M, page 35
1 ‘aim and ambition’: History Sheet, 17 January, 1938, KV 2/1022.
Chapter 29: Miss X
1 ‘Sample of the tempting’: ‘Miss X’, Time Magazine, 28 March, 1938.
2 ‘Britain’s counter-espionage’: ‘Foreigner Named by British Agent,’ Baltimore Sun, 12 February, 1938.
3 ‘stylish’: ‘Stylish “Miss X” Tells of Trapping British Arms Spy’, Washington Post, 8 February, 1938.
4 ‘black two-piece’: ‘Girl Tells of Net in British Spy Case’, Atlanta Constitution, 8 February, 1938.
5 ‘slim’, ‘blonde’: ‘Woman Turns Spy to Foil Plot to Steal British Arms Secrets’, Atlanta Constitution, 4 February, 1938.
6 ‘Fair-haired’: ‘Aircraft and Gun Plans’, Manchester Guardian, 4 February, 1938.
7 ‘exceptionally pretty’: ‘Miss X’, Time Magazine, 28 March, 1938.
8 ‘a real spy hunt’: Sam Brewer, ‘Joins with Red Plotters, Then Tips War Office’, Chicago Tribune, 4 February, 1938.
9 ‘many fictional trials’: T. J. Hamilton, ‘British Spy Case Tinged with Irony’, New York Times, 13 February, 1938.
10 ‘Was there ever’: Editorial, ‘Miss X’, Atlanta Constitution, 12 February, 1938.
11 ‘asked her if she’: Quoted in Masters, Man Who Was M, 69.
12 ‘Big, blue eyes’: H. J. J. Sargint, ‘Spy Fighters Guard Name of “Miss X”’, Atlanta Constitution, 10 February, 1938.
13 ‘would not be surprised’: 23 March, 1938, KV 2/1793.
14 ‘was whisked away’: ‘“Miss X” Describes Capture of Spies’, New York Times, 8 February, 1938.
15 ‘I wanted to get’: Masters, Man Who Was M, 72–73.
16 ‘nasty fingers’: S. S. Birch, ‘Britain’s Bravest Girl Traps Russ Master Spy’, Telegram, 23 April, 1949.
17 ‘Spy Fighters Guard’: H. J. J. Sargint, ‘Spy Fighters Guard Name of “Miss X”’, Atlanta Constitution, 10 February, 1938.
18 ‘Miss G’: KV 2/2159/52a; Washington Post, 4 February, 1938.
19 ‘the comparatively small’: ‘Charges Under Official Secrets Act’, Manchester Guardian, 15 March, 1938.
20 ‘with the sole and vulgar’: Ibid.
21 ‘I do not propose’: Ibid.
22 ‘the closest enquiries’: KV 2/2159/52a.
23 ‘leading pre-war penetration’: Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 220.
Chapter 30: Mona
1 ‘An organised “spy hunt”’: KV 3/391/217a.
2 ‘the most exhaustive investigations’: KV 3/234/11a.
3 ‘Honours’: Speech Day, Stamford Girls’ High School, 1907 and 1910.
4 ‘This girl is a rather’: Security Services Archive quoted in Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 182.
5 ‘it is also certain’: Ibid.
6 ‘Party work’ was so important: Ibid., 183.
7 ‘Suppose you can draw’: Knight, Be a Nature Detective, 16.
8 ‘very small feet’: Geoffrey Elliott, Gentleman Spymaster (London: Methuen, 2011), 73.
9 ‘I’ve been rather’: Burke, The Spy Who Came in from the Co-op, 2.
Chapter 31: ‘What a Very Beautiful View’
1 ‘sooner or later’: Quoted in Martin Pugh, We Danced All Night (London: Vintage, 2009), 441.
2 ‘Though willing to work’: KV 2/1280/1.
3 ‘an extremely level-headed’: KV 2/1280/6.
4 ‘as a sort of’: KV 2/1280/8.
5 ‘financial starvation’: KV 4/227/1a.
6 ‘the Ghetto descendants’: E. G. Mandeville-Roe, Financiers (London: Steven Books, 2002), 4–5.
7 ‘no officer can efficiently’: KV 4/227/1a.
8 ‘I shall always endeavour’: Knight to Roberts, 12 November, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.
9 ‘be at the beck-and-call’: KV 4/227/1a.
10 ‘The officer will’: Ibid.
11 ‘Joyce’s loyalty can be’: KV 2/245/62x.
12 ‘but I am convinced’: Ibid.
13 ‘For God’s sake’: KV 2/245/96e.
14 ‘personal introductions to’: KV 5/2/51x.
15 ‘I must admit’: 15 August, 1939, KV 5/2/135b.
