M

by Henry Hemming

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  For their help during the research of this book my thanks to Bernard Baverstock at the Camberley Natural History Society, Susan Benson at the Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Bernie Bickerton and Beryl Jones at the Society of Civil and Public Service Writers, Lynda Brooks at the Linnean Society, Bill Burnett of the Old Penwithians Association, Julie Carrington at the Royal Geographical Society, Lynette Cawthra and Jane Taylor at the Working Class Movement Library, Pam Champion at St Helen and St Katharine, Abingdon, Jackie Cheshire at Queen Square Library, Matthew Chipping at the BBC Written Archives, Tony Copsey at Suffolk Painters, Janet Dotterer at Millersville University, Elving Felix at the Library of Congress, Ruth Frendo at the University of London, Michael Frost at Yale University Library, Stewart Gillies in the News Reference Department of the British Library, Bill Gordon at Surrey Cricket Club, Jonathan Holmes at Queens’ College, Cambridge, Jeff Howarth at the TUC Library Collections, Debbie Hunt at the Royal Microscopical Society, Gill Jackson at Robert Hale, Frances Johnson at Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, Val McAtear at the Royal Entomological Society, Carole McCallum and Simon Docherty at Glasgow Caledonian University, Owen McKnight at Jesus College, Oxford, Emma Milnes at the Zoological Society of London, Joanne Morgan at the Daily Mail, Kate Nivison at London Writer Circle, Jonathan Oates at Ealing Local History, Hellen Pethers at the Natural History Museum, Kieren Pitts at the Amateur Entomologists’ Society, Anne-Marie Purcell at Hammersmith and Fulham Local Studies and Archives, Michael Riordan at St John’s and The Queen’s Colleges, Oxford, Karen Robson at University of Southampton, Chris Schuler at the Authors’ Club, Rowena Siorvanes at Falmouth University, Laurence Spring at Surrey History Centre, John Squier at Normandy Historians, Richard Temple at Senate House Library, Darren Treadwell at the People’s History Museum, Daniel Warren at Stamford Endowed Schools, Helen Wicker at Kent History and Library Centre, Claire Yelland and Sarah Jane at Camborne School of Mines, Robert Winckworth and Dan Mitchell at University College London, Andy Wood at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Liz Wood and Helen Ford at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, Oliver Wooller at Bexley Heritage and Archives Services, and all the staff at the National Archives in Kew and the British Library.

  I am even more grateful to the relatives of the main characters in this book for taking the time to talk, or else pointing me in the right direction, in particular Harry Smith, for his many insights into the world of his uncle, as well as Ian Aitken, Charlotte Brady, Ian Calder, John Dickson, Dominic Dobson, Anne Dobson, Fiona Gray, Richard Gray, Carolyn Hirst, Valerie Lippay, Crista MacDonald, Stephen and Karen Mackie, Anne Maude, Belinda Mayne, Penny Parsley, Neil Roach, Tony Taylor, Caroline Thistlethwaite and Gregory Wolcough.

  My thanks also to those who have corresponded with me or in other ways helped to shed light on the many lives of Maxwell Knight and his agents: Christopher Andrew, David Attenborough, Francis Beckett, Barry Buitekant, Paul Connell, John Cooper, Margaret Cooper, David Cornwell, Ted Crawford, Stephen Dorril, Richard Dove, Naresh Fernandes, Andy Goodall, Ben Gummer, George Hewson, Frank James, Neil Kent, Charles Knight, Thomas Linehan, Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lycett, Kate Marris, Lindsay Merriman, Nick Merriman, Rosie Merriman, Giles Milton, Desmond Morris, Peter Pugh, Kevin Quinlan, Scott Reeve, Richard Ritchie, Laurence Scales, Adam Sisman, Graham Stevenson, Willie Thompson, David Turner, William Tyrer, Sally Wade-Gery, Francis Wheen and Paul Willetts. I owe particular thanks to Rupert Allason, for his thoughts on the manuscript, and to Rob Hutton, for his insights into Eric Roberts and for many enjoyable evenings spent talking shop. Finally, I’d like to thank those former intelligence officers from both MI5 and MI6 who were able to enrich my understanding of Maxwell Knight and the art of recruiting and running agents.

  At PublicAffairs, I am eternally grateful to both Clive Priddle, who first suggested the idea of this book, and to Ben Adams, for his consistently shrewd and imaginative input, as well as Melissa Raymond and Melissa Veronesi for all their help, and to Christina Palaia for her elegant and skilful copyediting. At Preface, I am indebted to Lizzy Gaisford for her assistance and to Trevor Dolby, for his excellent advice and friendship.

