Bikaner was Oone of the last Indian princes to play an important part in global politics

Hugh Purcell worked for many years producing history programmes for BBC Radio and Television. Prominent among them were 'The Roads to War', the obituary of Oswald Mosley and the BAFTA-winning 'American Civil War'. His previous books include Lloyd George, The Spanish Civil War, Revolutionary War and a biography of Tom Wintringham, The Last English Revolutionary. He is Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and an FRSA.