The Irregulars

The Irregulars by Jennet Conant

I took up this volume to add it to my WW 2 spy genre, which had been up to now mostly about the OSS, forerunner to the CIA in America and European actors on both sides of the struggle.  I'd read a bit about the man code named "Intrepid", Sir William Stephenson, the Canadian millionaire (billionaire in 2014 dollars) who in his mid forties was THE spymaster above them all. He ran thousands of British agents in America and Canada out of his two floors at the International Building in Radio City, Manhattan. He helped Bill Donovan start the OSS and worked strategically on Britain's behalf throughout the war to grow support for FDR's pro-war aims and defeat isolationists of both parties. Now I would learn more about America's own relationship with spies.

What surprised me about this book was the connection of Roald Dahl, the author of many books and short stories, most notably James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willie Wonka in the movies), and WW2 spying.  Roald was a high end 'listener' and influencer at the British embassy in DC and worked at times side by side with Ian Fleming, David Ogilvy, Noel Coward and many other well known Brits who spent more time collecting information than writing, singing, or acting during the war.

One of the best known of Roald's colleagues was Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, whose stories are  patterned in many ways on various aspects of Stephenson's 'IRREGULARS', called this by Winston Churchill for Sherlock Holmes Baker's Street Irregulars, the street boys who were Holmes' army of spies all over Victorian London.

Well researched, Conant brings to life a playboy who circles the men he wants to spy on and the women he wishes to, well... .  He's a model for James Bond so you figure it out.

Fascinatingly written, tying together the horror of war and the glamour of DC at it's highest levels I found myself sitting at the picnic tables, in the patios, smoking rooms and libraries of the most famous leaders of the free world along with Roald and his friends, seeking secrets and influencing elections, right here in America.

Wonderful.

-Ken