"A generation knew him as the man behind behind the infamous 1910 Dreadnougth hoax, when the Royal Navy was fooled into honouring a troupe of fake foreign princes, including a youthful Virginia Woolf. It was the highlight of Cole's career as a practical joker, which kept the nation entertained for over twenty years through the tabloids and gossip columns. Yet the mischief concealed an undercurrent of anger, frustration and violence. The man people knew as 'our chief jester' was, as Winston Churchill said, 'a very dangerous man to his friends', with a darker, more political edge. I this long-awaited first biography of Cole, Martyn Downer gets to the heart of a complex figure in whom all the conflicts and contradictions of his times mingled, to often hilarious but sometimes tragic effect."--Back cover.