Churchill's Iceman_The True Story of Geoffrey Pyke_Genius, Fugitive, Spy

by Henry Hemming

  Mass Observation movement, as father of 4, 167–71, 200, 430

  Plough project 277, 280, 281, 295–323 328, 333, 334, 349, 373, 377, 382, 412, 422, 424, 427, 429–30; aims of 240–1, 251–2; Amery receives plan for 241–2; American-Canadian co-operation over 312, 322–3; birth of idea 236–41; Bush opposes 313–15, 318–19, 320–1; Churchill and 242, 273–4, 277, 278, 293, 295, 305, 308, 313, 320; Combined Operations, GP attempts to convince of validity of 235–6; cost of 278; Duncan attempts to wrest control of from GP 296, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307–8, 310, 312, 313, 322, 333, 396; Frederick and 307, 308, 310–11, 312, 323; guerilla force 4, 238–9, 240, 244, 250, 251, 252, 255, 261, 262, 264, 274, 277, 299, 304, 310, 311–12, 320, 322–3, 382–3, 385, 430; Mountbatten and 235, 245, 249–55, 261, 263, 272, 273, 274–5, 276, 277, 278, 279, 295, 296, 297, 299, 301, 302, 303, 306, 308–9, 310, 311, 313–14, 317, 319, 320, 321, 322, 328; name of 277; plan rejected by Combined Operations 241–3; questions over practicalities of 264–5; resignation letter, GP’s 301–6; revised and expanded proposal 244; secret papers go missing 306; snow as military element, treatment of 237–8; snowmobile, revolutionary 239–40, 243, 250, 252, 261, 264, 265–8, 273, 274, 277, 299, 300, 301, 304, 305, 307, 318, 320, 383; Soviet involvement in, GP encourages 274–5; U.S. Army, GP attempts to convince of validity 295–323; United States role in 273–80, 294, 295–323; Vice-Chiefs of Staff accept 261–2; Wedderburn and see Wedderburn, Major E. A. M.; White House, GP attempts to bypass US Army with approach to 315–21 post-war life and death, 1945–8: death penalty, writes letter to The Times

  on abolition of the, 1947 429; NHS recruitment, involvement in 4, 394–5, 397, 429; suicide 1–3, 5, 400–6; UNICEF, writes letter to The Times on government’s decision not to donate to, 1948 398–9, 429

  Ruhleben Trabrennbahn prison camp 46–66, 69, 71–2, 73, 74, 75, 76, 80, 87, 91, 93, 94, 97, 98, 100, 101, 107, 108–9, 119, 120, 126, 153, 157, 160, 223, 293, 403–4; account of incarceration in and escape from (To Ruhleben – And Back) 100, 108–9, 128, 160; arrival in 44, 46–7, 50–1; conditions in 45; ‘double pneumonia’, contracts in 51–2, 60, 153, 403–4; escape from 52–66, 67, 69, 71–2, 74–5, 87, 91, 93, 94, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 107, 108–9, 113, 119, 120, 126, 160, 223, 293, 403–4; escapes death penalty 47–8, 49–50; Falk in and see Falk, Teddy; Jewish barrack 51, 157, 160, 403–4; life in 45; mental condition in 48–9, 52; mix of prisoners in 44–5, 52–3; public lecture in aid of 101; sends food parcels to after escape 100

