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- Herausgeber: tredition
- Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
- Sprache: Englisch
The United Kingdom. A story based on real events. Few people are deemed smart enough to be selected and trained as a spy for Her Majesty's Government, fewer qualify. The Author is one such man, who uniquely, was chosen at the age of 16, the only person still to pass selection without an education through the university system. Andy describes his unbelievable life, from the beginning, as a child, playing in the woods and fields around his home in Maple Cross, Hertfordshire, learning the skills he had no idea he would need in his future spy world, tracking, moving silently and invisibly, undetected. His career ended, leaving him suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, after facing interrogation, torture and being stood in front of a firing squad in war-torn Angola, he escaped by stealing a small aircraft piloting, alone and injured, 700 miles to safety with only 4 hours unqualified flying experience. He faced the rest of his life knowing a dark secret had to be kept from everyone he knew. Only in 2012, when he was informed his ex-MI6 secretary had died from cancer, close to breaking down mentally, did he finally decide to reveal his secret life to his friends and family to release the buried secrets from his struggling sanity. A risky choice, one he did not take lightly, but he knew deep inside it was the only way forward for his peace of mind. Carefully written to avoid revealing any government secrets, this is his personal story, thrilling, surprising and an eye-opener into the life of, An Ordinary Guy, who truly was, An Unknown Spy.
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Seitenzahl: 417
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
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Andrew Gilbrook
is
An Ordinary GuyAn Unknown Spy
How to start, be smart, and end your career in MI6
Copyright © Andrew Gilbrook 2019
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in many countries
First Printing, 2019
978-3-7497-3804-5 (Paperback)
978-3-7497-3805-2 (Hardcover)
978-3-7497-3806-9 (eBook)
Publisher: tredition GmbH
Halenreie 40-44
22359 Hamburg Germany
Photography Andrew Gilbrook
Cover design: Codruț Sebastian FĂGĂRAȘ
Contents
1. The End
2. Early Days
3. Schools Days
4. Interview
5. Spy School
6. Starting at MI6
7. Xerox
8. Morocco
9. In Love
10. Emails
11. In another Love
12. Love And Marriage
13. The Philippines
14. Chris Curwen And Oleg Gordievsky
15. The Falklands War
16. Invitation To Angola
17. Comandante Anselmo Gil
18. Moving To Angola
19. Moxico, Not A Holiday Destination
20. Mr. Filipe Lomba
21. This Is Not Good.
22. Taken Prisoner
23. Don't Try This At Home.
24. On The Run
25. My First Solo Flight
26. Landing My First Solo Flight
27. Safe
28. My Dad
29. Four Days Later
30. Aftermath
31. My Brain Is Broken
32. A New Life In Devon
33. House Of Horrors
34. Business Is Good, Until…
35. Another Business
36. Event 1. Deep Depression
37. Event 2 and 3. Goodbye John And Dad
38. End Note
Fig. 1. Century House, London. Then headquarters of MI6
Fig. 2. The author water-skiing at Willen Lake, Milton Keynes.
Fig. 3 Unusable bridge, we dropped down into the dry riverbed, but if it rained this would become unpassable.
Fig. 4 The watch tower, two guards seemed unaware I was there. Photograph taken from the cover of trees
Fig. 5 As I took off it was pure luck this photograph came out as it did, the arrow in the picture showing the door of the room where I was held captive.
1. The End
Isquint against the morning sunlight as I stagger out into the fresh air after days in the dark interrogation room, my hands bound behind me, my legs struggling to support me. One of the three black men guarding me shoves me in the back to keep me moving. He shouts something in Chokwe, the local language in the province of Moxico, the eastern extremity of Angola. Another shove forces me to the right. After days of brutal beatings, I am covered with bruises, but their blows no longer hurt. I'm in a bad way.
I had identified the head interrogator as a Russian foreign operations and intelligence professional, probably SVR or GRU, but he hadn't cracked me. I had stuck to my story as being a member of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM) team, which, while technically true, served only as a cover to my real mission. Somehow, though, he knew my real identity as an officer of the UK's Intelligence Service, MI6. But how did he know? I'm not going to find out – in a few minutes I will be dead.
I'm being marched into the woods nearby, far enough in so that the smell of my rotting body won't offend the occupants of this camp. I am to be shot and left for the animals to squabble over for breakfast. These human animals won't bother digging a grave; this country is too uncivilised for that. They are laughing, still drunk and high after a night of drinking Cuca beer and chewing khat. I keep walking toward my death.
Four hundred yards from the camp, we reach a small clearing. A hand grabs my filthy bloodstained shirt collar and yanks me to a halt. One of the men shoves me around to face them and pushes me backward, against a tree. I stand, looking at them enjoying their cigarettes, I hope they can shoot straight and make my end quick. I settle back against the tree as my thirty-three years on this earth flash before my eyes.
