View from the engine room.(The Guy Liddell Diaries, 1939-42, vol.1)(The Guy Liddell Diaries, 1942-45, vol.2)(Book Review)

Publication: Spectator

Publication Date: 24-DEC-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)

THE GUY LIDDELL DIARIES, VOLUME I, 1939-42, VOLUME II, 1942-45 edited by Nigel West Routledge, 25 [pounds sterling] each, pp. 344, pp. 304, ISBN 0415352134, 0415352150 [telephone] 20 [pounds sterling] each (plus 2.45 [pounds sterling] p&p) 0870 429 6655

Most readers probably remember the name Guy Liddell, if at all, as the Fifth Man. Or possibly the Fourth, since we remember the first three, Burgess, Maclean and Philby, but cannot remember the next one, since the name kept on changing between Straight, Hollis and others.

Liddell's death in 1958 was largely unnoticed. He only became better known in the 1980s. David Mure, who in Cairo during the war had organised deception operations across the Middle East (on our side, I emphasise) announced that Liddell...

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