16 ‘Hitler seemed’: Ibid.
17 ‘very honoured one’: Ibid.
Chapter 32: Crisis
1 ‘like waiting a doctor’s verdict’: Virginia Woolf, 28 August, 1939, The Diary of Virginia Woolf, Vol. 5, ed. Anne Olivier Bell (London: Hogarth, 1985), 231.
2 ‘excellent work’: KV 2/1280/113.
3 ‘highly regarded by the Germans’: B1a to SIS, 7 January, 1944, KV 2/1278.
4 ‘I have been able to’: KV 3/393/327d.
5 ‘very clear’: William Joyce, Twilight Over England (Berlin: Internationaler Verlag, 1940), 11.
6 ‘Defence Regulations would’: J. A. Cole, Lord Haw-Haw (London: Faber, 1987), 86.
7 ‘the biggest danger’: Bill Grieg quoted in Farndale, Haw-Haw, 180.
8 ‘secret service’ officer: KV 2/245/179x.
9 ‘did not rate democracy’: Christopher Lee, ‘M Is for Maxwell Knight’, BBC Radio 4, broadcast on 27 January, 2009.
10 ‘if I had to choose’: E. M. Forster, ‘What I Believe’, Two Cheers for Democracy (London: Edward Arnold, 1951), 68.
Chapter 33: Mrs Mackie Investigates
1 ‘Gloomy, darkened and lifeless’: Gabriel Gorodetsky, ed., The Maisky Diaries (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015), 225.
2 ‘One begins to wonder’: Liddell Diaries, 1 December, 1939, KV 4/185.
3 ‘called upon to show’: Liddell Diaries, 30 August, 1939, KV 4/185.
4 ‘old-fashioned liberalism’: Liddell Diaries, 25 May, 1940, KV 4/186.
5 ‘Our tradition is that’: F. H. Hinsley and C. A. G. Simkins, British Intelligence in the Second World War, Vol. 4 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1990), 57–58.
6 ‘laughable’: Guy Liddell, Memorandum, 1942, KV 4/170.
7 ‘The liberty of the subject’: Liddell Diaries, 25 May, 1940, KV 4/186.
8 ‘I telephoned to Mrs Ramsay’: KV 2/902/62a.
9 ‘If you could help’: Ibid.
10 ‘I made no promise’: Ibid.
11 ‘that instructions have now’: KV 3/393/327c.
12 ‘there was no question’: KV 2/245/179x.
Chapter 34: The Fashion Designer
1 ‘Yes, I think when’: KV 2/677/141a.
2 Duke of Wellington, Lord Carnegie: The Red Book, 1369/1.
3 ‘a staunch Nazi’: KV 2/840/76x.
4 ‘displaying pro-Nazi’: KV 2/840/4c.
5 ‘a fine example’: Quoted in Bryan Clough, State Secrets (Hove: Hideaway, 2005), 109.
6 ‘suddenly immobilised’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 50.
7 ‘there was little difference’: KV 2/1343/84a.
Chapter 35: The Mystic
1 ‘ludicrous’: HO 283/40/22.
2 ‘several aristocratic Russian’: KV 2/2258/92b.
3 ‘I noticed that’: KV 2/902/62a.
4 ‘the Hon. John’: Adam Sisman, John Le Carré (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 200.
5 ‘set himself the task’: KV 4/227/1a.
6 ‘a thing much to be desired’: KV 4/331/9.
7 ‘in the throes of’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 52.
8 ‘It is difficult to imagine’: KV 4/227/1a.
9 ‘practically three hours’: KV 2/677/141a.
10 ‘the little Storm Trooper’: KV 2/841/140c.
11 ‘Anna Wolkoff used to tell’: KV 2/8839/36a.
12 ‘as it was considered’: KV 2/1212/19a.
13 ‘Anna Wolkoff claims’: Ibid.
14 ‘a certain subject’: KV 2/840
15 ‘Wolkoff is in contact’: KV 2/840/14a.
16 ‘If by any chance’: KV 2/840/11x.
17 ‘the character and temperament’: KV 4/227/1a.
18 ‘Wolkoff, like many Russians’: Ibid.
19 ‘to a remarkable degree’: KV 4/227/1a.
20 Now he planned to harness: Ibid.
21 ‘suitably edited and embellished’: Ibid.
22 ‘This is not necessarily due’: Ibid.
Chapter 36: A Smokescreen
1 ‘No war was being’: Quoted in Pugh, We Danced All Night, 443.
2 ‘our time is approaching’: HO 45/24895/3-4.
3 Fellowship of the Services: Liddell Diaries, 11 March, 1940, KV 4/186.
4 ‘that Geary was trying’: HO 45/23775.