  security services suspicions over/Communist connections (Pyke Hunt): anti-fascist activities promote idea of Soviet involvement 413–16; Burgess and Blunt, connections to 6, 272, 407–27; calculus of suspicion calibrated by class 288; Cambridge, suspicions aroused about GP in 100–2; chalk-shelter campaign and 283–4; classified documents on GP released 5–6, 408; Colonel Malcolm Cumming investigates GP 218–21; Combined Operations, attempts to curtail role at 6, 255, 272–2, 280, 293–4, 324–5, 326–7, 342, 387; Combined Operations, GP seems to supply details of meetings in 408–13; CPGB action propaganda, suspected as being in charge of 282–94; CPGB, conversations within over GP’s influence with Mountbatten 325–6; First World War, as German spy in 6, 49–50, 98, 99–111, 112, 113; gap in GP’s story from 1929–34 and 259; Glading trial and 208, 209–10, 257; Golders Green, connection to women in who claims to be part of a foreign secret service 208–9, 221, 416; ISC and 282–3; Jürgen Kuczynski, connection to 291, 292, 293, 326, 349, 389, 416, 417, 419, 423, 425, 426; Kamnitzer and Rünkel, connections to 223–4, 229–30, 232–4; ‘known Communist’, described as 217, 221; KPD and see KPD; Marjorie Watson, connection with see Watson, Marjorie; MI5 and see MI5; MI6 and see MI6; news agency, creation of 284–6, 419–22, 425; no charges brought against 6; Personal/Special File on, MI5 99, 100, 111, 112, 113, 122, 234, 271, 311; ‘Professor Higgins’ and 191, 203, 214, 215, 222, 223, 224, 225, 227, 228 see also Rünkel, Rolf; ‘Professor P’, suspected of being a senior Comintern official working undercover for Soviet Union as 6, 256–60, 281–94, 387, 406, 407–27; Rothschild assesses 326–7, 425–6; sounds coming from GP’s flat, members of public report suspicious 217, 218, 221, 284, 285, 421–2; Special Branch and 6, 18, 103, 189, 217, 218, 219, 230, 232, 257, 258, 281, 282, 285, 292, 293, 387, 391, 406; surveillance of 6, 287–94; Thomson investigates 104–6, 109–10; VIAS as ‘under Communist control’, MI5 views 210–11; vision of future as socialist and anti-capitalist, not Communist 418–19

  survey of German attitudes to war 184–216; aim of plan 192–4; birth of 184–7; funding of 215; Gallup and 199–200, 214; Germans interviewed 195, 196, 197, 203; GP meets interviewers in Germany 198–9; GP’s trip to Paris during 190–1, 215; interviewers journey into Germany 192, 194–5, 199, 200–1, 215; Marjorie Watson and see Watson, Marjorie; MI5 suspicions over 189, 208–9, 258; ‘Professor Higgins’ and 191, 203, 214, 215; profits from 200; recruitment of interviewers 187–8; results of 214–15; results of, getting out of Germany 201–8

  Voluntary Industrial Aid for Spain (VIAS) 171–82, 210–11, 227, 312, 414–15, 415, 430; Advisory Committee 175, 176; cells 178, 179; formation of 174; GP as terrible manger of 179–80; GP canvasses opinions on 174–5; idea for scheme 171–4; MI5 views as ‘under Communist control’ 210–11; motorcycle sidecar, GP designs 7, 180; pedal-powered locomotive, GP develops plans for 180; ‘social entrepreneurs’, GP describes volunteers as 179; sphagnum moss, GP distributes guide to collecting and distributing 181; TUC and 175–6, 177; voluntarism, GP describes as a triumph of small-scale 178

  war correspondent: American ambassador James W. Gerard involvement in arrest and release to Ruhleben Trabrennbahn 47–8, 49–50; arrested and imprisoned (solitary confinement) 38–43, 46, 48–50, 66, 109, 136, 163; Berlin, time spent in as Daily Chronicle Special Correspondent 34–43; Daily Chronicle Special Correspondent in Berlin, gains job as 22–6; Edward Lyell Fox and 18–19, 23, 34, 50; mental condition in jail 48–9; political epiphany in jail 49, 141, 286–7; smuggles himself into Germany 25–34; Raymund Eggleton, gains American passport as 29–43, 100; records troop movements in Charlottenburg Park 36–8, 39, 47, 65; Reuters Special Correspondent in Copenhagen 17–19, 20, 21, 92, 100

  writing: advertising copy for Shell, writes 157; book reviews 22; journalism 17–43, 94, 96, 235, 283, 284, 286, 287, 290; poetry 22; short stories 22; To Ruhleben – And Back 108–9, 128, 160

  Pyke QC, Lionel (father) 12, 12, 13, 20, 51, 104, 115, 118, 127, 293

  Pyke, Magnus (cousin) 5

  Pyke, Mary (mother) 13, 110, 114, 115–20, 115, 122, 157, 206

  Pyke, Richard (brother) 110, 114–17, 117, 118, 125, 138, 139, 160, 396; The Lives and Deaths of Roland Greer 114–17, 139