I don't want to die here. My daughter is only a year old. I want to see her grow up. I want to see my wife Julie again.
I lean into the tree, my bound wrists press against the rough bark. Almost immediately, a stinging ant bites the base of my thumb. Fuck it! Is there anything in this country that doesn't cause pain and discomfort? Even though I'm about to die, I shake my hands to rid myself of this biting nuisance.
Cigarettes finished, the three begin to prepare their weapons, pulling back the bolts of their AK47s.
This is it. I'm going to die in just a few seconds, no rescue, no help.
Go on. Do it! Do it NOW!
2. Early Days
My childhood was quite normal I think. I was born in London 23rd October 1955. My first real memories are of the day my parents and brother Steven, two years older than myself, moved home in 1959. We got lost on the way to Maple Cross near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. I couldn't believe my Dad didn’t remember where our new house was. Once we did find our street and house our furniture and belongings didn't arrive until the next day. A neighbour was kind enough to lend us some blankets and we all slept on the floor in our new home, a three bedroom semi-detached house, with a nice large 100 feet long garden. Maple Cross was built to accommodate an overflow population from London, most people either commuted or found new jobs when they moved there. Now it is just inside the M25 circular road around London.
I loved living in the countryside, I spent most of my days playing in the fields and woods, and in those days there was little traffic so the kids of the village could quite safely play in the streets. With my friends we would build tree houses, come autumn we’d make castles in the fields from the straw bales, light fires and make camps in the woods nearby. One friend and I used to spend hours, if not days teaching ourselves how to follow animal tracks, working out how to move silently through the trees so as not to scare the birds and animals away. All good stuff that would pay dividends later, once I became an intelligence officer, where being the invisible man was often an essential skill.
My parents didn't ever have a lot of money to spare. My father at that time worked for the Royal Insurance Group in Acton, and my mother was a housewife, but soon my Dad would start his own business when the Royal Insurance moved to Liverpool, my Dad didn’t want us to live in a big city.
By the time I left school, I'd never been to a restaurant or knew how to write a cheque and pay bills. Most times I was shipped off to my grandparents when Mum and Dad went away on holidays, so I never travelled. All my friends seemed to have the latest toys, I rarely did. In the summer my friends would go on day trips to the coast in a big neighbourhood group, we never joined them. On those occasions I'd just take myself off to the woods alone, moving quietly, to get close to the multitude of birds and animals one could never normally get near. I remember one time I managed to get within 30 feet of a large stag deer, before it saw me. It stood staring at me for a bit before walking away without alarm or panic. I'd learn how to snare birds, prepare and cook them on a small fire rather than walk all the way home for lunch. I spent many hours teaching myself how to shoot air-rifles, fixing and zeroing the telephoto sight. I think I became quite expert, I could hit an ice lolly stick at 60 feet with a .22 rifle.
Many weekends and school holidays were spent finding and cutting off pram wheels and making what we called trolleys, charging down our street with bows and arrows that we had made ourselves, firing at each other playing Cowboys and Indians. I wouldn't say we were feral kids, but we did do a little vandalism, for no real reason other than we could, and always get away with it. In those days many sheds and garages had roofs of asbestos corrugated sheeting. We discovered if you threw pieces onto a bonfire in a short while it would explode. I'm sure that would be a practice well and truly frowned upon these days.
I learnt the difference between rich and poor, as just a few miles away was the stockbroker belt of Chorleywood and private estates such as Loudwater and Heronsgate. The big houses and posh new cars in those areas let me know there was always people much better off than our family and that those types rarely mixed with the likes of us living in the council estates at Maple Cross. My street though, the houses were mostly owned and mortgaged properties with a few at the bottom of the street privately rented.
I did complete my childhood without breaking any bones falling out of trees or drowning in the gravel pits that stretch for miles from Rickmansworth to Denham. In those days before they all became private fishing lakes, we could witness Pike taking ducklings, grass snakes, and catch sticklebacks or nine eyes in the streams that fed the watercress beds in West Hyde.
3. Schools Days
I started my education at West Hyde School but then soon moved when it closed, into the newly built Maple Cross JMI at the end of my street. I didn't like it much, I hated being stuck indoors. I did occasionally become spelling king or won gold stars in the weekly maths tests. My best times though were when I was in Miss Willox's class. She was a large formidable woman, and very strict. When she sat at her desk at the front of the class, she always sat legs open and one could see her knee-length bloomers - not a pretty sight. I realise now, that despite her slaps and "chivvies" as she called them, she was actually a very good teacher. She was a keen ornithologist too. There were a few of us that could visit her home in Heronsgate at weekends even, to watch and learn all the birds in her garden. Around Maple Cross, we could see some quite rare birds, Tree-creepers, Bee-Eaters, even a Ring Ouzel to name just a few.
