Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Scotland (1882-1965) In February 1947 some strange headlines appeared in British newspapers such as: “MI5 officer was on Nazi General Staff!” and “Britain’s Master Spy!”. Of course, the headlines were all poppycock as newspaper headlines generally are. But beneath those headlines lurked a story of a first …
Anton Copperlee (? – 19/5/15) One of the great mysteries of espionage is that you do not know what awaits you in the land of the enemy. Not all heroes of espionage were a success. Like troops leaping out of a trench, sometimes a spy is doomed before they even …
Professor John Fraser (1882 – 18/5/1945) Those who know anything about the annals of British code breaking during the First World War will be familiar with the efforts of the cryptanalysts of the Royal Navy’s Intelligence Division. They were based in various rooms of the Old Admiralty Building in Whitehall, …
Sir William Cecil (13/9/1520-4/8/1598) It is no secret that popular culture tends to distort history. Many people may have seen The Imitation Game and believe that Alan Turing single-handedly defeated Nazi Germany. The roles of such men as Bill Tutte and Tommy Flowers who were even more important to the …
Major Cyrus Regnart (19/11/1871 – 20/7/1921) If one discounts Sir Mansfield Cumming, the first Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6), then Cyrus Hunter Regnart – known as Roy to his friends – was the very first MI6 officer. He was also the very first head of an MI6 overseas …