M, page 34
13 ‘hypnotic’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 16.
14 ‘dance, whistle’: Maxwell Knight, Talking Birds (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1961), 58.
15 ‘I didn’t have’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 49.
Chapter 14: Cuckoo Eggs
1 ‘like the den’: Macpherson, ‘Olga the Beautiful Spy’.
2 ‘It would make the squeak’: Maxwell Knight, Keeping Pets (Leicester: Brockhampton, 1971), 25.
3 ‘the real “M” organisation’: Dick Thistlethwaite, unpublished reminiscences.
4 ‘I state unhesitatingly’: KV 4/227/1a.
5 ‘The great thing’: Knight to Roberts, 5 November, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
6 ‘The very best training’: KV 4/227/1a.
7 ‘should be disseminated’: KV 5/72/341c.
8 ‘H. G.’: History Sheet, 4 December, 1934, KV 2/2021.
9 ‘facility in mastering’: Esther Potter, ‘Graham Pollard at Work’, The Library 11, no. 4 (December 1989).
10 ‘Pollard did not often’: Peter Quennell, The Marble Foot (London: Collins, 1976), 126.
11 ‘like a bookseller’s’: A. L. Rowse, A Cornishman at Oxford (London: Jonathan Cape, 1965), 82.
12 ‘A cuckoo is not’: Knight, A Cuckoo in the House, 5.
Chapter 15: Trailing One’s Coat
1 ‘These people have’: Quoted in Hugh Witford, The Mighty Wurlitzer (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 12.
2 ‘an ordinary, interested’: KV 4/227/1a.
3 ‘very shortly after’: Ibid.
4 ‘she had any free time’: Ibid.
5 ‘speedily reduced’: Ibid.
6 ‘Form the habit’: Maxwell Knight, Be a Nature Detective (London: Frederick Warne, 1968), 169.
7 ‘a considerable amount’: KV 4/227/1a.
8 ‘Efforts are being made’: ‘Touts and Spies’, Daily Worker, 29 March, 1932.
9 ‘an acute attack’: KV 3/338/44b.
10 ‘an agent becomes’: KV 4/227/1a.
11 ‘coming into local’: History Sheet, 9 February, 1932, KV 2/1599.
12 ‘Bishop is not’: History Sheet, 15 February, 1932, KV 2/1599.
13 ‘might be pumped’: KV 2/2199/14x.
14 ‘very deaf’: KV 5/2/51x.
15 ‘rather an odd fish’: Barry Domvile Diary, 11 January, 1939, NMM, Dom 55.
16 ‘quite agreeable’: Vivian Hancock-Nunn (as ‘Lucien Francis’), Two Worlds (London: Talbot’s Head, 1960), 78.
17 ‘haughty disdain’: Ibid., 77–78.
18 ‘The increased efficiency’: KV 4/227/1a.
19 ‘engaged in some’: KV 2/3206/4a.
20 ‘anti-militarist work’: KV 2/3206/8.
21 ‘It is an immense safeguard’: KV 4/227/1a.
Chapter 16: An Author With Unpredictable Hours
1 ‘my hat’: Knight, Gunmen’s Holiday, 96.
2 ‘about as reliable’: Maxwell Knight, Crime Cargo (London: Philip Allan, 1934), 1.
3 ‘a hundred similar ones’: Ibid., 160.
4 ‘They amused me’: Desert Island Discs, BBC Home Service, 28 June, 1965.
5 ‘You are not’: Knight, Crime Cargo, 51.
6 ‘a decent, well-built’: Ibid., 12.
7 ‘very violent temper’: KV 2/245/1b.
8 ‘Order of the Fasces’: ‘Headquarter Orders’, British Fascism, Summer 1933.
Chapter 17: Heart and Soul
1 ‘the usual joys’: Glading Papers, RGASPI, 495-198-1267-015.
2 ‘from 6 a.m.’: Ibid.
3 ‘a red-hot Communist’: KV 2/1034/12.
4 ‘be dismissed at’: KV 2/1020/9a.
5 ‘I refuse to renounce’: ‘Government Ban on Communists’, Manchester Guardian, 23 October, 1928.
6 ‘We no longer’: Quoted in Richard Crossman, ed., The God That Failed (New York: Bantam, 1970), 62.
7 ‘Moscow-sympathising’: Macpherson, ‘Olga the Beautiful Spy’.
8 ‘that she should rearrange’: KV 4/227/1a.
9 ‘The tempo of her work’: Ibid.
10 ‘Detective work’: Knight, Be a Nature Detective, 2.
