About the Author

Jonathan Asbury is the author of the official Churchill War Rooms guidebook, as well as guidebooks for HMS Belfast, IWM London, IWM North, and IWM Duxford.

Reviews

"Provides fascinating details of life in this top-secret, subterranean space." * Atlas Obscura * "Asbury reveals the behind-the-scenes secrets of Churchill's War Rooms-sights that members of the public can't experience on a tour of the bunker. Containing more than 150 photographs and details from once-top secret documents, the book offers a close-up look at items that have until now been seen by only a few people in the world." * BBC History Extra * "Takes readers on a tour through Winston Churchill's World War II headquarters in London." * Wall Street Journal * "Sheds fascinating new light on life in the bunker." * Telegraph (UK) * "Provides fascinating details of life in this top-secret, subterranean space, such as the portable sun lamp used by staff who spent long hours underground; the specially designed gas masks that would allow switchboard operators to continue working even in the event of an attack; and the top-secret Transatlantic Telephone Room, which was given a toilet-stall style lock so staff presumed it was just Churchill's own private lavatory. Secrets of Churchill's War Rooms draws from personal accounts of staff, archival photographs and images of the restored rooms to provide a behind the scenes look at this once-secret space." * Atlas Obscura * "Reveals some of the intriguing details and stories which have emerged from the Churchill War Rooms. Asbury's book gives readers the chance to examine objects in the rooms up close - and reveals some of the fascinating stories behind them." * Huffington Post UK * "Sheds fascinating new light on life in the bunker." * The Telegraph * "Asbury reveals the behind-the-scenes secrets of Churchill's War Rooms-sights that members of the public can't experience on a tour of the bunker. Containing more than 150 photographs and details from once-top secret documents, the book offers a close-up look at items that have until now been seen by only a few people in the world." * BBC History Extra * "Seeing the chairs and tables, the threadbare little rugs, the water basins and drab kitchenware, the microphones through which the Prime Minister addressed the nation, actually ends up doing exactly what the curators of the War Rooms no doubt intended: the sight of it all makes the realization of Blitz-era London very much more immediate and very personal. A great deal of work and unassuming heroism played out in these poorly-lit rooms during the war years, and Secrets of Churchill's War Rooms brings it all before the reader again." * Open Letters Monthly * "The photographs are clear, crisp, and bright...Among the most interesting images in the book are the wooden arms of Churchill's chair in the cabinet room that is 'gouged with scratch marks that speak volumes for the nervous energy of its occupant and the tension of the hundreds of meetings that he presided over in this room.'" * Winston Churchill Blog * "[A] coffee-table volume that documents the underground complex where Churchill often directed combat operations. A close-up of Churchill's chair reveals gouge marks in the arm, apparently made by a man nervous about how things would turn out." * The Advocate *