shady spot only to find that a ransom note has been delivered – her son has been kidnapped and the demand is for ten thousand pounds sterling. Further instructions will be sent the next day but she is not to communicate with the hotel management or the police.

Her new friend notices her distracted manner during the evening meal and sends her a note enclosing his advert from The Times and announcing himself as none other than Parker Pyne. They meet in secret so as not to arouse suspicions, should she be being watched. Pyne advises her to just wait for the second set of instructions. On their way back into the hotel, they bump into Mr. Thompson...

The next day the second note is delivered. This note states that if she does not have the money on her, the kidnappers will accept instead a valuable diamond necklace that they know she carries on her. The necklace must be delivered by tomorrow. When she shows Pyne the note, he concocts a plan to have a friend of his in Athens to make a paste copy of the diamonds and send this to the kidnappers. Mrs Peters agrees and Pyne telephones to his friend. Meanwhile, she keeps both the manager and Mr Thompson occupied, and prevents them from disturbing him. The jeweller friend arrives from Athens, and he makes the paste version. Pyne gives the original back to Mrs Peters, while he goes off to pass the copy to the kidnappers and collect her son.

The next day Mrs Peters is delighted when Willard is returned but shocked to see that his liberator is Mr Thompson. The man explains that overhearing the conversation on the night of the first ransom note between Pyne and Mrs Peters, he followed them and listened to everything they said. The kidnappers' intention all along had been to obtain the necklace. What she thought had been the original, that was handed back to her the day before, was in fact the paste copy. The man calling himself Parker Pyne and his jeweller accomplice are now under lock and key. Mr Thompson explains how he knew something was wrong. He is the real Parker Pyne, travelling incognito as he promised himself on the Nile. When he heard his name mentioned, he knew something was up!

Literary significance and reception
The unnamed reviewer in The New York Times Book Review of 1 January 1935 said, "The stories are sufficiently varied, both as to scene and as to plot, to afford this new detective the widest possible scope for his abilities. Parker Pyne can never supplant Hercule Poirot in the hearts of Agatha Christie's admirers, but he is a welcome addition to her gallery of characters."

In The Observer's issue of 18 November 1934, "Torquemada" (Edward Powys Mathers) stated that Christie was, "the only consistently inspired practitioner of an art where ingenuity and industry have so often to substitute for genius." On the subject of this collection, Mr. Mathers said that the book "has a certain appeal to all Agatha Christie fans, and to ourselves and to all lovers of the well-made magazine story."

Robert Barnard: "A mediocre collection. Parker Pyne begins as a consultant Miss Lonelyhearts, ends up as a conventional detective."

References to other works
The Gate of Baghdad twice quotes the poem Gates of Damascus by James Elroy Flecker. As Pyne stands in Damascus he likens the Baghdad Gate that they will go through as the "Gate of Death" however whereas Flecker's poem talks of four gates in the city, in reality there are eight in the ancient walls and none of them is called the Baghdad gate. Christie also referenced the poem in naming her final written work, Postern of Fate (1973).

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Two of the stories in the collection, The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife and The Case of the Discontented Soldier, were adapted by Thames Television in 1982 as part of their series, The Agatha Christie Hour, which featured ten one-off plays from short stories by the writer. Maurice Denham played Parker Pyne and these episodes were numbers 1 and 5 in the series respectively (see The Hound of Death and The Listerdale Mystery for other episodes in the series).

The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife (1982)
Transmitted: 7 September 1982

Adaptor: Freda Kelsall

Director: Michael Simpson

Cast:

Maurice Denham played Mr. Parker Pyne

Angela Easterling played Miss Lemon

Nicholas Cook played Eric

Malcolm Hebden played a Waiter

Nick Curtis played a Crooner

Linda Robson played Edna

Monica Grey played a Beautician

Brenda Cowling played Miss Draper

Rupert Frazer played Claude Luttrell

Gwen Watford played Maria Packington

Peter Jones played George Packington

Kate Dorning played Nancy Purvis

The Case of the Discontented Soldier (1982)
Transmitted: 5 October 1982

Adaptor: T.R. Bowen

Director: Michael Simpson

Cast:

Maurice Denham played Mr. Parker Pyne

Angela Easterling played Miss Lemon

William Gaunt played Major Wilbraham

Lally Bowers played Ariadne Oliver

Walter Gaunt played Wally

Peter Brayham played First Thug

Lewis Fiander played Mr. Reid

Barbara New played Mrs. Benson

Patricia Garwood played Freda Clegg

Derek Smee played Head Waiter

Karen Mount played English Rose

Paul Dadson played Neville

Jason Norman played Charlie

Veronica Strong played Madeleine de Sara

Terry Plummer played Second Thug

Publication history

 * 1934, William Collins & Sons (London), November 1934, Hardcover, 256 pp
 * 1934, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1934, Hardcover, 244 pp
 * 1951, Dell Books (New York), Paperback, (Dell number 550 [mapback]), 224 pp
 * 1953, Penguin Books, Paperback, (Penguin number 932), 190 pp
 * 1962, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 158 pp
 * 1978, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 299 pp, ISBN 0-7089-0141-7