The Headmaster Mr. Naylor or "Naggy" Naylor, as we called him, was also a good man and teacher. He wrote plays for school productions. I can still remember the words and story-lines of a few even now. One year I invented a new Christmas decoration made by bending two coloured paper straws into triangles, tying them together with cotton so that they formed a six-pointed star, He was so impressed he got the entire school to make one each and hang them on the school Christmas tree. I think I was always more practically minded than academic, although I didn't really struggle with maths or English. We weren't taught languages at junior school, something I found to be a disadvantage later in secondary school. In sport, I was the only boy that could stand on his head. Parent's days were often entertained by my gymnastic demonstration. One year I stood on my head with my legs apart, while other kids dived between my open legs, landing with a somersault on the mat behind. Something my mother later said caused her to break into a sweat watching. At the time I didn't understand why, I think I do now.
One year we had an exchange teacher from New Zealand, Mr. Gundy. He knew nothing about maths, we spent the entire year learning everything New Zealand. He was a great guy and made a lasting impression on me, I think I can still sing "Pokarekare Ana" or "Now is the Hour" in Maori some fifty-five years later.
Because of my birth date, I and a few others had to stay in the top class for two years, as the cut-off date for moving up to secondary school was September. This meant we became more like school prefects and having to learn things twice meant we did well in exams to grade us for next school. In the end, I was offered the option of taking the eleven plus exam, I passed and I was told my next school would be Rickmansworth Grammar School. I didn't want to go there at all. I knew I wouldn't do well there, plus all my best friends were going to William Penn Secondary School, Mill End. I wanted to be with my friends. A few other kids were also going to "Ricky" Grammar, but I hardly knew them.
September 1967 I started my life as a "Grammar Grub". My parents couldn't afford the school uniform. In a second-hand shop mum found a green blazer for me. It was a lighter green to the correct uniform, so I stood out as different right from the start. I certainly felt different.
By now I had a reputation for being a bit of a fighter, word had got around to the other kids, so no one ever tried to bully me for being different. Realistically, I didn't fight anyone just for the sake of it. I hated bullies, still do, and would never take any nonsense from them. In fact, my reputation grew while at Junior School, anyone being bullied seem to come to me, point out the bully and I would sort them out street style. Once the bully knew I was looking out for the poor kid being harassed by them they tended to leave them alone. I certainly knew I couldn't win every fight, but I would make sure the bully would feel some pain before I'd get whooped myself. I just never showed fear and they knew I'd get stuck into them. I had a big fight one day with the toughest kid in school. I couldn't beat him, but he couldn't get me to surrender either. Despite getting hurt myself, I had hurt him enough to admit to others I was a tough cookie. From then on they gave me respect and my word alone was enough to stop any other kids getting bullied if they asked for my help.
I remember one rainy day our P.E. lesson had to be in the gym. Our teacher Mr. Barret, a short man as wide as he was tall and muscles everywhere, decided we would have a wrestling competition. Two boys would enter a circle of mats, the first to get pushed or thrown out of the circle lost the match. Each boy was partnered with another about the same size and weight - except me. I was partnered with the tallest and fittest boy in our year, Ralph Carpenter. Apparently, my fighting reputation had reached even the staff at this school. Mr. Barret was obviously expecting big things of me. On the whistle, I ran straight at Ralph, who grabbed me by my rugby shirt collar, spun me around a couple of times, let go and I flew out of the ring. Mr. Barret looked less disappointed when I stood up laughing after my flight and crash landing. I think my reputation dropped a couple of points but I survived.
I enjoyed P.E., but I seemed to have stopped growing, which put me at a disadvantage in rugby. We weren't permitted to play football as Mr. Barret thought the game was for wimps, which may be true. So I alternated between rugby and hockey playing in either team at away games just to make up numbers it seemed to me. Even though I played in most home and away games, I was never awarded a cap. The cap system was never explained to me and to this day I don't know what I had to do to be awarded one. Lads that I had played alongside in the same team all filed up to the stage in assembly to be applauded and awarded a cap, yet I was always left out. I don't understand why, what didn't I do?
We never won any inter-school sports, simply because for some reason we always played the year above us, so in the second year, we played another school's third year. None of us could understand why, and we became quite despondent about it. So instead of trying to win, as a team, we would pick out someone from the opposing team that we didn't like the look of, and, each of us did our best to have a go at ripping the shirt off the lads back. Some of our victims ended the game with almost no shirt left. It was the only way we could get any pleasure from our losses with scores such as 84-12, quite humiliating.