  My agent, Jonathan Conway, has been involved at every stage of this book and I can’t thank him enough for his expert judgement and the faith he has shown in this story. My thanks also to Gemma Hirst, Katie Snaydon and Jean Kitson for all their help on the film and television side of things.

  Last of all my thanks to Dad and Bea, for taking the time to look at the manuscript and offer all sorts of useful advice, and to Helena, for her support, her inimitable sense of how to shape a story and her love. The last person to thank is my very own M, Matilda Hemming, born at around the same time that I began to write this book, whose first words may not have been ‘Max Knight’ – but not far off. Like all the most interesting characters in this story, she strikes me as being one of life’s watchers. This book is dedicated to her.

  NOTES

  In citing works in the notes, short titles have generally been used. Works frequently cited have been identified by the following abbreviations:

  1369 – The Red Book in the Wiener Library

  495-198-1267 – Glading Papers in the Russian State Archive of Social-Political History (RGASPI), Moscow

  ADM – Records of the Admiralty and related bodies in the National Archives, Kew

  CAB – Records of the Cabinet Office in the National Archives, Kew

  COR – London Western Coroners District Collection in the London Metropolitan Archive

  DOM – Domvile Papers in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

  HO – Records created or inherited by the Home Office and related bodies in the National Archives, Kew (the first two numbers following HO indicate the record shelfmark, the third number refers to the document number, so HO 283/40/22 is the document numbered 22 in the record HO 283/40)

  HS – Records of Special Operations Executive

  IOR – India Office Records in the British Library, London

  KV – Records of the Security Service in the National Archives, Kew (the first two numbers following KV indicate the record shelfmark, the third number refers to the item number, so KV 4/227/1a is the document labelled 1a in the record KV 4/227; ‘History Sheet’ refers to a non-indexed section found at the back of some older MI5 personal files)

  MS 310 – Kent (Tyler Gatewood) Papers in the Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut

  For any further help on tracking down a source or citation listed here, please contact the author via his website.

  Chapter 1: A Man Adrift

  1  ‘except for an uncomfortable’: John Baker White, It’s Gone for Good (London: Vacher, 1941), 119.

  2  ‘promising young officer’: ADM 240/49/4.

  3  ‘the inevitable tortoises’: Maxwell Knight, Some of My Animals (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1954), 20.

  4  ‘I was brought up’: Maxwell Knight, How to Keep an Elephant (London: Wolfe, 1967), 26.

  5  ‘more intelligent than’: Knight, Some of My Animals, 13–14.

  6  ‘I got her to’: Maxwell Knight, Pets: Usual and Unusual (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951), 78.

  7  ‘He handled them’: Quoted in Anthony Masters, The Man Who Was M (London: Grafton, 1986), 15.

  8  ‘unfit for’: Dennis Wheatley, The Young Man Said (London: Hutchinson, 1977), 136.

  9  ‘You can call off’: 1924 Black’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: A & C Black, 1924), 296.

  10  ‘London’s first small’: Tom Driberg, ‘William Hickey’, Daily Express, 27 September, 1934.

  11  ‘as they say love’: Philip Larkin, ‘For Sidney Bechet’, in The Whitsun Weddings (London: Faber, 1971), 16.

  12  ‘did my best’: Desert Island Discs, BBC Home Service, 28 June, 1965.

  13  ‘Some ass’: Ibid.

  14  ‘fairly close’: Maxwell Knight, Reptiles in B
ritain (Leicester: Brockhampton, 1965), 34.

  15  ‘the most attractive bundle’: Knight, Pets: Usual and Unusual, 78.

  16  ‘In a world where’: Ibid., 13.

  17  ‘completely enamoured’: Nigel Farndale, Haw-Haw (London: Macmillan, 2005), 59.

  Chapter 2: The Makgill Organisation

  1  ‘The whole of Europe’: David Lloyd George, ‘The Fontainebleau Memorandum of 25 March 1919’, in Breakdown and Rebirth: 1914 to the Present, ed. Thomas G. Barnes and Gerald D. Feldman (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1982), 43.

  2  ‘makes no secret’: Quoted in Richard H. Ullman, The Anglo-Soviet Relations 1917–1921 (London: Oxford University Press, 1972), 412.

  3  ‘somewhat on Masonic lines’: Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm (London: Penguin, 2010), 123.

  4  ‘If you talk’: John Baker White, True Blue (London: Frederick Muller, 1970), 130.

  5  ‘unique feature’: Baker White, It’s Gone for Good, 119.

  Chapter 3: Bloody Fools

  1  ‘superfluity of voluntary workers’: KV 3/57/3a.

