M: MI5's First Spymaster

Andrew Cook

ago 2011 · The History Press

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This is the amazing true story of the real 'M', William Melville, MI5's founding father and the inspiration for Ian Flemings's character in "James Bond". Melville was one of the most influential counter-espionage figures of the twentieth century. From a tiny outfit based in Victoria Street, London, the counter-intelligence organisation that Melville lobbied the Government to create is today a household name and one of the world's leading intelligence agencies. He was perfect for the job, a velvet-gloved hardman who had run Scotland Yard's Special Branch and whose career had already taken in some of London's great crime dramas including the Jack the Ripper Investigation, countering Irish Republican terrorism, assassination attempts on Queen Victoria and anarchist bomb plots. Now, with the help of recently declassified records, family material and documents that have still not officially seen the light of day, the story of his Secret Service career - including the breaking of German spy rings prior to the outbreak of World War I - can finally be told.

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Andrew Cook worked for many years as a foreign affairs and defense specialist, and the contacts he made enabled him to navigate and gain access to classified intelligence services archives. He is only the fifth historian to be given special permission under the 1992 “Waldegrave Initiative” by the Cabinet Office to examine closed MI6 documents that will never be released. He is author of critically acclaimed Ace of Spies: The True Story of Sidney Reilly, To Kill Rasputin and Prince Eddy, all published by Tempus. He is a regular contributoron espionage history to The Guardian, The Times and History Today.