The secret war of a wolf in chic clothing

Adrian Weale

IF YOU’VE EVER READ ANYTHING MUCH about British intelligence and special operations in the Second World War, the name Dudley Clarke will have popped up. He was one of the earliest protagonists of “Commando” units and was then involved in deception operations in the Middle East. But the thing everyone remembers about him is that, on 17 October 1941, he was arrested by General Franco’s police in Madrid dressed in women’s clothing, “brassière and all”. This rather undersells the man because, as Robert Hutton’s excellent and entertaining new book makes clear, Clarke had his fingers in many of the most interesting pies of covert operations in World War II, and was also one of the progenitors of the “information war” which has been swirling around us ever since. Clarke was born…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2024

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