Saltaire Bookshop will host the Northern unveiling of the new biography of Georges Kopp, friend of George Orwell, spy and Spanish Civil War fighter.

In 1936 Kopp became the commander of the POUM section of the International Brigades, serving on the Aragon front in that year with Orwell.

Soviet death squads murdered many Spanish anarchists and international supporters and took control of Barcelona in 1937. The POUM was outlawed and Kopp was arrested.

At the outbreak of World War 2 Kopp volunteered for the French Foreign Legion.

He was captured by the German army in June 1940, but escaped to Marseilles and worked for British Naval Intelligence.

Georges Kopp’s son Quentin will be travelling from Derbyshire for the event at Saltaire Bookshop, together with the writer of the biography March Wildemeersch.

The free event begins at 7pm on Wednesday 30 October.