  ‘Pykrete’ (reinforced ice) 349–51, 354, 356, 358–9, 360, 361–2, 369, 370–1, 373, 377, 393–4, 429, 436

  Quebec, Quadrant Conference, 1943 366, 367, 370, 371, 372, 378, 436

  Queen Mary 336, 366, 372

  Quiller-Couch, Sir Arthur 101, 102

  R. & J. Beck Instrument Makers, Kentish Town 178

  RAF 290, 293, 295, 352, 410

  Raleigh, Peter 183–4, 188, 192, 196–7, 198, 199, 200, 201–2, 206–7, 212, 213–14, 213, 215, 420

  Ramsey, Frank 125–8, 125, 137–8, 291

  Rank, Otto 130

  Ransome, Arthur 22

  Ray, Cyril 244–5, 285, 345

  Reading, Marquess of 165

  Recklinghausen, Helena von 72

  Red Army 291, 411

  Rees, Goronwy 262

  Refrigeration Data Book of the American society of Refrigeration Engineers 335

  Reik, Theodor 137

  Repulse 332

  Research and Experimental Headquarters, Ministry of Home Security 270

  Reuters 17–19, 21, 92

  Reynolds News 206, 283, 284, 285, 422

  Rugby School 120

  Ribbentrop, Joachim von 203, 204, 208, 284, 417

  Rickman, John 138

  Rollston’s aircraft factory 210

&nbs
p; Romania 67, 244, 264, 272, 274, 306

  Rommel, Erwin 250–1, 352

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. 192, 275, 277, 296, 308–9, 310, 326, 339, 341, 373

  Ropp, Baron de 187

  Rosenberg, Alfred 164

  Rostow, Eugene 318

  Rothschild, Victor 151, 165, 326, 327, 425–6

  Round-Up, Operation 275, 308

  Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 121, 131, 434

  Rowe, Hartley 299

  Royal Navy 35

  Royal Tank Corps 296

  Ruhleben Trabrennbahn prison camp, Germany 46–66, 69, 71–2, 73, 74, 75, 76, 80, 87, 91, 93, 94, 97, 98, 100, 101, 107, 108–9, 119, 120, 126, 153, 157, 160, 223, 293, 403–4; account of incarceration in and escape from (To Ruhleben – And Back), GP’s 100, 108–9, 128, 160; arrival in 44, 46–7, 50–1; conditions in 45; ‘double pneumonia’, GP contracts in 51–2, 60, 153, 403–4; escape from, GP and Falk 52–66, 67, 69, 71–2, 74–5, 87, 91, 93, 94, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 107, 108–9, 113, 119, 120, 126, 160, 223, 293, 403–4; escapes death penalty, GP 47–8, 49–50; Falk in and see Falk, Teddy; GP sends food parcels to after escape 100; Jewish barrack 51, 157, 160, 403–4; life in 45; mental condition in, GP’s 48–9, 52; mix of prisoners in 44–5, 52–3; public lecture in aid of, GP’s 101

  Rünkel, Rolf (‘Professor Higgins’; ‘Blonder Hans’) 215, 225–8, 228, 229, 230, 231, 234, 244, 257, 258, 285, 290, 388, 416, 417, 423, 424 see also ‘Professor Higgins’

  Russell, Bertrand 49, 104, 110, 157

  Russell, Margaret 157

  Russia 4, 16, 19, 22, 30, 31, 37, 90, 110, 159 see also Soviet Union

  Russian Orthodox Church 411

  Rutherford, Sir Ernest 132, 140, 144

  Sargent Florence, Alix 16, 17, 135

  Sargent Florence, Philip 12–13, 15, 16, 17, 29, 140

  Sassoon, Siegfried 110, 151

  Scotland Yard 106, 350

  Scott, C. P. 197

  Scott, J. R. 209

  Scott, Joe 175, 210

  Scott, Ros 197

  Second World War, 1939–45 1, 3, 53, 181, 214–385, 387, 388–90, 391, 392, 393, 394, 397, 407, 411, 412, 417, 418, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 426, 429, 435, 439 see also under individual operation and area of conflict name