Sports days in the summer, I was quite good at athletics, I seemed to be good at sprints and long distance running. One year I even won the triple jump by one centimetre from the favourite boy. I was also pretty good at javelin, but gave it up after a practice session, when I did my usual run-up, as I concentrated on hitting the mark for the throw, I lost control of the javelin which had turned ninety degrees and as I put all effort into the launch throw, it hit me with a huge whack on the back of my head, pretty much knocking me unconscious, I executed a perfect face-plant into the ground and the spear landed point down, still in my hand about half an inch from my ear. I never threw another one ever again.
As for cricket, forget it.
In my second year at "Ricky" School, we were placed in Maths forms according to our grade after the end of year exams. I was in the bottom grade, yet because the teacher was so good and I liked her, I did quite well. Unlike other maths teachers, she took time to help individuals that struggled with certain aspects of the subject. My favourite subject was Physics because it is mostly practical logical stuff. In chemistry, I just couldn't grasp chemical formulae at all, I didn't get it and no one bothered to help. Biology was ok, the teacher was hateful, but she was quite young and always wore very short skirts. In languages, it was compulsory to learn French. I didn't like French, mainly because I never saw the point and the teacher was quite hateful. He could clearly see I was not trying, so his tactic seemed to be to do anything to humiliate me and make me feel useless. He didn't have to try hard. I was, however keen to learn German. I had an uncle, an ex-para that I liked, he lived in Germany, and while stationed there he had met and married a German girl. Quite something in those days, so many people still had strong memories of the war, his parents, my grandparents were firmly against it. Anyhow, I liked Uncle Peter and his wife at the time Ziggy. I always thought one day I would like to visit them in Bünde, so I wanted to make some effort to learn the language. I asked the school language department head if I could give up French and learn German instead. The answer I got was, "As I was rubbish at French I would be rubbish at German too and they didn't want to waste time with me". Always encouraging my teachers! So I bought some books of my own and taught myself. I did get to visit Peter and Ziggy in Germany. I travelled over with Peter by car and came back all the way from Bielefeld by bus alone, at 14 years old and never having travelled abroad before. I was put on the bus with no food or water for a 24-hour journey, to be met in London starving hungry and dehydrated by Mum and Dad, who showed little concern for my plight. But the German language I picked up in those two weeks have stuck with me, and I was quite capable of helping my two daughters when they were at school with their German homework.
The third year at secondary school is always the year kids get naughty and a little cocky, the year most pupils either get caned or expelled. I think only one pupil in my year was expelled, after being caned. I recall that he was caught smoking, with quite possibly not 100% tobacco in his cigarette, he was that type. A nice guy, a bit rough around the edges, but popular, and I remember several girls crying after hearing the news. This year was also the year I started to play up too. I realised I stood no chance of ever getting good grades in any exams. My parents had the attitude that university was a waste of time and that everyone should get to work to earn money. So I felt I had nothing to aim for.
Because of the distance I lived from school, I had to catch a bus at about 6am, as the next one would arrive with about ten minutes to spare before the start of classes. If the bus was late, so would I be, and the detention for that was never appreciated, as I felt it wasn't my fault. Jo Franek and I came up with a plan. A classmate and very good friend, who lived in Chorleywood in a huge house had the same problem. He had to catch a train first to Rickmansworth with all the commuters on the Metropolitan line, then catch a bus to the school. So we decided to arrive early to avoid these problems. This meant we got to school about 7am a little uncomfortable on cold wet days. So, before we left school the day before, we would leave a window in our ground floor classroom slightly ajar. We could then climb in and sit in the warm doing our homework. We never did anything wrong or bad, we just wanted shelter and spent the time productively. Jo was way better than me at school work. So he did his work and I would copy. After a while, the prefects patrolling inside the school would catch us in our classroom, which was a big no no before 9am. We would get caught and thrown out into the cold and rain. So we took to hiding in the classroom cupboard. This was quite large, there was even a desk and chair in there so that during the day sixth formers could sit and do extra studies. Our classroom was in the French department, so I assume these sixth formers were studying French. Eventually, the school caught on that we were leaving the window ajar, and the janitor would come after we left at the end of the day and close the window. We thought we could outwit him by leaving a window open on the first floor, in the geography department. We'd climb a drainpipe to a flat roof above some cloakrooms, then another drainpipe up to the window. Here we'd have to do a leap of faith from the drainpipe and grab the window frame. Once we had a good grip let go with one hand, with the other open the window fully and climb in. From here after closing the window, creep downstairs and into our classroom and into the cupboard. Because the downstairs window was being locked, the janitor had no idea of our new route in. Until, one day, Jo, after doing the leap of faith, hauled himself too enthusiastically up into the not quite so open window, and cracked his head on the window frame, causing him to fall. He had a severe cut on his head, with no one around yet, there wasn't anyone I could call for help. In those days mobile phones hadn't been invented yet so Jo lay on the cold floor a long time bleeding before help did arrive. Later that day, I was interrogated by my form teacher as to what we were doing. He didn't seem to understand we were just cold, wet, did no damage or harm and simply got on with some work each morning. We didn't get into trouble for it though. It was deemed Jo had suffered enough, but it had to stop.
