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 »
For a while now, I’ve been thinking that I should (a) write a review of Gentleman Spymaster, Geoffrey Elliott’s book about T.A. Robertson and (b) reach out to Mr. Elliott to see if he has contact info for Robertson’s daughter, in the hope that she might have some snippet of information from her father’s files
Tangential Research Lead on R.W.G. Stephens via T.A. Robertson Read More »
While revamping the formatting on some of my older blogs, I came across this reference to the BBC Timewatch series on The Spies Who Fooled Hitler. The show had some fascinating interviews with former secretaries and interrogators from MI5’s secret interrogation centre, Camp 020 (a.k.a. Ham or Latchmere House). I wrote a blog about some
A Photograph of Robin W.G. Stephens from BBC’s Timewatch series (1999) Read More »
Several years ago, I wrote a blog post about Cyril Egerton Dixon, the Regional Security Liaison Officer for Cambridge during the Second World War. Cyril, or Cecil in some records, was also known as Dick or Dickie, possibly a play off of his surname. He was most definitely not a Richard, as several documents with
The Story of Cyril Egerton Dixon – Steel Manufacturer, MI5 Officer and Civil Servant Read More »
Just over 30 years ago, I discovered volume 11 of After the Battle Magazine. It included a full page spread on German spy, Josef Jakobs, my grandfather. That article was really the key that unlocked my journey to discover the story of Josef. I contacted Winston Ramsey, the editor of the magazine, who kindly gave
After the Battle Purchased by Pen & Sword Books Read More »