Background
Taylor Downing was born in the United Kingdom.
St Andrew's St, Cambridge CB2 3BU, UK
Taylor Downing studied at Christ’s College Cambridge and earned a bachelor's degree.
(Cold War is the story of the half-century since the end o...)
Cold War is the story of the half-century since the end of the Second World War - the story of our lives. Its framework is the confrontation, military and ideological, between two great powers that dominated the world during these years. It is a story of crises and conflict on a global scale: from the Berlin Blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis to the tanks in the streets of Warsaw, Budapest and Prague, to spies, student riots and encounters in space. In Cold War, Jeremy Isaacs and Taylor Downing record epic history through the detail of individual human experience: the recollections not only of statesmen whose decisions led to these momentous events, but also of the ordinary men and women whose lives were bound up in these years of conflict. Cold War is the first comprehensive history for the general reader to benefit from the recent opening of Soviet, East European and Chinese archives as well as formerly classified American documents. In a driving narrative that it both gripping and informative, the true story of the Cold War can, at last, be told.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cold-War-Forty-five-Years-Breath/dp/0349120803/?tag=prabook0b-20
1991
(The publication of Battle Stations is timed to coincide w...)
The publication of Battle Stations is timed to coincide with the first UK screening of the first four parts of the major new History Channel series of the same name. Each chapter (and each programme) covers one particular legendary weapon system; the Spitfire, the Sherman Tank, DC-3 Dakota and the amphibious DUKW. The story is told from the earliest design stage, through production to its battle-winning use in a particular theatre and phase of the Second World War. The series is as much about the men - and women - responsible for creating and using each weapon as the equipments themselves. The closely researched but highly readable text is lavishly supported by fabulous photographs.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Stations-Decisive-Weapons-World/dp/085052749X/?tag=prabook0b-20
1998
(The man, and the only man we have for this hour.' Indefat...)
The man, and the only man we have for this hour.' Indefatigable patriot, seasoned soldier, incomparable orator, and leader of men - Winston Churchill's greatness in leading Britain's coalition government to triumphant victory in the Second World War is undisputed. Yet Churchill's enduring legacy to the world is attributable at least in equal part to his unshakeable belief in the science of war. From the development of radar and the breakthroughs at Bletchley Park to the study of the D-Day beaches and the use of bouncing bombs, this brilliant and gripping narrative reveals the Second World War as an explosive phase of scientific history, an unprecedented crucible for change that involved a knife-edge race to the finish.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Churchills-War-Lab-Innovators-Mavericks/dp/0349122490/?tag=prabook0b-20
2010
(Spies In The Sky is the thrilling, little-known story of ...)
Spies In The Sky is the thrilling, little-known story of the partner organization to the famous code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park. It is the story of the daring reconnaissance pilots who took aerial photographs over Occupied Europe during the most dangerous days of the Second World War, and of the photo interpreters who invented a completely new science to analyze those pictures. They were inventive and ingenious; they pioneered the development of 3D photography and their work provided vital intelligence throughout the war. With a whole host of colourful characters at its heart, from the legendary pilot Adrian 'Warby' Warburton, who went missing while on a mission, to photo interpreters Glyn Daniel, later a famous television personality, and Winston Churchill's daughter, Sarah, Spies In The Sky is compelling reading and the first full account of the story of aerial photography and the intelligence gleaned from it in nearly fifty years.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spies-Sky-Secret-Battle-Intelligence/dp/0349123403/?tag=prabook0b-20
2011
(Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) is one of the most cont...)
Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) is one of the most controversial films ever made. Capitalizing on the success of Triumph of the Will (1935), her propaganda film for the Nazi Party, Riefenstahl secured Hitler's approval for her grandiose plans to film the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The result was a work as notorious for its politics as celebrated for its aesthetic power. This revised edition includes new material on Riefenstahl's film-making career before Olympia and her close relationship with Hitler. Taylor Downing also discusses newly-available evidence on the background to the film's production that conclusively proves that the film was directly commissioned by Hitler and funded through Goebbels's Ministry of Propaganda and not, as Riefenstahl later claimed, commissioned independently from the Nazi state by the Olympic authorities. In writing this edition, Taylor Downing has been given access to a magnificent new restoration of the original version of the film by the International Olympic Committee.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympia-Film-Classics-Taylor-Downing/dp/1844574709/?tag=prabook0b-20
2012
(The loss of British bombers over Occupied Europe began to...)
The loss of British bombers over Occupied Europe began to reach alarming levels in 1941. Could it be that the Germans were using a sophisticated form of radar to direct their night fighters and anti-aircraft guns at the British bombers? British aerial reconnaissance discovered what seemed to be a rotating radar tower on a clifftop at Bruneval, near Le Havre. The truth must be revealed. The decision was taken to launch a daring raid on the Bruneval site to try and capture the technology for further examination.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Raid-Story-Victorious-British/dp/0349000255/?tag=prabook0b-20
2013
(The First World War is often viewed as a war fought by ar...)