April Fool's Day that year was hilarious. All five classes in my year got up to such funny tricks, all harmless and well planned. I think the teachers got it, and some even managed to laugh along. I remember the class next to mine, the boys removed all the screws from the door hinges, so they fell in when the teacher opened them. In my class, most of the kids were more of the nerdy type and weren't quite so bothered. But I didn't let the class down. I asked one of my classmates a few days earlier to help. He was particularly good at chemistry. On the day, he produced, as requested, an amount of 2,4 dinitrophenylhydrazine or 2,4-DNPH a yellowy red chemical. This is a chemical often used in school A-level practicals, some schools stocked it. It's used to identify organic carbon-based compounds called aldehydes and ketones. Dry 2,4-DNPH is friction and shock sensitive. For this reason, it's supplied damp or 'wetted' when a school purchases it from a chemical supplier. It's important that it's kept wet, so the storage advice is to keep it in a sealed container, which is itself kept in an outer container filled with a small amount of liquid. If the chemical is allowed to dry out, there is a risk of a small fire or explosion. Johnathon brought it to school in a jar inside a jar. The jar inside suspended by elastic bands so that it wouldn't bump and the inner jar was filled with a fluid to keep the chemical wet. I thought it was a very clever homemade design. Johnathon gave me the jars and wanted nothing more to do with the caper. Just before our English lesson and before the others entered, I got into the classroom opened the jars and spread the chemical around the classroom, some on the window sills and quite a bit around the teacher's desk and floor. Mr. Daykin our English teacher, began the class. As the grains dried, the window sill first as it was in the sunlight, started to explode. In small amounts it sounded like cap guns going off with a crack. I could see Mr. Daykin becoming more and more annoyed and agitated by the noises. Eventually, he shouted "All right, who's got the cap gun". Everyone looked around at each other as only I knew what it was. Crack! Another went off. Everyone was puzzled. "Alright Gilbrook" he said to me, "Outside". I had to go stand outside the classroom. Of course, the cracks didn't stop so he couldn't be sure it was me. I felt a little indignant that he chose me as the culprit, correctly of course, but with no evidence. The little explosions were going off all day, in fact, a few still next day. I never owned up to it, but I learnt a huge lesson. Never stand out from the crowd. While everyone in the room was looking mystified as to what was going on, I was the only person laughing, that's why I was singled out, even with no proof of guilt.
Standing outside the classroom was a dangerous place to be. The Headmaster, Mr. Morrill, would often patrol the corridors. Anyone found stood outside, must have been naughty, resulting in some kind of punishment. I saw him coming further down the corridor. By the time he reached me, he found me staring into my locker opposite the classroom looking most forlorn. Asking what I was doing outside the classroom, I proclaimed the contents of my locker had been stolen and my books and equipment had gone. I had simply emptied it into another, as in those days the lockers were wooden with no locks. It was a major crime, to steal from a locker. Anyhow, seeing how I was so upset (great acting on my part), he took me back into the classroom and instructed Mr. Daykin to find me some new books and everything I needed to resume class. My teacher was red-faced fuming at being reprimanded. From that day forward it was a hate, hate relationship. He never really bothered to teach me anything more, and would only speak to me if he thought it was a question or something I didn't know, in an attempt to humiliate me. I didn't care, the other kids in the class took sympathy on me, always showing concern that this teacher would always pick on me, for some reason, I happily took the sympathy.
Outside school, at the age of fifteen, Jo, from school, and I taught ourselves to drive. Jo did a lot of car maintenance for his family, one of his sisters had bought a Fiat 500. After working together doing whatever repairs we had to do, of course the car would need to be road tested. Jo would normally drive, but one time, on a road that crossed Chorleywood Common he offered to let me have a go. It wasn't so difficult, except that model of car didn't have synchromesh gears. To anyone that doesn't know, in a normal car these days, when using gears, cars have a gear box that can move up and down gears without any crunching. Simply stated, a synchronous transmission matches engine speeds to the rpm's of the gearbox so that as the clutch moves the throw-out bearing the two engaging gears will mate smoothly without grinding. In the Fiat 500 the gears have to match for speed before you can slip into the lower gear, a method called double declutching. It took a little practice but I got it quite quickly. Neither of us had a license or insurance.
