The British in Egypt; the King and the city; 1939-1940 - preparing for war, the Benghazi handicap; Spring 1941 - disaster in all directions, new arrivals, a time of ideas, patriots or Fifth-Columnists?; Summer 1941 -troops, administrative problems, the effects of war; Winter 1941-1942 - Auchinleck's offensive, the writers, the fall of Hussein Sirry, tanks at Abdin; Spring and Summer 1942 - loose talk in high places, Tobruk, the flap, spies; Autumn and Winter 1942 - Alamein and after, the darling belt; Spring and Summer 1943 - scandals and quarrels, a glittering summer, behind closed doors (SOE Cairo); Winter 1943 - statesmen and buccaneers; Spring 1944 - the Greek mutinies; Summer and Winter 1944 - Lord Moyne; spring 1945 - burying the hatchet. Epilogue - fire and revolution 1951-1952.