London's most sensational shoot-out: the Siege of Sidney Street

Andrew Whitehead, author of 'A Devilish Kind of Courage: Anarchists, Aliens and the Siege of Sidney Street', reveals the story of the most sensational shoot-out in London's history. At Sidney Street in Stepney in January 1911, two Latvian anarchists wanted for the murder of three London police officers held police and troops at bay for six hours. Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary, rushed top-hatted to the scene. But who were the gunmen? Why did they resort to shooting policemen? Who told police of their whereabouts? What did Churchill's presence achieve? How did a Hackney hairdresser get caught up in this drama? And how did this widely reported incident shape the debate about those perennial issues of immigration and asylum?