  2  ‘the Roman genius’: Quoted in Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, Vol. 5 (London: Heinemann, 1981), 226.

  3  ‘persuade’: Peter Martland quoted in Tom Kington, ‘Recruited by MI5’, Guardian, 13 October, 2009.

  4  ‘decried my youthful’: Baker White, True Blue, 123.

  5  ‘The opinion of Headquarters’: KV 3/57/3a.

  6  ‘experience of intelligence work’: HS 9/978/1.

  7  ‘self-confident’: Ibid.

  8  ‘Information will come to you’: Maxwell Knight to Eric Roberts, 19 November, 1934, Eric Roberts Papers.

  9  ‘look of unutterable boredom’: Maxwell Knight, Gunmen’s Holiday (London: Philip Allan, 1935), 94.

  10  ‘breeding bears’: Knight, Pets: Usual and Unusual, 79.

  11  ‘intensely keen’: HS 9/978/1.

  Chapter 4: The Razor’s Edge

  1  ‘He saw battle’: KV 2/245/1b.

  2  ‘Join the Fascisti’: ‘Class War’, Daily Herald, 26 January, 1925.

  3  ‘crept like duck-weed’: ‘The “Reds” of Battersea’, The Times, 29 November, 1923.

  4  ‘chose from among’: KV 3/57/3a.

  5  ‘Pandemonium’: ‘Socialist Hooligans Wreck Opposition Meetings’, Daily Mirror, 23 October, 1924.

  6  ‘Scenes of great disorder’: ‘Election Rowdyism’, The Times, 23 October, 1924.

  7  ‘untiring in his efforts’: KV 2/245/1a.

  8  ‘little short of’: KV 2/245/331b.

  9  ‘It wasn’t a Jewish’: Hazel Barr quoted in Colin Holmes, Searching for Lord Haw-Haw (London: Routledge, 2016), 53.

  10  ‘These Fascist blackguards’: Farndale, Haw-Haw, 55.

  Chapter 5: Revenge

  1  ‘I was dragged’: Quoted in John Mahon, Harry Pollitt (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1976), 116.

  2  ‘gently, rather like’: ‘Pollitt Case’, The Times, 24 April, 1925.

  3  ‘in a great state’: ‘Glasgow Communist Office Raided’, Scotsman, 4 May, 1925.

  4  ‘a scene of desolation’: ‘Fascist Raid on “Sunday Worker” Offices’, Sunday Worker, 24 May, 1925.

  5  ‘latent spark of aggression’: Knight, Gunmen’s Holiday, 42.

  6  ‘interested in patriotic work’: Classified advertisement, Sussex Agricultural Express, 7 December, 1923; Tom Bower, The Perfect English Spy (London: Heinemann, 1995), 26.

  7  ‘secured information’: KV 3/57/48a.

  8  ‘What we would like’: KV 2/3874/1.

  9  ‘with a leaky’: Eric Roberts to Harry, 10 February, 1969, Eric Roberts Papers.

  10  ‘set my mind’: Ibid.

  11  ‘Pied piper nature’: Bower, Perfect English Spy, 26.

  12  ‘personal magnetism’: Eric Roberts to Harry, 10 February, 1969, Eric Roberts Papers.

  13  ‘an almost mystical figure’: Ex-MI5 officer quoted in Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 132.

  14  ‘Every good agent’: KV 4/227/1a.

  15  ‘He gave tremendous support’: Masters, The Man Who Was M, 146–147.

  16  ‘In the strictest confidence’: John Rowlandson quoted in Mahon, Harry Pollitt, 117.

  17  ‘a store of arms’: KV 3/57/3a.

  18  ‘one of London’s’: J. G. Dickson (anonymously) in Union Jack, 7 March, 1925.

  19  ‘well organised’: KV 3/57/3a.

  20  ‘members of H. M. Forces’: KV 3/57/58.

  21  ‘desirable in this country’: KV 3/57/6.

  22  ‘bring discredit’: KV 3/57/48.

  Chapter 6: The Freelance Spymaster

  1  ‘a shrewd old bugger’: Dick White to Barrie Penrose, 15 July, 1985, quoted in Bower, Perfect English Spy, 27.

  2  ‘makes an excellent impression’: Gill Bennett, Churchill’s Man of Mystery (London: Routledge, 2007), 129.

  3  ‘clearly perfectly honest’: Ibid.

  4  ‘one of the most’: Knight, Some of My Animals, 29.

  5  ‘the best to be had’: Constance Kell, Secret Well Kept, IWM, PP/MCR/120 Reel 1.

  Chapter 7: The Day

  1  ‘I knew her’: KV 2/1221/44a.