After school, a few days per week, I would go work for a few hours with my father at his new business, a printing company. This gave me enough money to buy a motorbike. A Honda 50. With no clutch it was easy to drive. The school wouldn't allow me to ride to school, so I rode from home and left it at the back of a shop just opposite school, where the owner, Michael Thame a friend of my father, gave me permission to park.
As I approached the age where I could leave school, I decided I would quit at the earliest opportunity. My mock 'O' level exams had gone badly, and it was clear to me I could never pass anything and I was wasting time at a Grammar School. It seemed to me that if you were a high flyer and destined for university, you got all the help you needed. For someone like me, not stupid, but practically minded, there was only humiliation and the total lack of any care by the faculty. There were a few teachers I really did like, but to continue was pointless in my mind. My mock 'O' results were a joke. In French, my friend Jo managed to pass his paper to me to copy. I copied the lot. He got a result of 84%, I got 2%. Apparently, I'd written each answer one line down, so got all the right answers in the wrong place. 2% was for getting my name correct I think.
I told Mum and Dad I wanted to leave school. They, for some reason were against it. I didn't understand this as it was clear they were against further education and wanted me to work to bring money into the house. I was flummoxed by this attitude. I think it was the shame of me failing while all the other kids around were aiming high. They refused to write a letter for me to the school to say I was leaving. It was left to me to do it myself. I decided to speak to the teachers personally. I went to my form teacher Mr. Drew first. I told him I was going to leave the day I was legally permitted at 16. He told me that this was the best thing I'd done since I got here. Next, I went to my Physics teacher who I did like. He tried to persuade me to stay, but I explained it was pointless coming for just one lesson, it wouldn't get me anywhere. He was sad to see me go. My Maths teacher, a lady I liked a lot, did have the patience to get some of the harder subjects into my head. I did appreciate her efforts. She actually cried when I told her I was leaving. All the rest could hardly speak to me and gave me no encouragement to stay. Finally, I went to the Headmaster to tell him I'd spoken to all the teachers that needed to be told, and it seemed fairly unanimous that it was better I left, to allow the others that wanted to learn to get on with it, without mini explosions going on around them. He asked me what I was going to do. I told him that I had little idea what I was capable of doing, but that I was probably going to help my Dad, who was just starting up a printing business. It wasn't planned, but I had to say something. He asked me if I had ever thought of working for my country. I had no idea what he was on about, so replied that, as I was going to have to pay taxes I would probably be working for them all my life. I added that if he had any idea himself what he thought would suit me I'd appreciate the advice. He said he thought he had a good career in mind for me and that he would check a few things and would write to me shortly.
As it turned out, a letter arrived at home for me quite soon after, inviting me to an interview in London. Not saying much more than that, as the letter seemed quite official it did intrigue me.
So I went.
4. Interview
On November 23rd, 1971 I travelled from Rickmansworth Station to Lambeth North Station, London, a journey of about an hour with one change at Bakers Street Station to the Bakerloo Line. My destination was Century House, 100 Westminster Bridge Road, the then home of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6.
The letter I received, following the school resignation chat with my Headmaster, gave me brief instructions on how I should keep my business with SIS secret, but that I may tell my closest family or spouse what I was doing. I chose not to tell anyone, as I felt sure there was no way, I would pass the interview, thus save some face and not disappoint my parents again. The dress code was "grey man" smart. I didn't really know what this meant, I had no grey clothes at all, nothing other than jeans, as I never went anywhere 'posh'. I decided the best option was school trousers, school shirt, grey tie, and shoes, with a kind of black cotton/denim jacket for warmth against the November cold. In those days November was cold, there was often a frost lasting most of the day, we don't get cold weather like that these days in England.
I found the entrance quite easily, but as I had allowed far too much time to travel to London as I hate being late, I decided to wander around outside for a while until a more suitable time for my appointment to enter the building. About 400 yards away, opposite the station, down Kensington Road, is the Imperial War Museum. I walked there in just a few minutes, I didn't go in, outside the front gate was an ice cream van, I bought an ice cream cone to stop the beginnings of hunger pangs. I ate while looking at the two big guns in the garden facing out from the entrance of the building before returning to Century House.
Fig. 1. Century House, London. Then headquarters of MI6
A modern looking 22 story building, I entered not knowing what to expect. Immediately approached by two security guys, set up on two ordinary tables either side of the doorway, it seemed to be a temporary arrangement, surprisingly. It was the first time I'd ever been frisked, bringing home to me that perhaps this place might be something special. After checking I was on the visitor's list they directed me to a waiting area, I sat for just a few moments before a lady arrived. She stayed behind the revolving bomb proof doors, completely made of clear Perspex glass or something stronger, she called my name, and waved me through the revolving door to where she stood. I thought I should start taking mental notes of my surroundings, quite rightly, I had a feeling somehow it would come up later.
