About the Book: Turncoat
George Downing was one of the English Civil Wars most cunning spies. As Oliver
Cromwells head of military intelligence, he forged a career as a politician and
diplomat, bribing, blackmailing and browbeating his way to success, before
spectacularly betraying his friends by defecting to the Royalist camp.
Always close to the action, Downing walked with the most illustrious men of his
times: Oliver Cromwell and Charles II were his patrons; Samuel Pepys was his
clerk; William of Orange godfather to his son. And when he came to build his
famous street, Downing Street, which became the home of Britains