title: The Rebel Who Lost His Cause: The Tragedy of John Beckett MP
author:  Francis Beckett 
description: Francis Becketts ten books include acclaimed biographies of three earlier premiers - Clement Attlee, Harold Macmillan and Tony Blair. His Clem Attlee, which has been reissued this year, is now the standard work on this most radical of all Labours premiers. Beckett was also the commissioning editor of Haus Publishings critically acclaimed series The 20 Prime Ministers of the 20th Century published in October 2006.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Major Frank Collyard is determined to suffer in silence when he agrees to help
  his mentor, the Earl of Beckett, solve a problem over the Christmas holidays.
  After all, how can he join in when his heart still reels from the tragic loss
  of his wife and little children just eight Christmases prior? Yet somehow, in
  one mystical moment, Beckett's niece draws him out of his dark place. And in
  her eyes he begins to see a future he could never have imagined.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00004.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Prologue
  
  
  Major Frank Collyard stared out the carriage window as they made their way
  through England’s wintry wonderland. It was the Christmas Season and he was on
  his way to Cherrywood Manor.
  
  He swiped his hand across his face. Bloody hell, but he hated this time of
  year. He usually devoted the week before and after Christmas to falling into a
  drunken stupor. It helped him forget.
  
  “I believe we’re almost there,” the Earl of Beckett said from the seat
  opposite him. “I’ll b