The interview was surprisingly easy. After completing yet another form, more sections requiring my personal details again, which I'm sure they knew anyway, there was a very simple informal chat in a small room with another woman, presumably from HR. I talked about my interests, which at that time were few, and what I knew about the service, which was nothing. It was stressed several times that it was imperative that I always answered questions honestly, they preferred the truth, even if it was something that might normally be considered bad, such as, had I ever taken drugs, which I haven't, ever. It was thought that passing through the university system it was unlikely that one could get through without experiencing drugs at some point, it wasn't frowned upon at all, and wouldn't necessarily result in a fail today if I admitted I had tried them. I moved on to another room where there was what looked like an exam room at school. Desks in a row with papers prepared and laid on each desk, I thought, maybe others were expected, but none arrived. I was invited to sit at a desk and complete what seemed a psychological profile test of some kind. There were about 100 simple scenario questions, which, toward the end, I started to lose concentration and interest in. The problem for me was, it seemed to be all scenarios I had never faced, such as, how did I cope with someone collapsing in the street, what did I do in that situation? I hadn't experienced anything like that yet. So I made up answers how I thought I might act because I didn't want to appear stupid, probably that was a mistake. Toward the end, I started to think maybe I should be honest, and simply answer "I have not experienced this", I completed the paper with most answers completed this way. The time given to finish the test was quite tight, so I rushed through the questions. I think this would have usually resulted in a fail, but maybe because they had already decided they wanted me, I passed anyhow. I don't know how these psychological things work.
Back to a third person for another easy informal chat. The guy here wanted to test my powers of observation. He asked me to describe the man that brought me from reception to this department. I started by saying, first of all, it wasn't a man but a woman, which he seemed surprised at. I described her from top to bottom easily as I had made mental notes expecting something like this. He said he then knew who I was describing but couldn't understand why she had fetched me and not the guy that was assigned. Not my problem. He asked if I had any questions myself. I had a million. I asked if I could have a look round to see what went on here. I wasn't permitted. I asked what role they thought they had in mind for me. He claimed he didn't know, I'm pretty sure he did. But he did describe what facilities were available for staff, such as canteen, gym and gun range. I asked about pay. He did give me examples according to role, rank, length of service and so on. It seemed pretty poor compared to how well paid I thought it should be. None the more for that, it was better than anything I could expect anywhere else. It was suggested that I should continue to work in my current job until I heard more. The whole thing had taken about two hours. I was then informed that if my application was to continue there would be background checks, including immediate family and any significant others, and only then would I hear if I was going to be a successful applicant. I was a little surprised because I had thought it was them that wanted me. But then I suppose I could fail if they found something they didn't like about my family. I had to be a British National, I didn't know anyone in my family that wasn't. I left quite exhausted. I travelled home thinking I had no choice but go to work with my Dad in his business.
My Dad's business was very small, renting a garage at the back of a parade of shops in Mill End, Hertfordshire. My father said he needed me to help, I'm sure my wages put a strain on his finances. I started working for him immediately. He taught me the basics of letterpress, typesetting, and finishing. I operated a Heidelberg Platen Press and a small electric guillotine. Everything was hands-on and incredibly boring. I was paid £6.50 per week, a wage well below the normal basic rate. When I complained about the poor wages, it was explained to me that one day the company would be mine and working for next to nothing was an investment in my future, let alone help the company grow with less of a financial strain upon it. I wasn't entirely sure printing was my future as it was so boring, but I did almost enjoy the practical aspect of it, especially later, as the company grew, and we began to print using the lithography method, and more chemicals and processing was involved.
It took six weeks for the checks and processing to be completed at MI6, a letter dropped on my parents door mat addressed to me. I had been successful! I was invited, should I wish to proceed, to a second interview. I continued to hold back from telling anyone, as it seemed to me there was still a possibility I could fail.
After what seemed a lifetime waiting with excitement, I was on the train again, travelling back to Century House. This time I was interviewed more intensely by, as it turned out, my mentor to be, John. Dressed quite casually John was easy to get on with and I liked him, later in life we continued to stay in touch and often, with our wives, had dinners together. After a break for coffee, a whole mass of paperwork had to be completed, some seemed so irrelevant, and, why did I need to fill my name and date of birth and National Insurance number so many times? The formalities took ages. The mess hall was well equipped and a very busy place, but it seemed to me, was mostly secretaries and admin staff here, with no sign of any spies.
