Month: January 2018

Wanted: Parachute Spies – No Training Provided

Seventy-seven years ago, in the evening of January 31, 1941, Josef Jakobs left Schipol Aerodrome on the Continent in the belly of a matte-black HE-111 aircraft. Less than two hours later, he parachuted into England with a wireless transmitter strapped to his chest. He injured his right leg during his exit from the aircraft, smashing […]

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Tower of London

Josef Jakobs – Agent of the Abwehr or the Gestapo?

In March 2013, Alison Vale wrote an article for The Independent, which connected German cabaret singer Clara Bauerle with Bella in the Wych Elm. The article noted that Josef Jakobs was a “Czech-born Gestapo agent”. Since then, numerous web articles, blogs and news articles have propagated that information. Unfortunately, that statement is not accurate. Czech

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An Intriguing Stage Production of Bella in the Wych Elm

Back in December 2017, I received a fascinating email from Tom Drayton, Director of Pregnant Fish Theatre and lecturer at the Universities of East London and Worcester. Tom teaches archival performance which sounds kind of strange until you learn that he basically “teaches students how to engage with archival material and research through performance experiments

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Book Review – The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain’s World War II Interrogation Centre (2017)

The Book The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain’s World War II Interrogation Centre. Helen Fry. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2017. Summary The London Cage stormed into public view over 10 years ago (2005) when Ian Cobain published a provocative article in The Guardian – The Secrets of the London Cage.

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Spooky Trees

Bella in the Wych Elm – The Mysterious Anna from Claverley (a.k.a. Una Hainsworth)

What would Sherlock Holmes do with the Bella in the Wych Elm case? Had he handled the case in 1943 when the body was first discovered, I am confident he would have used his exquisite powers of deduction to eliminate the impossible and identify the solution, no matter how improbable it seemed. Alas… Sherlock Holmes

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Book Review – Cargo of Lies: The True Story of a Nazi Double Agent in Canada – Dean Beeby (1995)

The Book Cargo of Lies: The True Story of a Nazi Double Agent in Canada. Dean Beeby. Toronto University Press, Toronto, 1995. Summary You know that saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well… that saying applies to this book! Looking at the cover, you might expect some semi-fictionalized fantastical pseudo-historical story but… the

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Book Review – Airborne Espionage – David Oliver – 2005

The Book Airborne Espionage: International Special Duties Operations in the World Wars; David Oliver; The History Press; Stroud, Gloucestershire; 2005. Summary I came across this book last year and it has been on my “to-read” list for quite a while. Unfortunately, after reading several sections via Google Books, I have decided to take a pass

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