11 ‘Never make it up’: John Le Carré, A Perfect Spy (London: Coronet, 1986), 234.
12 ‘position and prestige’: KV 4/227/1a.
13 ‘John Dickson Carr’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 52.
14 ‘initiated’ into the ‘illegal section’: KV 2/2494/320a.
15 ‘specially trained’: Ibid.
16 ‘all incriminating documents’: History Sheet, 28 February, 1933, KV 2/2801.
17 ‘Vivian Hancock-Nunn’: Wintringham papers, 4/3, Liddell Hart Centre Military Archive.
18 ‘grey people’: Private telephone interview with author, January 2016.
19 ‘how very happy’: Security Service Archives, quoted in Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 132.
20 ‘appear to be’: History Sheet, 22 June, 1933, KV 2/1020.
21 ‘doggo’: KV 2/1035/89a.
Chapter 18: Blackshirts
1 ‘a “hero” in an’: Home Office report, quoted in Dorril, Blackshirt, 247.
2 ‘the greatest Englishman’: Joyce quoted in Farndale, Haw-Haw, 81.
3 ‘You would not believe’: KV 2/1221/44a.
4 ‘one of the dozen finest’: Quoted in Farndale, Haw-Haw, 72.
5 ‘a psychopathic expression’: Francis Selwyn, Hitler’s Englishman (London: Penguin, 1993), 48.
6 ‘whether the time’: HO 45/25386/54-9.
7 ‘MI5 should undertake’: KV 4/140/1x.
8 ‘quite reliable’: KV 3/53/1c.
9 ‘a motor salesman’: Quoted in Liddell Diaries, 10 August, 1940, KV 4/186.
10 ‘there have undoubtedly been’: KV 4/111.
11 ‘The Comintern remained’: Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 190.
12 ‘insists on the common’: KV 3/58/161a.
13 ‘the last of the great’: Dorril, Blackshirt, 286
14 ‘in distinct opposition’: KV 4/331/1z.
15 ‘no evidence whatsoever’: KV 3/53/1c.
16 M’s original spymaster, ‘Don’: KV 3/53/1c and KV 3/53/1e.
17 ‘a far more reliable source’: KV 3/53/1e.
18 ‘It is considered’: Ibid.
Chapter 19: Courier
1 ‘special mission’: History Sheet, 25 January, 1938, KV 2/1022.
2 ‘With very becoming self-restraint’: KV 4/227/1a.
3 ‘a time of the year’: Ibid.
4 ‘themselves as being’: Ibid.
5 ‘a secret agent’: Ibid.
6 ‘drift along with’: Knight to Roberts, 23 October, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
7 ‘Baldy McGurk’: Knight, Crime Cargo, 195.
8 ‘long hand-made cigarettes’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 16.
9 ‘my ally’: Knight, Some of My Animals, 16.
10 ‘encouraged me in’: Desert Island Discs, BBC Home Service, 28 June, 1965.
11 ‘a keen naturalist’: Maxwell Knight, Pets and Their Problems (London: Heinemann, 1968), 2.
12 ‘a good library’: Ibid.
13 ‘a sensible and rather’: Knight, Pets: Usual and Unusual, 76.
14 ‘never threatened anything’: Maxwell Knight, My Pet Friends (London: Frederick Warne, 1964), 54.
15 ‘tried almost too hard’: Quoted in Masters, Man Who Was M, 15.
16 ‘of Sherlock Holmes’: ‘First Edition Forgeries’, The Times, 29 June, 1934.
17 ‘a superb piece’: Robert Harling, Ian Fleming, Kindle ed. (London: Robson Press, 2015), chap. 1.
18 ‘perhaps the most dramatic’: ‘Mr Graham Pollard’, The Times, 16 November, 1976.
19 ‘first notorious’: ‘Graham Pollard’, The Book Collector (London), Spring 1977.
20 ‘vile little boat’: Angus Macpherson, ‘Olga the Beautiful Spy’, Mail on Sunday, 29 July, 1984.
21 ‘was the only single girl’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 34.
22 ‘riotous mob’: Weekly Report, 19 May, 1934, IOR/L/PJ/12/137/50.
23 ‘render all the aid’: Report of the Director, 9 June, 1934, IOR/L/PJ/12/137/62.
24 ‘the first time’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 34.
25 ‘I started my education’: Glading Papers, RGASPI, 495-198-1267-009.
Chapter 20: The Honeymooning Spy
1 ‘the down to earth’: Roberts to Harry, 10 February, 1969, Eric Roberts Papers.
2 ‘In all approaches’: Knight, Pets and Their Problems, 92.
