For troops in the desert, Cairo meant fleshpots or brass hats to well-connected officers, it meant polo at the Gezira Club, drinks at Shepheard's and opulent parties where one might meet Randolph Churchill, Freya Stark, Peter Fleming or Cecil Beaton. For the irregular warriors like David Stirling or Paddy Leigh Fermor, Cairo was a flat to dump their weapons and throw legendary parties before the next mission behind enemy lines. For gamblers it meant the race course of Heliopolis and Gezira, and baccarat at the Mohammad Aly Club. For the Free French, Poles and Balkan royal families as well as countless refugees, Cairo was a stopping place in the long struggle to get home. This book looks at Cairo during World War II.