The news from Waterloo - Brian Cathcart

The Duke of Wellington's victory over Napoleon in 1815
at Waterloo ensured British dominance for
the rest of the nineteenth century. It took three days and two hours for
word to travel from Belgium in a form that people could rely upon.

This
is a tragi-comic midsummer's tale that begins amidst terrible carnage
and weaves through a world of politics and military convention,
enterprise and roguery, frustration, doubt and jealousy, to end
spectacularly in the heart of Regency society at a grand soiree in St
James's Square after feverish journeys by coach and horseback, a Channel
crossing delayed by falling tides and a flat calm, and a final dash by
coach and four from Dover to London.

At least five men were
involved in bringing the news or parts of it to London, and their
stories are fascinating. Brian Cathcart, a brilliant storyteller
and historian, has visited the battlefield, travelled the messengers'
routes, and traced untapped British, French and Belgian records. This is
a strikingly original perspective on a key moment in British history.