The Prime Minister's Ironing Board and Other State Secrets: True Stories from the Government Archives

A remarkable collection of British state secrets—from Imelda Marcos and her son Bong Bong's trip to Buckingham Palace to President Eisenhower's particular problem with Winston Churchill's trousers

Stored in Whitehall's archives are everything from blood-chilling warnings of imminent nuclear attacks to comical details of daily life in the corridors of power. Concerned notes from ministers on the subject of the Heir to the Throne's potential brainwashing by Welsh terrorists are shelved alongside worries about housemaids "on the wobble" at Chequers. Detailed and surprising plans for royal funerals sit beside reports on suspected spies in the showbiz world and bawdy poetry about the monkeys on the Rock of Gibraltar. And Mary Whitehouse's complaints about the sex education syllabus nestle next to thank you notes from prisoner 13260/62, also known as Nelson Mandela. Adam Macqueen has searched high and low to present us with some of the most unlikely revelations since the Official secrets act was inaugurated 100 years ago, starring not only Mrs. Thatcher's ironing board, but also Ted Heath's car and Harold Macmillan's bedroom carpet.