The First World War is often viewed as a war fought by armies of millions living and fighting in trenches, aided by brutal machinery that cost the lives of many. But behind all of this a scientific war was also being fought between engineers, chemists, physicists, doctors,mathematicians and intelligence gatherers. This hidden war was to make a positive and lasting contribution to how war was conducted on land, at sea and in the air, and most importantly life at home. Secret Warriors provides an invaluable and fresh history of the First World War, profiling a number of the key figures who made great leaps in science for the benefit of 20th Century Britain. Told in a lively, narrative style, Secret Warriors reveals the unknown side of the war.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Warriors-Scientists-Breakers-Propagandists/dp/0349138834/?tag=prabook0b-20
2014
(World War I is often viewed as a war fought by armies of ...)
World War I is often viewed as a war fought by armies of millions living and fighting in trenches, aided by brutal machinery that cost the lives of many. But behind all of this an intellectual war was also being fought between engineers, chemists, code-breakers, physicists, doctors, mathematicians, and intelligence gatherers. This hidden war was to make a positive and lasting contribution to how war was conducted on land, at sea, and in the air, and most importantly, life at home. Secret Warriors provides an invaluable and fresh history of the World War I, profiling a number of the key incidents and figures which lead to great leaps forward for the twentieth century. Told in a lively and colorful narrative style, Secret Warriors reveals the unknown side of this tragic conflict.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Warriors-Spies-Scientists-Breakers/dp/1681771616/?tag=prabook0b-20
2015
(Paralysis. Stuttering. The 'shakes'. Inability to stand o...)
Paralysis. Stuttering. The 'shakes'. Inability to stand or walk. Temporary blindness or deafness. When strange symptoms like these began appearing in men at Casualty Clearing Stations in 1915, a debate began in army and medical circles as to what it was, what had caused it and what could be done to cure it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breakdown-Crisis-Shell-Shock-Somme/dp/0349141010/?tag=prabook0b-20
2016
(This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War sto...)
This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War story of spies and double agents, of missiles being readied, of intelligence failures, misunderstandings and the panic of world leaders. With access to hundreds of extraordinary new documents just released in the US, Taylor Downing is able to tell for the first time the gripping but true story of how near the world came to the brink of nuclear war in 1983. 1983: The World at the Brink is a real-life thriller.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/1983-World-Brink-Taylor-Downing/dp/0349143048/?tag=prabook0b-20
2018
director historian producer speaker writer
Taylor Downing was born in the United Kingdom.
Taylor Downing studied at Christ’s College Cambridge and earned a bachelor's degree.
Taylor Downing worked at the Imperial War Museum and Thames Television. He founded Flashback Television in 1982, which has been one of the leading factual independent production companies in the United Kingdom. For many years Taylor Downing has been a managing director and head of history at Flashback. He has produced more than 200 historical documentaries over the last twenty years and a wide variety of other programmes ranging from educational programming to drama-documentaries.
Taylor Downing regularly gives talks on many subjects relating to world wars and to his books. He gave Churchill Lectures at the Imperial War Museum’s Churchill War Rooms in 2011, 2012 and 2014. He has given talks at the Science Museum, the National Army Museum, the Royal Aeronautical Society and at Bletchley Park. Taylor Downing also regularly gives talks on Television and History and has lectured on this subject at the University of Cambridge, at Queen’s University, Belfast and at Lincoln University.
Taylor Downing frequently appears at book festivals and has recently given talks at the Edinburgh Book Festival, at 'Ways with Words' at Dartington and at 'Words by the Water' Festival in Keswick, at the Henley Literary Festival, the Warwick Book Festival, at the Hampstead and Highgate Literary Festival, at the Scarborough Book Festival, the Cheltenham Literary Festival and at several others. Taylor Downing has given talks about Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in London and at the British Museum. Taylor Downing regularly talks at Historical Association societies in the south-east.
Taylor Downing documents history for a television audience: he has made accessible television documentaries about topics as varied as the nineteenth century Luddite movement, the Cold War, and the struggles of Irish nationalists. He has also written about the task of the documentarían, and about the various pressures that shape his or her work.
In a book about Nazi documentary film making, Downing insists again that aesthetic considerations can out-weigh the documentarian’s political concerns. In Olympia Downing argues that Leni Riefenstahl’s work may be appreciated despite its propaganda for the Nazi party - a troubling argument for many.
(This is an extraordinary and largely unknown Cold War sto...)
2018(The publication of Battle Stations is timed to coincide w...)
1998(The First World War is often viewed as a war fought by ar...)
2014(World War I is often viewed as a war fought by armies of ...)
2015(Spies In The Sky is the thrilling, little-known story of ...)
2011(Cold War is the story of the half-century since the end o...)
1991(The loss of British bombers over Occupied Europe began to...)
2013(Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) is one of the most cont...)
2012(The man, and the only man we have for this hour.' Indefat...)
2010(Paralysis. Stuttering. The 'shakes'. Inability to stand o...)
2016Throughout Taylor Downing's career, he has questioned the relative value of entertainment and accuracy in popularized television histories.
In 2015 Taylor was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.