First publication of stories
Nine of the stories in Parker Pyne Investigates had their true first publication in the US as follows:

 * The Case of the Discontented Soldier, The Case of the Distressed Lady, The Case of the City Clerk, The Case of the Discontented Husband and The Case of the Rich Woman all appeared in the August 1932 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine (issue number 554) under the sub-heading of Are You Happy? If Not Consult Mr. Parker Pyne with illustrations by Marshall Frantz.
 * Have You Got Everything You Want?, The House at Shiraz, Death on the Nile and The Oracle at Delphi all appeared in the April 1933 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine (issue number 562) under the sub-heading of Have You Got Everything You Want? If Not, Consult Mr. Parker Pyne again with illustrations by Marshall Frantz. The first story was not individually named.

Known publication of the stories in the UK are as follows:

 * The Case of the Middle-aged Wife: First published in issue 613 of Woman's Pictorial of 8 October 1932 as The Woman Concerned.
 * The Case of the Discontented Soldier: First published in issue 614 of Woman's Pictorial of 15 October 1932 (illustrated by J.A. May and with an additional title of Adventure – By Request)
 * The Case of the Distressed Lady: First published in issue 615 of Woman's Pictorial of 22 October 1932 (illustrated by J.A. May and with an additional title of Faked!)
 * The Case of the Discontented Husband: First published in issue 616 of Woman's Pictorial of 29 October 1932 (illustrated by J.A. May and with an additional title of His Lady's Affair)
 * The Case of the City Clerk: First published in issue 503 of the Strand Magazine in November 1932 under the title of The £10 Adventure.
 * Have You Got Everything You Want?, The Gate of Baghdad and The House at Shiraz were all first published in issue 481 of Nash's Pall Mall Magazine in June 1933 under the sub-heading of The Arabian Nights of Parker Pyne. The individual story titles as they appeared in the magazine were On the Orient Express, At the Gate of Baghdad and In the House at Shiraz respectively. Marshall Frantz's illustrations from Cosmopolitan were re-used.
 * The Pearl of Price, Death on the Nile and The Oracle at Delphi were all first published in issue 482 of Nash's Pall Mall Magazine in July 1933 under the sub-heading of More Arabian Nights of Parker Pyne. The Pearl of Price appeared under the slightly abridged title of The Pearl. Again, Marshall Frantz's illustrations from Cosmopolitan were re-used.

Known publication of the stories in the US are as follows:
 * Death on the Nile : First published in the US in Cosmopolitan, April 1933, and in the UK by the Pall Mall Magazine July 1933; then in 1934 in anthologies Parker Pyne Investigates (UK) and Mr Parker Pyne, Detective (USA).
 * The Case of the Rich Woman: First published in the US in Cosmopolitan, August 1932, then in 1934 in anthologies Parker Pyne Investigates (UK) and Mr Parker Pyne, Detective (US).

title: Parker Pyne Investigates


text:
Bangor-class minesweeper

The Bangor-class minesweepers were a class of warships operated by the Royal Navy (RN), Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), and Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during the Second World War.

The class derives its name from the lead ship, HMS Bangor (J00), which was launched on 19 February 1940 and commissioned on 7 November of that year. Royal Navy ships were named after coastal towns of the United Kingdom.

Their lack of size gave vessels of the class poor sea handling abilities, reportedly worse even than the Flower-class corvettes. The diesel-engined versions were considered to have poorer handling characteristics than the slow-speed reciprocating-engined variants. Their shallow draught made them unstable and their short hulls tended to bury the bow when operating in a head sea.

The Bangor-class vessels were also considered overcrowded, cramming six officers and over 90 ratings into a vessel originally intended for a total of 40.

Design and development
The original intent of the Bangor-class minesweeper design was to provide a coastal equivalent of the Halcyon-class minesweeper; however the realities brought to light by the start of the war caused a modification of the design before construction had started.

The need for quick construction coupled with the limitations of engineering resources resulted in several variations existing based on the availability of propulsion machinery. The ships all had twin screws, but the machinery was a mix of steam turbine, slow-speed steam reciprocating, high-speed steam reciprocating and diesel. The diesel powered examples were about 20 ft shorter than the rest as they had no need for boiler rooms. Displacement varied with propulsion machinery from 590 to 672 tons. The reciprocating engine powered Bangors were also known as the Blyth class and the steam turbine powered versions as the Ardrossan class.

The class was considered cramped for the purposes it was built for, with not enough room provided for the acoustic and magnetic minesweeping gear carried.

References and notes

 * Warships of World War II, by H. T. Lenton & J. J. Colledge, pub. Ian Allan Ltd.

title: Bangor-class minesweeper


text:
Križovec

Križovec (Muraszentkereszt) is a small village in Međimurje County, Croatia, part of the town of Mursko Središće.

title: Križovec