After a good lunch, which John paid for us both, he asked if I'd like to have a look around the building. I couldn't help feeling excited now, surely this meant I have been accepted. There were rooms equipped with computers of all kinds. Computers, were as yet not a household item, seeing these quite advanced systems was of huge interest to me. I had no idea of their capabilities. In those days rows of Winchester drives with the large 24-inch- and 14-inch-diameter media were typically mounted in standalone boxes resembling washing machines. Newer, smaller diameter media drives using 8-inch media and 5.25-inch media were also evident, I later found out that at that time data was being transferred from the large disks to these smaller, faster and higher capacity machines. I could tell I was going to love working with such advanced computers systems, for a person like me there would be little chance to be able to work with such technology anywhere else. Of course, I had very little idea what these machines were being used to store.
Upper floors, were corridors of offices, decorated in business-like colour schemes, not dull, but efficient magnolia or white walls and oak wood door frames. Secretaries busy at typewriters, some looking up to give an acknowledging smile, others were concentrating and taking notes on their telephones. It was obvious to me that this was a place where serious work was done. John led me down the corridors, often stopping to chat to people, introducing me as a prospective officer, everyone seemed quite happy and friendly. Working our way up the floors, missing some floors out to avoid repetition as several were much the same, we finally arrived at the top floor, where the offices were more hushed and better appointed, I was taken into one office and introduced to 'C'.
I learnt the term 'C' originates from the initial used by Captain Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, RN, when he would sign a letter "C" in green ink. Since then all chiefs have been known as 'C'.
Sir John Ogilvy Rennie, KCMG, was the 6th Director of the SIS (MI6) from 1968 to 1973. When appointed, his brief was to reform the organisation. I learnt later that it was his association with my Headmaster Mr Morrill, and, because of my practical abilities, skills at cheating, lying, apparent nerve, yet obviously not as dumb as I made out, placed me as a good candidate for his purpose.
Post World War 2, there were mumblings that MI6 recruited only those in the old boy networks, Oxford and Cambridge Universities in particular. MI6 was presented as an ever-present and incestuous web of prep schools, old-school-tie bureaucracies, and smoke-filled Soho clubs. It was said Kim Philby, Britain's most notorious Cold War traitor, was able to pass secrets to Moscow because British Intelligence was 'staffed by ill-disciplined and inept upper-class twits' - twits who were prepared to turn a blind eye to the misdemeanours of one of their own. The Cambridge 5 Spy Ring is a very good example how those traitors passed information to the Soviet Union during World War 2 and was active at least into the early 1950s. Yet none were ever prosecuted for spying. The term "Cambridge" refers to the recruitment of the group during their education at Cambridge University in the 1930s. This particular topic is covered extensively in other good well-researched books and is not a subject I want to cover here, but could be considered the reason as to why I believe I had been selected, from a most unusual background. I believe initially I was more an experiment and my expected failure could be used to prove the mumblers wrong.
It became a major worry, to the USA especially, that British Secret Services could no longer be trusted. Something had to be done within the Security Services to, in my words "lower the tone" of the establishment. My innocence in such things at the time probably helped me survive. I had no idea how these places worked or operated, I had never read a book on any Intelligence Service, in fact, I don't recall reading any books at all. The Beano was my limit. Perhaps my naiveté was a particular attribute that was being sought, after all, from the moment I would be recruited everything I learnt, would be what they wanted me to learn. My entire knowledge of SIS was James Bond movies. A total misconception, far from pistols, unarmed combat or irresistible sexual magnetism, a normal SIS officer's primary tools for motivating foreigners to do what he wants are bribery, bullshit and in certain circumstances blackmail. The only Bond-like quality a normal SIS officer will be required to show is the ability to drink heavily and remain functional, as any diplomat must on the embassy cocktail circuit. I guess my ability to think quickly, especially when I need to save my own skin, to have no qualms about telling the odd lie, were skills perfect for the role. The downside to my appointment into the service was that I had absolutely none of the people networking that all the "upper class" types had.
In order to prove the old system of recruiting for MI6 should be favoured and maintained, I formed an opinion shortly after beginning work for SIS, that I was being set up to fail.
To some extent, I have to agree with the old system despite my position. In the SIS world, there can be nothing more valuable than networking, to always know someone in the right place, or even to know someone that knows someone. The public school and Oxbridge Universities must be the best places to form your network base, after inherited networks. To this day, I have no idea what was expected to be the outcome of my employment in SIS. To my mind, and I found this out very quickly, I was merely an experiment, a joke that many of the "toffs" quite openly sneered or laughed at. Once I realised this, it simply served to make me want to prove them all wrong, my background with dealing with bullies would pay off.
I wasn't defending just myself, but in my opinion, all of my social class. I believe and can find no evidence to the contrary that I was, and still remain, the only recruit never to pass through any university or private school system. Whether that means I failed later in my career. As my story unfolds, it remains to be seen.
