In his book, Philps shows how Stalin created his own reality by silencing foreign reporters during WWII and forcing them to reproduce Kremlin propaganda. In the gilded cage of the Metropol Hotel, foreign war correspondents enjoyed lavish supplies of caviar and young women to employ as translators -  and to share their beds. Some of these women were brave dissenters whispering the reality of Soviet life to reporters and were punished.  This story lifts the lid on Stalin's operation to control what the western allies' reporters knew of his regime's policies.

Philps is in conversation with Michael Binyon OBE, an award winning journalist. He was The Times Moscow correspondent in the 1970’s and also covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and numerous conflicts in the Middle East. He retired in 2009, but still writes editorials regularly for The Times.