3 ‘I shall be very’: Knight to Roberts, 7 June, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
4 ‘I am anxious’: Knight to Roberts, 16 August, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
5 ‘Very many thanks’: Knight to Roberts, 5 October, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
6 ‘How would that’: Ibid.
7 ‘no purely mercenary agent’: KV 4/227/1a.
8 ‘We should like’: Knight to Roberts, 22 October, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
9 ‘It is not necessary’: Knight to Roberts, 23 October, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
10 ‘I cannot give’: Ibid.
11 ‘Do not be disturbed’: Knight to Roberts, 5 November, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
12 ‘Very many thanks’: Ibid.
13 ‘an excellent report’: Knight to Roberts, 13 November, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
14 ‘to be unduly’: Ibid.
15 ‘May I again emphasise’: Knight to Roberts, 19 November, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
16 ‘the sister-in-law of Miss H. B.’: KV 2/1012/18c.
17 ‘the sister-in-law of Miss T-H’: Rita Retallick to Eric Roberts, 31 May, 1935, Eric Roberts Papers.
18 ‘very tricky’: Knight to Roberts, 24 January, 1935, Eric Roberts Papers.
19 ‘Up to date’: Ibid.
20 ‘You’re always saying’: Le Carré, A Perfect Spy, 74.
21 ‘a novel for that large’: Undated publicity material, Philip Allan.
22 ‘a real good’: Ibid.
23 hailed as ‘readable’: M. W., ‘Piracy in Bias Bay Style,’ Straits Times, 1 March, 1935.
24 ‘thriller with a’: Tom Driberg, ‘William Hickey’, Daily Express, 27 September, 1934.
25 ‘Knight – lean, long-beaked’: Ibid.
26 ‘I rather liked’: Roberts to Harry, 10 February, 1969, Eric Roberts Papers.
27 ‘I am always glad’: Knight to Roberts, 11 February, 1935, Eric Roberts Papers.
28 ‘a rabid anti-Catholic’: KV 2/245/1b.
29 ‘one of the most’: Mary Kenny, Germany Calling (Dublin: New Island, 2003), 122.
30 ‘For your own private information’: Knight to Roberts, 24 January, 1935, Eric Roberts Papers.
31 ‘the impression that’: History Sheet, 28 January, 1935, KV 2/245.
32 ‘M. thought this remark’: History Sheet, 20 February, 1935, KV 2/245.
Chapter 21: Olga Pulloffski
1 ‘I was approached’: History Sheet, 25 January, 1938, KV 2/1022.
2 ‘No official or other’: KV 4/227/1a.
3 ‘was too much’: Ibid.
4 ‘The work was’: History Sheet, 25 January, 1938, KV 2/1022.
5 ‘stitching reports into’: Macpherson, ‘Olga the Beautiful Spy’.
6 ‘most valuable information’: KV 4/227/1a.
7 ‘explained how the cipher’: Nigel West, Mask (London: Routledge, 2005), 21.
8 ‘an honest Communist’: Macpherson, ‘Olga the Beautiful Spy’.
9 ‘was a very nice man’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 35.
10 ‘had been sleeping’: Ted Crawford footnote in Harry Wicks, An Unpublished Chapter from Harry Wicks’s Autobiography, ed. Ted Crawford, http://www.cix.co.uk/~jplant/revhist/supplem/wicksind.htm.
11 ‘It is important to stress’: KV 4/227/1a.
12 ‘A clever woman’: Ibid.
13 ‘She’s Olga Pulloffski’: Written by Bert Lee and R. P. Weston. Lyrics accessed at http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/o/olgapulloffskithebeautifulspy.shtml on 10 September, 2012, and transcribed by Mark MacNamara in November 2003.
14 ‘Some “superior” people’: Knight, Taming and Handling Animals, 53.
15 ‘looking over your shoulder’: Valerie Lippay, telephone interview with author, May 2014.
16 ‘he was told’: Sean Rayment, ‘Traumatised MI5 Spy Fights Murder Verdict’, Sunday Times, 13 March, 2016.
17 ‘I informed the officer’: History Sheet, 25 January, 1938, KV 2/1022.
18 ‘As may be’: KV 4/227/1a.
19 ‘in an agent context’: Roberts to Harry, 10 February, 1969, Eric Roberts Papers.
20 ‘On instructions’: History Sheet, 25 January, 1938, KV 2/1022.
Chapter 22: Mussolini’s Man
1 ‘Mind Britain’s Business’: Dorril, Blackshirt, 354.
2 ‘the Fascist party in this country’: Transcript of Rex v. Tyler Gatewood Kent, MS 310/1/1/10.
