British Agent

by John Whitwell, Wesley K. Wark (Introduction)

British Agent tells the story of a bygone age of espionage. This unique memoir vividly describes a time when a hard-pressed British spy service, with only a handful of agents in Europe, sought to keep track of a continent descending into war. With Nazi Germany increasing in strength the stakes were high, yet this was still the low technology age of the amateur agent. Even a radio transmitter was a rare item; while stationed in Riga, Whitwell had to build his own. John Whitwell, the pseudonym of senior British intelligence officer Leslie Nicholson, conducted his secret work in a succession of European capitals without diplomatic cover, and at times with the German Gestapo and Soviet NKVD perilously close. His story is not one of derring-do, or spectacular coups, but of underground work when every scrap of intelligence was hard-won, and when dark fantasy and uncomfortable fact were exceedingly difficult to distinguish. It is hoped that this tale of British secret service work in Prague, Riga and London, first published in 1966 and long out of print, will provide insight and pleasure to a new generation of readers curious about the still-secret history of espionage.

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 1997