Smith, M. (2003) The Spying Game – The History of the Secret Intelligence Service This book, together with Jeffery’s MI6, describe the historical background to Britain’s secret intelligence services and briefly describe the influence of the novels of William Le Queux and of public opinion resulting from the ‘spy fever’ that gripped Britain at the […]
Jeffery, K. (2010) MI6: The history of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909 -1949 This book, together with Smith’s The Spying Game, describe the historical background to Britain’s secret intelligence services and briefly describe the influence of the novels of William Le Queux and of public opinion resulting from the ‘spy fever’ that gripped Britain at […]
Margaret Tait Flaws, Spy Fever: The Post Office Affair, Shetland Times Ltd (14 Mar. 2009) At the beginning of the First World War, stories of spies abounded throughout the British Isles. It was in this atmosphere that the entire staff of the Lerwick Post Office was marched off to prison and incarcerated for almost a […]
Stephen Wade (2007) Spies in the Empire: Victorian Military Intelligence, Anthem Press There have been a great many books written on military intelligence and the secret services rooted in the twentieth century; however there is very little covering the activities of the men involved in the establishment of this fascinating institution. Its origins lie in […]
Stafford, D. (2013) The Silent Game: The Real World of Imaginary Spies, Thistle Publishing The Silent Game traces the history of spy writers and their fiction from creator William Le Queux, of the Edwardian age, to John le Carré, of the Cold War era. David Stafford reveals the connections between fact and fiction as seen […]
James Morton (2010) Spies of the First World War – Under Cover for King and Kaiser, Kew, The National Archives When Colonel James Edmonds argued for a British secret service in 1907, officials mocked that he had ̀espionage on the brain’. But fracturing European relations and the resulting explosion in spy activity were to prove […]
The Second Oldest Profession – Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century by Phillip Knightley (2003) The first chapter of The Second Oldest Profession – Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century by Phillip Knightley (2003, 2nd Edition, London, Vintage) contains a description of the interaction between spy fiction (particularly that of Le Queux) and […]
Christopher Andrew, (2009) The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5. Allen Lane Contains an extensive background to the founding of MI5 / SIS and the role of spy and invasion literature. To mark the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, has opened its archives to an independent historian. The Defence […]