  Sektion IIIb 99

  Serbia 16, 29

  Shaw, George Bernard 112, 123, 124, 141, 163, 166, 264, 279, 318, 388, 402, 415, 419, 423, 434; Apple Cart 189; Major Barbara 301; Pygmalion 191, 232; St Joan 232

  Shell 157, 382

  Simpson, Wallis 167, 168, 169, 247

  Sinclair, Admiral Hugh 420–1

  Siona 142–3

  SIS 26, 106, 112, 187, 208, 211, 219, 221, 256, 257, 284, 292, 411, 420–1

  Sissmore, Jane 211

  Sketch 393

  Sledgehammer, Operation 275, 277, 308, 309

  Smith, F. E. (later Lord Birkenhead) 20

  Smith, Stanley 188, 190, 191, 192, 195–6, 198, 199, 200–1, 203, 207, 212, 212, 213–14, 420

  Smollett, Peter 410–13, 424

  Smuts, General 165–6

  Snoek, Moses 97

  Socrates vii, 164, 265

  Soda Springs Ski Resort, California 300–2

  SOE (Special Operations Executive) 251, 272, 273, 278, 321

  Somme, Battle of the, 1916 106

  South Africa 21, 165–6, 270

  Soviet Union 2, 6, 124, 141, 142, 152, 172, 181, 185 193, 208–11, 212, 216, 221, 225, 226, 227, 229, 232, 233, 244, 255, 256, 268, 272, 274, 276, 278, 281–2, 284, 291, 293, 294, 296, 306, 307, 326, 327, 354, 387, 405–6, 407, 408, 409, 410–12, 418, 423, 424, 426 see also Russia and Pyke, Geoffrey: security services suspicions over/Communist connections (Pyke Hunt)

  ‘Spain Shops’ 173

  Spanish Civil War, 1936–9 171–82, 183, 184, 211, 238, 428

  Spanner, Mr 345

  SPD (German political party) 226, 227, 228

  Special Branch 6, 18, 103, 189, 217, 218, 219, 230, 232, 257, 258, 281, 282, 285, 292, 293, 387, 391, 406

  Spectator, The 109, 145–7

  Spencer, Kenneth 215, 416

  Springhall, Dave 408

  St Lawrence River, Canada 349, 361

  St Mawes, Cornwall 105, 106, 107

  St Nazaire Raid, 1942 273

  Stalin, Joseph 134, 183, 228, 233, 258, 274, 278, 292, 411, 414, 419

  Stalin, Vasily 134

  Stephenson, William 297, 330

  Stewart, Janet 400

  Stimson, Henry 304, 318–19, 320

  Strachey, James 135, 137, 218

  Strachey, John: Theory and Practice of Socialism 415

  Strachey, Lytton 120, 137

  Strachey, Philippa 218

  Strauss, G. R. 292

  Stuart, Lieutenant-General Kenneth 311

  Stuart, Sir Campbell 213–14, 220, 420, 421

  Sudetenland 184–5

  Summerhill school, Germany 134

  Sunday Dispatch 282, 285

  Sunday Pictorial 217

  Superman character 374, 374, 375, 375, 425

  Tanner, Jack 175, 210

  Taylor, A. J. P. 101

  Teutoburg Forest 76, 77

  ‘The Dynamics of Innovation’ (BBC broadcast) 397–8

  THEY Lied (pamphlet) 284

  Thomson, Basil ‘Spycatcher’ 103, 104, 105, 107, 109, 110

  Time 3, 309, 402

  Times, The 2, 3, 20, 94, 108, 166, 181, 204, 215, 283, 288–9, 392, 393, 398, 399, 402, 410, 429

  Tirpitz, SS 253–4

  Tizard, Sir Henry 269, 269, 273–4

  Toscanelli, Paolo 385

  Toynbee Hall, London 188

  Trades Union Congress (TUC) 175–6, 177, 186, 415

  Treaty of Versailles 121, 204

  Tribune 181, 284

  Trident Conference, Washington, 1943 365–6

  Trinidad 353

  Trott, Adam von 194

  Tucker ‘Sno Cat’ 300

  Tyerman, Donald 399, 400, 437

  U-boats 18, 69, 332, 333, 334, 346, 366, 367

  ‘U-Boat Alley’ 332, 333–4

  Uncensored News 420

  UNICEF 398–9, 429

  Union of Democratic Control (UDC) 104

  United Fruit Company 301

  United States 4, 12, 18, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 143, 166, 169, 172, 286; Habbakuk and 367–71, 372–6, 424; Plough and 273–80, 294, 295–323, 329, 330, 351

