After hearing mention of this guy on tonight's show I thought I'd look him up... the wiki page is pretty useless really, but good old Karl from Plaistow is on right now describing how Piratin was the man who took people (against official wishes) into the London Underground stations during the Blitz. Considering how that image of people in these stations is such an important part of WWII history I think a lot more people than just myself would be surprised to know that it was a Communist who started the idea...
I'll probably buy the book as I'm sure it's a great history.