This is not a novel or a dramatization, so beloved of Netflix and the BBC, which afford the luxury of speculation and licence. Written with Lewis’s signature authenticity and dramatic verve, SAS Ghost Patrol is peopled by a cast of the utterly maverick and the extraordinary. This amazing book has filled in so many gaps, and it commemorates all those consigned by Hitler to the Nacht und Nebel; the night and fog. The battle scenes are described brilliantly, and we get a far truer idea of what the men were actually like. Princess Fuzzypants here: If you are looking for a grand tale of a band of misfits who, using unorthodox and largely frowned upon tactics, helped win North Africa for the Allies.

In its quirky eccentricities and outrageous rule-breaking, this is a story that only the British could have authored, and with such panache and aplomb. During a decade spent reporting from around the world Lewis lived in deserts, rainforests, jungles and chaotic third world cities. His work has been published in over forty languages, and many of his books have been made, or are being developed, as feature films, TV series, or as plays for the stage. Damien Lewis' wondrously realized Churchill's Shadow Raiders isn't a work of fiction, but that doesn't stop it from reading like a top-notch thriller fashioned by the likes of Jack Higgins or Frederick Forsyth.

Judy’s unique combination of courage, kindness and fun repaid that honour a thousand times over and her incredible story is one of the most heartwarming and inspiring tales you will ever read.

There's a lot to be learned in the pages of this book about leadership in general, and leadership in adversity in particular. The merging of the Long Range Desert Group (LDRG) and the SAS was inspirational and was proven to be extremely effective. It bears all his hallmarks – an epic, page-turning special forces narrative based on hitherto unavailable personal testimony and private family archives. World War II aficionados and historians are sure to enjoy Lewis’s latest book, his contributions to military history and World War II history, and Brothers in Arms is an amazing addition to the existing literature on the topic. In this regard, Damien Lewis' Churchill's Shadow Raiders reveals the crucial role of radar in defeating the Luftwaffe, itself a precedent for the Anglo-American landings in 1944.Now doesn't that sound exactly like what would appeal to a rambunctious, piratical, enigmatic, shy yet impertinent loose cannon like Robert Blair Mayne? He led his men on numerous behind-the-lines missions, and this compelling read does their memories full justice. In time, we're delivered from the sand to Italy with David Stirling captured and incarcerated as a prisoner of war in Rome and Mayne fighting the enemy within as others seek to disband his successful unit.

It ends with the hunted becoming the hunters – a group of men intent on seeking out the Nazis responsible for their brethren’s deaths, on an ultra-deniable SAS mission to avenge a war crime. In the summer of 1943, the largest invasion fleet ever assembled sailed for fortress Europe, aiming to bulldoze its way onto Nazi shores. He is a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

That film was shot in the Sudan war zone, and told the story of how Arab tribes seized black African slaves in horrific slave raids.