  University College London (UCL) 188

  University of London: Department of Child Development 152

  US Army 275–7, 295, 299, 307, 312, 314, 315, 316, 317, 322 see also Pyke, Geoffrey: Habbakuk project and Plough project

  US Navy 373, 376

  US Special Forces 236, 323, 424, 430

  V1 and V2 weapons 386

  Vansittart, Sir Robert 194–5, 205, 222, 416, 421

  Varga, Professor 258, 259, 425

  Vemork HEP station, Norway 252, 277

  Vickers Armstrong 210

  Voluntary Industrial Aid for Spain (VIAS) 171–82, 210–11, 227, 312, 414–15, 415, 430; Advisory Committee 175, 176; cells 178, 179; formation of 174; GP as terrible manger of 179–80; GP canvasses opinions on 174–5; idea for scheme 171–4; MI5 views as ‘under Communist control’ 210–11; motorcycle sidecar, GP designs 7, 180; pedal-powered locomotive, GP develops plans for 180; ‘social entrepreneurs’, GP describes volunteers as 179; sphagnum moss, GP distributes guide to collecting and distributing 181; TUC and 175–6, 177; voluntarism, GP describes as a triumph of small-scale 178

  Von Aspirin, Dr 51–2

  Von Taube, Baron 74–5

  Wachs, General 36

  Waley-Cohen, Sir Robert 165

  Walker, Captain ‘Johnnie’ 366

  Wallis, Barnes 344

  War Department, U.K. 189

  War Department, U.S. 297–8, 299, 304, 305, 308, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322

  War Office 99, 112, 181, 242, 261–2, 269, 296

  Warner, Sherman 299

  Watson, Marjorie 189, 195, 203, 204, 215, 218–19, 220, 221,
416, 420

  Waugh, Evelyn 120, 243, 262, 271, 363; Decline and Fall 175

  ‘Weasel’ (snowmobile) (M–29 Tracked Cargo Carrier) 304–5, 307, 313, 314, 318, 319, 322, 383, 384, 385, 429–30 see also Pyke, Geoffrey: Plough project

  Webb-Pomerene Trade Export Act, 1918 143

  Webb, Beatrice 141

  Webb, Sidney 141, 165

  Webber, Eva 208–9, 211, 221, 416

  Wedderburn, Major E. A. M. 295–6, 298, 300, 304, 305, 306, 315, 379

  Week 294

  Weekly Dispatch 20

  Wehrmacht 219

  Weizmann, Chaim 165, 166

  Wells, H. G. 53, 91, 124, 419, 433

  Wernher, Sir Harold 262, 271, 344, 345, 346, 350, 351, 396

  Weserübung, Operation (German assault on Denmark and Norway) 218

  West, Nigel 409

  White House, Washington DC 192, 296, 308, 315, 316, 318, 319, 322, 373

  Whittle, Frank 403

  Whyte, Lancelot Law 3, 140, 403

  Wildman-Lushington, Geoffrey 249, 274–5, 293, 377, 378, 410

  Wilhelm II, Kaiser 16, 33, 34

  Winant, John 341

  Winter Warfare School, Scotland 295–6

  Wintringham, Captain Tom 286

  Witchcraft Act, 1735 163

  Wittgenstein, Ludwig 127; Tractatus Logico–Philosophicus 125

  Wolff News Agency 17

  Woolf, Virginia 110

  Woolfson, Sir Isaac 160

  Workers’ Educational Association, London 130, 188

  World Alliance for Combating Anti–Semitism 164

  World Zionist Conference, Lucerne, 1935 165

  Wyatt, Major 279

  ‘X-Group’ (GRU espionage cell) 284

  Zeusler, Captain 332

  Ziegler, Philip 247

  Zionism 165, 229

  Zuckerman, Solly 269, 269, 270, 271, 287, 345, 352–3, 376, 378

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