by MadBob

Created on: February 19, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

Agent Zigzag by Ben MacIntyre

With the release of sensitive documents under the Freedom of Information Act, it is always likely that under some stone or other will be found some extraordinary creature from the past. After being granted unprecedented access to previously classified information, Ben MacIntyre has unearthed possibly the most amazing individual yet. Meet Edward Arnold Chapman: "Today there is no trace of sodomy, and gone is any predilection for living on women on the fringes of society." Hardly a glowing reference. However, Eddie Chapman was to prove the most accomplished and daring spy of the Second World War, and quite possibly to date.

A man of natural intelligence but hazy moral values, Eddie Chapman was a criminal. Pickpocket, safebreaker, and leader of the notorious Gelignite Gang, he stole thousands of pounds in daring raids across the country, spending his loot in the bars and clubs of Soho where he gained the reputation as a playboy of the underworld. However, after a particularly close shave, he escaped to Jersey, only to be caught and imprisoned after a fistfight with a policeman on the beach whilst pretending to be a fisherman. Whilst in prison, the Germans invaded. Naturally cunning yet charming, he made a bold plan for escape he offered to work for the German Secret Service. Months of waiting followed, until one day, after several vigorous interviews, he was offered the chance to become Agent Fritz of the Abwehr. His first mission to blow up a De Havilland Mosquito factory in Cambridgeshire. However, on distinctly bumpy arrival in Britain, without tipping off his German spymasters, he turned himself in to MI5 and spilled the beans. Charmed by his manner and amazed by his ability to recall information, British Intelligence eventually took him up on his offer to run as a double agent, and so the career of Agent Zigzag began in earnest.

Sounds like James Bond? Well, it's not as strange as you think. Not only was he great friends with Terrence Young, director of the first Bond films, but also there is the distinct possibility that he ran into a young Ian Fleming whilst working for British Intelligence!

MacIntyre has revealed one of the most incredible untold stories of the Second World War, told in a genuinely compelling and often outrageously funny manner. True, it may not be the most academic study of wartime intelligence ever produced, but what it lacks in properly referenced sources and footnotes is rendered insignificant by the louche lothario at its core. Chapman is a truly incorrigible and inspirational character.

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