Spy Counter Spy Book

More compelling and exciting than any fiction spy novel, Dusko Popov's autobiography tells of his years as a British and allied spy during the Second World War. Popov, an intelligent, cultured and multilingual dashing Yugoslav, loved Britain and its values and under the codename of Tricycle (given to him because of his love of threesomes) served and became the star of Sir John Masterman's XX Committee. He had the full confidence of both Churchill (and Hitler) and supplied the German Abwehr with huge amounts of plausible but manufactured information - so much so that he became their favourite agent. Perhaps Popov's most audacious act, code-named Operation Midas, involved him setting up a "spy ring" in Britain. Unknown to the Nazis, all members of this ring were MI5 operatives, and the maintenance money the Nazis paid Popov went towards financing operations against themselves. Following the autobiography's publication, Graham Greene said: "As I predicted, Popov's autobiography has become a classic of espionage". In 1941, Ian Fleming met Dusko Popov in a casino. Popov became the real-life agent on which Fleming's brainchild James Bond was based after Fleming was embarrassed by the spy at the baccarat table. Fleming was at the time working for Royal Navy Intelligence, and had been arrogantly showing off his cash. Popov promptly put $50,000 on the table, shaming Fleming and forcing him to leave the casino in disgrace. Following the war he was granted UK citizenship and later an OBE (after refusing a Sir knighthood). He died in 1981 leaving a wife and four children. Printings: ISBN 0297768476 Weidenfeld & Nicholson Hardback (1st UK Edition), ISBN 0448116065 1974 Grosset & Dunlap Hardback (1st US Edition), ISBN 0297768506 1974 Book Club Associates Hardback, ISBN 0586042857 1976 UK Panther Paperback, ISBN 044922435X 1977 US Paperback.Read More