Almost 80 years ago, a pair of reading glasses changed hands. German spy Josef Jakobs handed his spectacles to Lance Corporal William Chidlow, a Coldstream guardsman who was a Military Policeman with Britain’s Armed Forces. The transfer took place in the early hours of Friday, August 15, 1941, at Wandsworth Prison. Josef, found guilty of […]
Seeing Clearly – The Reading Glasses of German Spy Josef Jakobs Read More »
Several weeks ago, I received a comment on this blog from Andrzej Mrowiński, a Pole who grew up in Barlinek, a small town in western Poland. Andrzej is researching the stories of Jewish citizens of Barlinek and their fate during the Second World War. At the time, Barlinek was called Berlinchen (Little Berlin) and it
The Jewish Boy Who Moved from Berlinchen to Berlin Read More »
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about Ursula Eileen Lloyd, an aviatrix who encountered Robin W.G. Stephens in Addis Ababa during the mid-1930s. Ursula was a bit of a character, to say the least, and I admit to being sucked down the rabbit hole with her story! While writing the original post,
Ursula Eileen Lloyd – Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way Read More »
A few months ago, I received a follow-up email from Dutchman Ivar B. who has been digging away at accessing files on Harm Knol Bruins and his second wife, Anna Lilian von Vaupel-Klein. But before we get to that… a recap. As some readers might remember, I did a post on Bruins about three years
Harm Knol Bruins – An Engineer in Search of Work Read More »
And…. I’m back! Sorry for the long radio silence on this blog. Life got a bit hectic and writing seems to be the first thing to go. I’ve also been waiting on a few books/documents which seem to be taking forever to arrive. I’ll just blame it on Covid and supply-chain issues! I’m still chipping
Robin W.G. Stephens – A Younger and Leaner View of the Man Read More »
A few years ago, Jan Willem van den Braak, a Dutchman, wrote a book, Spion tegen Churchill, about a German spy who went by the name Jan Willem ter Braak (no relation!). The spy, whose real name was Engelbertus Fukken, parachuted into the UK in early November 1940 and managed to escape detection for five
Upcoming Book – Hitler’s Spy Against Churchill – 2022 Read More »
For several years now, I have been trying to have a look at an episode from Foyle’s War. The episode, entitled “The Cage”, apparently aired in Season 7 of the extremely popular UK TV series. One would think that the episode would have been relatively easy to track down, but living in North America makes
The Tin-Eye Character in Foyle’s War episode, The Cage Read More »
Last week, I received a fascinating comment from Giles, a follower of this blog, who is as intrigued by Robin William George Stephens as I am. Giles had come across a Sydney Sun (New South Wales) newspaper article from 1938 which featured the recollections of an aviatrix who had met Stephens in Addis Ababa (Abyssinia)
Mysterious Aviatrix remembered the “Most Interesting” Robin W.G. Stephens Read More »
Well, that was fun. For the last 9-10 months, I’ve been working through the published blog posts bringing their formatting into line with the WordPress. In the process, I checked external and internal links and I think everything is now working… or I hope so. If anyone finds any hiccups, please use the contact form
A Potential Break in Robin W.G. Stephens Research Read More »
A few months ago, I published a blog about the hunt for Karel Richter’s fiancée, Gertrude Wegmann. Without much success. I dissected the information to be gleaned on Gertrude, her illegitimate child with Karel Richter, and her New York address. None of those leads produced anything. Dead Ends? I was unable to find a child
The FBI’s Search for the Fiancée of German spy Karel Richter Read More »