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Spymaster

The Man Who Saved MI6

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About this listen

The dramatic story of a man who stood at the center of British intelligence operations, the ultimate spymaster of World War Two: Thomas Kendrick

Thomas Kendrick (1881-1972) was central to the British Secret Service from its beginnings through to the Second World War. Under the guise of "British Passport Officer," he ran spy networks across Europe, facilitated the escape of Austrian Jews, and later went on to set up the "M Room," a listening operation which elicited information of the same significance and scope as Bletchley Park. Yet the work of Kendrick, and its full significance, remains largely unknown.

Helen Fry draws on extensive original research to tell the story of this remarkable British intelligence officer. Kendrick's life sheds light on the development of MI6 itself - he was one of the few men to serve Britain across three wars, two of which while working for the British Secret Service. Fry explores the private and public sides of Kendrick, revealing him to be the epitome of the "English gent" - easily able to charm those around him and scrupulously secretive.

©2021 Helen Fry (P)2021 Tantor Freedom & Security Military Military & War Politics & Government World War II Espionage War Imperialism Holocaust
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The author has clearly done her homework, and knows her subject. Her story is well constructed, and she shows good judgement in the provision of macro and micro perspectives, so that the reader gets both the wider context and/or bigger picture of events, and enough detail to add edge and highlight. The narrator, however, while not as dire as some provided by Audible (I’ve returned more than one book on account of poor narration or inappropriate voices at odds with the tone and content of the written material), lets down an otherwise worthy book. At times he rushes words or phrases, blurring pronunciation. His rendering of chapter titles is good, but chapter sub-section titles are spoken in the same tone as, and given no more emphasis than the preceding prose, so they sound like parts of the same sentence. The stress is sometimes laid on the wrong part of a phrase or sentence, thus shifting the significance or meaning. Worse, there are several mispronunciations: Menuhin is rendered as “Men-OO-in”, pique as “pick”, Graf Spee as written instead of “Graf Shpay”, and Beaconsfield also as written instead of “Beckonsfield”. Mispronunciation suggests the narrator simply hasn’t heard these words spoken aloud, which is not his fault; but the lack of an auditory ‘proofreader’ or sound director, to pick up mistakes and trigger re-recording using correct pronunciation, is regrettable - and sadly not unusual in Audible books.
In all, the weight and worth of the written material are greater than the voice delivering it. Still worth ‘reading’, if you have the forbearance to overlook narration issues.

Fine research and writing, and a story well told; less fine narration

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Absolutely riveting listening highly recommend I was eager to looking forward to each chapter and I will definitely pay a visit to Latimer House

Brilliant

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I found this book fascinating and compelling to listen to. It seemed to be well researched.

Fascinating book

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This is essentially two stories in one; Thomas Kendrick's pre-war career in MI6 in Austria and then leading the interrogation and bugging of senior German POWs in World War 2. Both are interesting and rarely covered given that the files were only declassified 20 years ago. It fills a gap and demonstrates very careful research.

There are a few flaws though. The author tries hard to bring Kendrick's achievements to the fore but rather overplays her hand. "The man who saved MI6" is far-fetched and not substantiated. Equally, there are various claims that the intelligence acquired through bugging senior German officers saved Britain from invasion in 1943 (sic) amongst others. They detract from an otherwise well-constructed story.
This book needs some judicious editing too. In particular the narrative around Kendrick's time in Austria before the war which sometimes lists so many names that it feels like listening to a telephone directory.
Finally, like other reviewers, I found the narrator just annoying.

Interesting but flawed

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Great story that rises above its poor reading.
A must read for any student of the history of the secret intelligence service and its impact over the first half of the 20th century.
Some might argue that the analysis of the contribution this story makes to the overall impact on WW2 is overstated. Certainly it was an important and noteworthy element in the team effort of history.
Proselytizing on behalf of main character and subject of the book is confined to the Epilogue is appropriate and compelling.

Insights into the insights of SIS

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