14 - NCVA CRYPTOLOG, Pensacola, Florida Fall2010

BOOK RE,VIEWBy David H. Hamer.

'The Insider's Travel Guide to 150 Spy Sites in London', MatkBirdsall and Deborah Plisko, Eye Spy Publishing Ltd., London,2009, 186 pp: UK312.99/US$25.00 fincludes air mail ship-

pingl. ISBN: 918-0-9564530-0-6. Information at'.

http ://www eyespymag.com/OK, you're visiting London and need to decide on today's itin-

erary but your spouse/partner/significant other is tired of the

tourism game and the museum scene...here is the answer if you

are at all taken with the fact that London has long been, and

remains, one of the'spy capitals'of the world.

The authors: English writer Mark Birdsall is the Publisher and

Managing Editor of Eye Spy, the world's only newsstand-avail-

able intelligence magazine, while talented American, Deborah

Plisko directs intemational sales and distribution for this

immensely popular publication. The two have written a com-

prehensive street level guide to the myriad sites in London withdirect associations with espionage, trickery skullduggery and

the full monty f'britspeak' - you may have to look that up!] ofthe intelligence world as it applies to London.

The book is nicely laid out with well-planned walks though

areas of the city, some well known and many that will be known

by very few. Each is well illustrated with, mostly street 1evel,

images of famous, and infamous, locations and accompanied by

a detailed route map listing walking distances and the approxi-

mate time to be taken...assuming a leisurely walking pace: you

may wish to take longerl Your joumey may well be intemrpted

by a visit to one ofthe various pubs, cafes, restaurants and other

attractions, whose details are included by the authors.

Readers will find 'o1d friends' among the characters that

appear page after page: some are well-known like Sir Winston

Churchill, Woodrow Wilson and Sir William Stephenson [a man

called'Intrepid']: some less famous, such as Sidney Riley I'TheAce of Spies'] and renegade MI-6 officer George Blake, who

betrayed secrets that led to the death ofover forly allied agents:

and numerous others, who lived and worked in relative obscu-

rity, such as double agents Eddie Chapman and Dusko Popov.

But it is the buildings, offices, mansions, dead-drop sites, etc.

that make this small guide book unique and allow the

reader/visitor to stroll leisurely through the locales once fre-quented by the undercover agents of the world. These includeMI-6's early locations and that organization's futuristic, fofiress-like current headquarters at the southem end ofVauxhall Bridgeover the River Thames. MI-6's 'opposite number' MI-5 is liter-a1ly that - located on the other side of the river and but a fewminutes' walk away. Fictional characters are not excluded:

Sherlock Holmes' museum at 2218 Baker Street is right there

on Map E lpage 1661.

One of my favorites: if you find yourself on Walk #1, Map A

fpage 159] make a stop for lunch at Caf6 Daquise fpage 121] -

despite its French-sounding name it was, and still is, an inex-pensive restaurant serving authentic Polish cuisine and was

once in fact a favorite watering hole for agents, diplomats and

service personael who were among the many Polish nationals

who found themselves in temporary exile in London duringWordWarTwo. ODHH2010

Editor's note: Dr. David Hamer serves on the NationalCryptologic Museum Foundation's Executive Committee alFort Meade, Maryland and has contributed previously to the

NCI/A CRYPTOLOG. A resident of New Jersey Jbr many years

David served formerLy in an intelligence role with Britain'sRoyal Air Force.

J.

A ROTA STORYContinued from page 13

and I were safely out on the street. I expected an argument, orat least a show of indignation; but they seemed to understand

where I was coming from and ushered a squiming Fluffy and

me out the garage door to the street. Under a dim street light Iwrote the check (hard to do with a wiggling dog tucked underone arrn, but I wasn't about to let go of him), handed it over, and

quickly retraced my route (with a number of checks on my six

o'clock) to where Mrs. "H" waited nervously in the car.

I had been gone over an hour and she was seriously beginningto wonder if I was going to ntake it back. When she saw me

coming with the dog she threw open the door and I unceremo-

niously dumped Fluffy in the back seat, jumped in the driver'sseat and took off.

There was a lot of reiieved dog whimpering and happy

squirming on the way home, and a few tears from Mrs. "H". Ican only recall the feeling of relief at not having to explain to

the kids why Fluffy wasn't with us when we pulled up to the

house.

Author s note: The Rota article in the recent CRYPTOLOG

stimulated my memory). I served in Rota from 1971-1975 as

DIRSUP Officer Operations Officer, and Assistant DepartmentHead.

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