UNITED KINGDOM

Biographies

H - Q

Hoe, Alan, with a Foreword by Lt. Gen Sir Peter de la Billiere. David Stirling: An Authorised Biography of the Creator of the SAS. London: Little, Brown, 1991.

Hunt, I&NS 8.4, finds that Hoe tells "a dashing story of courage and initiative." This is a "work of unabashed hero-worship ... [that] brings Stirling vividly to life."

Howarth, Patrick. Intelligence Chief Extraordinary. London: Bodley Head, 1986.

Chambers: Joint Intelligence Council (JIC) and Duke of Portland.

Hutton, J. Bernard [Pseud., Joseph Heisler]. Frogman Spy: The Incredible Case of Commander Crabbe. New York: McDowell Obolensky, 1960. London: Spearman, Neville, 1960.

A reviewer for Studies 5.3 (Summer 1961) suggests that this work "may be merely a pecuniary speculation by an exile fabrication mill, or [it] may be something more sophisticated, a product of Moscow's cold warriors; a case can be made for either view."

Huxley-Blythe, Peter J. The Man Who Was Uncle: Biography of a Master Spy. London: Barker, 1975.

Wilcox: "Account of Nicholas Dulger-Sheikin."

James, William M. [Admiral Sir] The Eyes of the Navy: A Biographical Study of Admiral Sir Reginald Hall. London: Methuen, 1956. The Code Breakers of Room 40: The Story of Admiral Sir Reginald Hall, Genius of British Counterintelligence. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1956.

Pforzheimer notes that this is the biography of Britain's Director of Naval Intelligence in World War I by the officer in charge of communications intelligence part of that time. "It includes an interesting description of the exploitation of the Zimmermann telegram." Beesly's Room 40 is "perhaps a more useful study."

Constantinides argues that although "James has written an important book on one of the outstanding figures of intelligence, not all has been revealed.... Friedman and Mendelsohn's research raises questions as to whether James's cryptanalytic account of the Zimmermann note is the full one."

Judd, Alan. The Quest for C: Mansfield Cumming and the Founding of the Secret Service. London: HarperCollins, 1999.

Roberts, Spectator, 16 Oct. 1999, calls this biography of Sir Mansfield Cumming "a serious testament to the bravery and determination of the secret services" during World War I. The author "has had the inestimable advantages of support from his old employers [presumably SIS] and access to Cumming's secret diaries,... which he has diligently and on the whole successfully followed up."

For Swain, I&NS 15.4, "Judd's is a general account, fluently written with journalistic flair and well worth reading; but it is not scholarly and footnotes are rare."

Lesberg, Sandy. The "Q" Factor: The True Story of Charles Fraser-Smith, The "Q" of the James Bond Novels. Phoenixville, PA: Peebles, 1980.

Lockhart, Robin Bruce. Ace of Spies. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1967. Reilly: Ace of Spies. London: Quartet Books, 1992

Surveillant 2:6: "A highly embellished account.... Companion book to the television series."

Lockhart, Robin Bruce. Reilly: The First Man. New York: Penguin Paperbacks, 1987.

Torrey, IJI&C 1.4: "Ace of Spies ... became the benchmark work on Reilly's life ... [but] Robin Lockhart was misled by some of his original sources.... [W]hen he wrote Ace of Spies he lacked vital information.... The portrait of Reilly that emerged ... was incomplete.... [The] latest book ... presents strong evidence that Reilly ... defected to the Soviets."

Lucas, Norman. Spycatcher: A Biography of Detective-Superintendent George Gordon Smith. London: W.H. Allen, 1973.

http://www.cloakanddagger.com/dagger: "Portrays Smith as one of the most tenacious and painstaking investigators ever to be involved in Britain's counterespionage war."

Masters, Anthony. The Man Who Was 'M': The Life of Maxwell Knight. London: Blackwell, 1985.

McLynn, Frank. Fitzroy Maclean. London: John Murray, 1992

According to Surveillant 2.6, this biography "contains little on [Maclean's] intelligence experiences." Clive, I&NS 9.1, refers to the book as an "authoritative biography." Maclean's "service in Yugoslavia with SOE ... is the centrepiece of the book." Maclean's "accomplishments will surely long outlive his critics."

Porter, David. The Man Who Was Q: The Life of Charles Fraser-Smith. London: Paternoster, 1989. [pb]

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