  2  ‘as one of the county’s’: ‘Went Christmas Shopping, Died’, Daily Express, 23 November, 1936.

  3  ‘gentlemen with Eton ties’: Cass Canfield, Up and Down and Around (London: Collins, 1972), 87.

  4  ‘in silence’: William Woodruff, The Road to Nab End (London: Hachette Digital, 1993).

  5  ‘any attempt by’: G. H. Q. Council of the British Fascists, ‘The British Fascist Manifesto’, British Lion, October–November 1927.

  6  ‘I regret very much’: Maxwell Knight, letter, British Lion, December, 1927.

  7  ‘Conservatism with knobs on’: Arnold Leese, Out of Step (Guildford: Arnold Leese, 1951), 49.

  Chapter 8: Exile

  1  ‘a madly keen fisherman’: Desert Island Discs, BBC Home Service, 28 June, 1965.

  2  ‘reasons of health’: Maxwell Knight, letter, British Lion, December, 1927.

  3  ‘to have lived with’: Guy Liddell Diaries, 28 March, 1944, KV 4/193.

  Chapter 9: Morton’s Plan

  1  ‘ten years’: KV 2/1016/1101a.

  2  ‘International Leninism’: Desmond Morton quoted in Bennett, Churchill’s Man of Mystery, 71.

  3  ‘typical old-fashioned’: Unnamed friends quoted in ibid., 33.

  4  ‘I have just heard’: Morton quoted in ibid., 128.

  5  ‘With every passing month’: Morton quoted in Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 128.

  6  ‘little ships’: Bower, Perfect English Spy, 26.

  7  ‘whose personal honesty’: KV 4/227/1a.

  Chapter 10: ‘I Can Make Things Bloody Unpleasant for You’

  1  ‘Was Major Morton’: Quoted in Bennett, Churchill’s Man of Mystery, 130.

  2  ‘a worm’: Quoted in ibid.

  3  ‘This is going to be’: Quoted in ibid.

  4  ‘make his life’: Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 129.

  5  ‘We have a government’: Quoted in Bennett, Churchill’s Man of Mystery, 130.

  6  ‘outright warfare’: Ibid., 128.

  7  ‘universal phenomenon’: Quoted in Stephen Dorril, Blackshirt (London: Penguin, 2006), 199.

  8  ‘could not possibly’: Keith Jeffery, MI6 (London: Bloomsbury, 2011), 234.

  9  ‘the danger of’: Ibid.

  Chapter 11: Olga

  1  ‘I say, old thing’: Angus Macpherson, ‘Olga the Beautiful Spy’, Mail on Sunday, 29 July, 1984.

  2  ‘Gosh, Doll’: Ibid.

  3  ‘Any woman who’: Bernard Newman, Inquest on Mata Hari (London: Robert Hale, 1956), 82.

  Ch
apter 12: The M Organisation

  1  ‘should never be’: Vernon Kell, Vernon Kell Papers, PP/MCR/120 Reel 1.

  2  ‘A showpiece for’: ‘Now You See It, Now You Don’t’, The Times Magazine, 7 August, 1993.

  3  ‘the amount of information’: KV 4/227/1a.

  4  ‘a little leg-pulling’: KV 2/1869/163a.

  5  ‘she might stand’: KV 4/227/1a.

  6  ‘Women do not make’: Vernon Kell, ‘Security Intelligence in War. Lecture Notes’, 1934, PP/MCR/120 Reel 1.

  7  ‘It is frequently alleged’: KV 4/227/1a.

  Chapter 13: Watchers

  1  ‘The agent must trust’: KV 4/227/1a.

  2  ‘A vivid imagination’: Eric Roberts to Harry, 10 February, 1969, Eric Roberts Papers.

  3  ‘best watcher’: John Le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (London: Sceptre, 2009), 12.

  4  ‘There are few’: Maxwell Knight, A Cuckoo in the House (London: Methuen, 1955), 80.

  5  ‘I have hand-reared’: Knight, Some of My Animals, 89.

  6  ‘deserted or stray’: Maxwell Knight, Bird Gardening (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1954), 3.

  7  ‘fledglings fallen from’: Maxwell Knight, Animals After Dark (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1956), 92.

  8  ‘I have reared many’: Maxwell Knight, Maxwell Knight Replies (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959), 67.

  9  ‘crawling on hands’: Joan Miller, One Girl’s War (Dingle: Brandon, 1986), 49.

  10  ‘beating out a tune’: Ibid., 50

  11  ‘soothing words’: Maxwell Knight, Taming and Handling Animals (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1959), 104.

  12  ‘the tone of the human voice’: Knight, Pets: Usual and Unusual, 33.