3 ‘grim determination’: Quoted in Dorril, Blackshirt, 390.
4 ‘a genuine statement’: Quoted in ibid., 368.
5 ‘an imitation strategist’: Quoted in Farndale, Haw-Haw, 83.
6 ‘never before’: Quoted in Ibid. p. 83.
7 ‘it is not thought’: KV 2/245/1b.
Chapter 23: A Mysterious Affair
1 ‘very acute sciatica’: Dr Boyall to Dr Warner, 21 November, 1936, COR/LW/1936/154.
2 ‘unwilling to accept’: Ibid.
3 grey shirt studs for ‘L’: G. Knight Shopping List, COR/LW/1936/154.
4 death was called a ‘riddle’: ‘Riddle of Dying Woman in Club’, Daily Mail, 21 November, 1936.
5 ‘mysterious affair’: ‘Wealthy Woman Found Dying’, Dundee Courier, 23 November, 1936.
6 ‘to elucidate if’: ‘Former Resident of Sherborne’, Western Gazette, 25 December, 1936.
7 ‘Sweetheart’: ‘Death of Author’s Wife’, The Times, 18 December, 1936.
8 ‘was to be a prison governor’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 79.
9 ‘an instant dislike’: Bower, Perfect English Spy, 26.
Chapter 24: Percy’s Proposal
1 ‘a devoted communist’: File STEPHAN, No. 32826, Vol. 1, pp. 15–16, quoted in Nigel West, The Crown Jewels (London: HarperCollins, 1998), 123.
2 ‘bumptious’: KV 2/804/2a.
3 ‘Percy Glading is the comrade’: KV 2/2494/325b.
4 ‘seemed to be somewhat’: KV 2/1021/202a.
5 ‘To be quite frank’: KV 4/227/1a.
6 ‘the bravest girl’: S. S. Birch, ‘Britain’s Bravest Girl Traps Russ Master Spy’, Telegram, 23 April, 1949.
7 ‘M’s ability to instil’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 16.
Chapter 25: Mr Peters
1 ‘very unscientific’: Quoted in West, Crown Jewels, 149.
2 ‘was to put the whole’: Roberts to Harry, 10 February, 1969, Eric Roberts Papers.
3 ‘polite conversation’: KV 4/227/1a.
4 ‘Aged about 45’: KV 2/1008/1a.
5 ‘The purpose of the meeting’: KV 4/227/1a.
Chapter 26: Moscow Moves
1 ‘They were clearly foreigners’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 45.
2 ‘very self-assured’: KV 2/1004/1b.
3 ‘decidedly nervous regarding’: KV 2/1004/1d.
4 ‘very jumpy’: Quoted in Masters, Man Who Was M, 63.
5 ‘live on a volcano’: Quoted in David Burke, The Spy Who Came in from the Co-op (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2008), 90.
6 ‘is obviously regarded’: Ibid.
7 ‘a large oblong parcel’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 45.
8 ‘active and dangerous’: KV 2/1020/21b.
Chapter 27: Old Friends, New Agents
1 ‘for his deficiencies’: KV 3/220/31a.
2 ‘there is strong evidence’: Ellen Radley, email to author, 17 December, 2015.
3 ‘spy who goes alone’: C. W. Sykes, Secrets of Modern Spying (London: John Hamilton 1930), 9.
4 ‘a very reliable informant’: KV 3/59/241a.
5 ‘I was immediately attracted’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 78.
6 ‘the charm this smiling man’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 16, 44.
7 ‘Be confident and unafraid’: Knight, Pets: Usual and Unusual, 34.
8 ‘for your confidence’: Ibid., 29–30.
9 ‘shattered’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 79.
10 ‘thinks differently’: A. P. Herbert, Dolphin Square (London: Haxwell, Watson & Viney, 1935), 4.
11 ‘I have myself felt’: Maxwell Knight, Animals and Ourselves (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1962), 16.
12 ‘Failure to do this’: Knight, Taming and Handling Animals, 92.
13 ‘It was extremely’: Harry Smith, interview with author, London, January 2016.
14 ‘Joyce, to my mind’: KV 2/245/24a.
15 ‘from an informant’: KV 2/2145/25a.
16 ‘Joyce has a well organised’: Knight to Roberts, 24 January, 1935, Eric Roberts Collection.
17 ‘seriously handicapped’: John Curry, The Security Service 1908–1945 (Kew: Public Record Office, 1999), 393.
18 ‘was growing morose’: KV 2/245/60a.
19 ‘I should not think’: KV 2/245/1b.
Chapter 28: Reprieve
