Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (also commonly known as MI6) was born a century ago amid fears of the rising power of other countries, especially Germany. The next forty years saw MI6 taking an increasingly important-and, until now, largely hidden-role in shaping the history of Europe and the world. This thorough, fascinating, and revelatory account draws on a wealth of archival materials never before seen by any outsider to unveil the inner workings of the world's first spy agency.
Some fun tidbits from the book:
-- Spy writers. Somerset Maugham, Malcolm Muggeridge, and Graham Greene were all M)-6 operatives (as this book reveals for the first time).
-- James Bond: true and false. Ian Fleming's fictional MI-6 agent is likely based on actual agent Wilfred "Biffy" Dunderdale, a friend of Fleming's. Unlike in the Bond novels and films, no MI-6 agent has a "license to kill".. However, Q, the gadget-making super-scientist of the Bond series, is based on reality.
-- In 1941, a British spy was arrested in Madrid dressed "down to a brassiere" as a woman. Unsure whether he was a spy or simply a cross-dresser, Spanish police soon released him. He was transferred to Cairo where he had "a brilliant career in deception."
-- In 1949, MI-6 seriously considered peddling confiscated opium in Asia to raise funds.
-- Friends in high places. Arthur Ransome, another writer/spy, worked in the Soviet Union and had as his mistress Leon Trotsky's secretary.
-- In 1941, an MI-6 operative infiltrated a posh casino on the Dutch coast from the sea - wearing a tuxedo underneath his wetsuit.
-- In the late 1940s, MI-6 operatives blew up ships in Italian ports to stop Jewish refugees from sailing to Palestine.
-- MI-6 was famous for running the British code-breaking program during World War II, but few appreciate its other innovations from that decade, such as knockout drops, silent weapons, and exploding file cabinets.
Some fun tidbits from the book:
-- Spy writers. Somerset Maugham, Malcolm Muggeridge, and Graham Greene were all M)-6 operatives (as this book reveals for the first time).
-- James Bond: true and false. Ian Fleming's fictional MI-6 agent is likely based on actual agent Wilfred "Biffy" Dunderdale, a friend of Fleming's. Unlike in the Bond novels and films, no MI-6 agent has a "license to kill".. However, Q, the gadget-making super-scientist of the Bond series, is based on reality.
-- In 1941, a British spy was arrested in Madrid dressed "down to a brassiere" as a woman. Unsure whether he was a spy or simply a cross-dresser, Spanish police soon released him. He was transferred to Cairo where he had "a brilliant career in deception."
-- In 1949, MI-6 seriously considered peddling confiscated opium in Asia to raise funds.
-- Friends in high places. Arthur Ransome, another writer/spy, worked in the Soviet Union and had as his mistress Leon Trotsky's secretary.
-- In 1941, an MI-6 operative infiltrated a posh casino on the Dutch coast from the sea - wearing a tuxedo underneath his wetsuit.
-- In the late 1940s, MI-6 operatives blew up ships in Italian ports to stop Jewish refugees from sailing to Palestine.
-- MI-6 was famous for running the British code-breaking program during World War II, but few appreciate its other innovations from that decade, such as knockout drops, silent weapons, and exploding file cabinets.
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