5 ‘young man employed’: KV 4/227/1a.
6 ‘that this man is’: KV 2/840/20d.
7 ‘It was a real pleasure’: KV 2/840/20a.
8 ‘with thanks for’: Ibid.
9 ‘I hope I am right’: Ibid.
10 ‘Dear Captain King’: KV 2/840/20cdd.
11 ‘pedigree’: KV 2/902/79a.
12 ‘She had some idea’: KV 2/543/38x.
13 ‘John Kent’: KV 2/543/1ab.
Chapter 37: A Letter to an Old Friend
1 ‘one of those intensely’: Malcolm Muggeridge, Chronicles of Wasted Time, Vol. 2 (London: Collins, 1973), 108.
2 ‘The sooner you shoot’: KV 2/543/37d.
3 ‘actively taking part’: Rex v. Kent, MS 310/1/1/10.
4 ‘Part of my function’: Interview with Robert Harris, BBC Newsnight, 3 December, 1982.
5 ‘bulky’: KV 2/543/1z.
6 ‘do incalculable harm’: KV 4/227/1a.
7 ‘were not being adequately informed’: Rex v. Kent, MS 310/1/1/10.
8 ‘a smart woman’: Quoted in John Costello, Ten Days to Destiny (New York: William Morrow, 1991), 111.
9 ‘pleasant, politically stupid’: KV 2/840/69a.
10 ‘if she would like’: Ibid.
11 ‘Herr W. B. Joyce’: KV 2/543/43x
12 ‘Why didn’t you tell’: KV 2/902/62a.
13 ‘I replied that I’: Ibid.
14 ‘I explained that I’: Ibid.
15 ‘I replied that it might’: Ibid.
16 ‘a single sheet of quarto’: Ibid.
17 ‘She resealed the letter’: Ibid.
18 ‘Certain arrangements were then’: KV 4/227/1a.
Chapter 38: Carlyle
1 ‘May I have this?’: Rex v. Kent MS 310/1/1/10
2 ‘our principal agent’: KV 4/227/1a.
3 ‘confidential information about’: KV 2/840/29b.
4 ‘information which [he] had’: KV 4/227/1a.
5 ‘It seems urgently necessary’: Ibid.
6 ‘close to collapse’: Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 222.
7 ‘strongly of the opinion’: Liddell Diaries, 7 May, 1940, KV 4/186.
Chapter 39: Victory at All Costs
1 ‘It will be interesting’: Liddell Diaries, 11 May, 1940, KV 4/186.
2 ‘An elephant keeper’: Liddell Diaries, 12 May, 1940, KV 4/186.
3 ‘the slightest doubt’: Ibid.
4 ‘very concerned’: Ibid.
5 ‘severely strained’: Hinsley and Simkins, British Intelligence in the Second World War, 39.
6 ‘It was a joke’: Rex v. Kent, MS 310/1/1/10.
7 ‘name like a tin’: KV 2/841/140c.
8 fifty ‘of your older destroyers’: Quoted in James Leutze, ‘The Secret of the Churchill–Roosevelt Correspondence: September 1939–May 1940’, Journal of Contemporary History 10 (1975): 465–491.
9 ‘It is understood’: May 16, 1940, KV 2/840/49a.
10 ‘unimpeachable source’: Hans Georg von Mackensen quoted in Strix, ‘The Golden Egg’, The Spectator, 26 October, 1956, 17.
11 ‘We said that as a’: Liddell Diaries, 17 May, 1940, KV 4/186.
12 ‘Action should also be’: CAB 65/7, (40) 139.
13 ‘During wartime’: KV 4/227/1a.
14 ‘profoundly shocked’: Rex v. Kent, MS 310/1/1/10.
15 ‘will act with great care’: KV 2/543/8a.
Chapter 40: The Raid
1 ‘Captain M. King’: Quoted in Paul Willetts, Rendez-vous at the Russian Tea Rooms (London: Constable, 2015), 471.
2 ‘the news had been’: Liddell Diaries, 22 May, 1940, KV 4/186.
3 ‘old-fashioned poacher’: Maxwell Knight, The Senses of Animals (London: Museum Press, 1963), 106.
4 ‘M certainly never minded’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 106.
5 ‘examined’ ‘many’: KV 2/545/128a.
6 ‘in the event of its being’: KV 2/840/57c.
7 ‘one would not expect you’: KV 2/543/22a.
8 ‘what the suspect says’: Knight, Gunmen’s Holiday, 258.
Chapter 41: The Meeting
1 ‘M. explained that this’: Liddell Diaries, 21 May, 1940, KV 4/186.
2 ‘M explained to him’: Ibid.
3 ‘considerably shaken’: Ibid.
