Research Catalog

Agent Jack : the true story of MI5's secret Nazi hunter

Title
Agent Jack : the true story of MI5's secret Nazi hunter / Robert Hutton.
Author
Hutton, Robert (Journalist)
Publication
  • London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2018.
  • ©2018

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TextUse in library JFE 18-9450Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xiv, 313 pages : illustrations; 25 cm
Summary
This is the incredible tale of Operation Fifth Column, a Second World War MI5 operation so secret that its existence was only revealed by the National Archives for the first time in 2014. Throughout the war and even for a couple of years afterwards, 'Agent Jack' - in reality, a bank clerk named Eric Roberts - acted as a Gestapo agent to whom hundreds of British-based Nazi sympathisers and informers passed their secrets, thinking that he was sending them back to Germany. Many were put on a salary by what they thought was the Third Reich and some were even 'awarded' Iron Crosses for their services to the Fatherland; they never found out the truth. Among the secrets they tried to pass were: a tip-off about Bletchley Park; details of the deadly Mosquito bomber; complete plans of a highly effective anti-radar technology codenamed WINDOW. The larger-than-life characters who populate the book include Roberts himself, the deceptively ordinary-seeming bank clerk; Maxwell Knight, who recruited Roberts; Victor Third Baron Rothschild, Roberts' spymaster, who did a sideline in bomb disposal using his Cartier screwdrivers; Theresa Clay, the distinguished biologist who co-ran the operation with Rothschild, but because she was a woman was only ever classified as an 'assistant'; Marita Perigoe, possibly the most dangerous of the fascists, who despite having her suspicions about Roberts, continued to recruit spies for him and pass him secrets to the end of the war.
Subjects
Genre/Form
History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-291) and index.
Call Number
JFE 18-9450
ISBN
  • 1474605117
  • 9781474605113
  • 9781474605120
  • 1474605125
OCLC
958098293
Author
Hutton, Robert (Journalist), author.
Title
Agent Jack : the true story of MI5's secret Nazi hunter / Robert Hutton.
Publisher
London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2018.
Copyright Date
©2018
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-291) and index.
Chronological Term
1900-1999
Other Form:
ebook version : 9781474605144
Research Call Number
JFE 18-9450
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