The Last Escaper
The untold first-hand story of the legendary bomber pilot, ‘Cooler King’ and arch escape artist
By Peter Tunstall
Published by Duckworth Overlook: Dist. by Allen & Unwin
http://www.allenandunwin.com
RRP $39.99 in Hardback
ISBN 9780715649237

This book – an unforgettable memoir from one of the most celebrated of all British POWs – was published posthumously in 2014. Peter Tunstall died, aged 94, on 27 July 2013, having spent a good part of his post-war career in the RAF.

In his introduction, he acknowledges that the book is a product of a lifetime’s reflection.

‘Had I written it fifty or sixty years ago, it would, perhaps, have had the immediacy and fine detail of recent memory and experience. But it could not have included the sense of perspective or quality of judgement that comes with age and distance from the events of one’s own life.’ So says Peter Tunstall.

In writing this memoir he is writing his final report, acknowledging that he was the last man standing of an entire generation.