4 ‘our policy with regard to’: Liddell Diaries, 12 June, 1940, KV 4/186.
5 ‘It seems that the Prime Minister’: Guy Liddell quoted in Hinsley and Simkins, British Intelligence in the Second World War, 52.
6 ‘mortified’ by the extent: Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Secret World (London: I. B. Tauris, 2014), 133.
7 ‘great contact’: Ex-MI5 officer quoted in Masters, Man Who Was M, 162.
8 ‘I’d like to impress on you’: KV 2/1221/44a.
Chapter 42: The Trial
1 ‘almost a major catastrophe’: Fred L. Israel, ed., The War Diary of Breckinridge Long (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1966), 113.
2 ‘might implicate the chief’: Ibid., 114.
3 looking ‘dapper’: ‘Diplomat and Woman on Secrets Charges’, Daily Sketch, 25 October, 1940.
4 ‘complimented each of the two’: KV 4/227/1a.
5 ‘congratulated all the agents’: Ibid.
6 ‘The lawyer told me’: KV 2/839/36a.
7 ‘The real reason why’: KV 2/2474/142.
8 ‘The agent provocateur’: Quoted in Nicholas Hiley and Julian Putkowski, ‘A Postscript on P. M.S.2’, Intelligence and National Security 3, no. 2 (April 1988).
9 ‘In a very mild sense’: Liddell Diaries, 4 October, 1943, KV 4/192.
10 ‘The duties of a Security Service’: Vernon Kell, Vernon Kell Papers, PP/MCR/120 Reel 1.
Chapter 43: Knight’s Black Agents
1 ‘actively ran and controlled’: J. C. Masterman, The Double-Cross System (Guilford, CT: Lyons, 2000) 3.
2 ‘was acquired in the school’: KV 4/88/2a.
3 ‘The only thing to do’: Liddell Diaries, 8 August, 1940, KV 4/186.
4 ‘I was given permission’: KV 4/227/1a.
5 ‘deplorable, both from the sex’: Liddell Diaries, 28 March, 1944, KV 4/193.
6 ‘M’s attitude to paperwork’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 66.
7 ‘laxity of control’: Liddell Diaries, 25 March, 1944, KV 4/193.
8 ‘tremendous leader’: Quoted by Masters, Man Who Was M, 101.
9 ‘We adored him’: Ibid., 146–147.
10 ‘clucked round like a mother’: Ibid., 147.
11 ‘held in some awe’: Nigel West, MI5 (London: Triad Granada, 1983), 154.
12 ‘an explorer of world-wide’: KV 4/227/1a.
13 ‘present as a treasonable conversation’: Liddell Diaries, 18 January, 1942, KV 4/189.
14 ‘had become very uneasy’: Quoted in Jeremy Lewis, Shades of Greene (London: Vintage, 2011), 297.
15 ‘what is fatal in’: Knight, Be a Nature Detective, 7.
16 ‘if you are going to tell’: Miller, One Girl’s War, 34.
17 ‘a low point’: Ex-MI5 officer, email correspondence with author, January 2016.
18 ‘I have unlimited trust’: KV 2/899/54b.
19 ‘were the favourite topic’: W. J. West, Truth Betrayed (London: Duckworth, 1987), 216–217.
20 ‘That boy will either do’: Quoted in Farndale, Haw-Haw, 48.
Chapter 44: The Comintern Is Not Dead
1 ‘In dealing with Communism’: KV 4/227/1a.
2 ‘The Russians are very patient’: Derek Tangye, The Way to Minack (Bath: Cedric Chivers, 1979), 247.
3 ‘perhaps the best informed’: KV 3/397/454a.
4 ‘He was convinced’: Harry Smith, interview with author, London, January 2016.
5 ‘Neither Hollis nor I’: Liddell Diaries, 6 October, 1942, KV 4/190.
6 ‘In our insularity’: Trevor-Roper, Secret World, 80–81.
7 ‘bewildered when faced by’: Tangye, Way to Minack, 183.
8 ‘the old cloak and dagger’: Liddell Diaries, 24 October, 1944, KV 4/195.
9 ‘the most successful penetration agent’: Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 401.
10 ‘part of the furniture’: Security Service Archive quoted in Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 401.
11 ‘Pied Piper’: Quoted in Sisman, John Le Carré, 130.
12 ‘a tweedy, unscalable English’: Le Carré, A Perfect Spy, 273.
13 ‘a handsome English warlord’: Ibid., 277.
14 ‘was country stock’: Ibid., 212.
15 ‘He was as broad as’: Ibid., 72.
16 ‘its retreat into bureaucracy’: Ibid., 214.
17 ‘desk jockeys’: Ibid., 236.
18 ‘like an old grey bird’: Ibid., 306.
