The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - Dennis Wheatley in World War II: a supplement

DW commits forgery

DW falsifies an instruction …
another excerpt from the unpublished portions of DW’s memoirs

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… as James Arbuthnott
languishes in Cairo

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For a transcript of the letter click here

In late 1943, Dudley Clarke suggested to Johnny Bevan that it might be helpful to exchange one of each of their staff for a couple of months so they would be familiar with the workings of both organisations. Clarke got James Arbuthnott, and Bevan got Alec ‘Fizzy’ Finter.

Before leaving, Arbuthnott express the fear to DW that if Clarke found him useful, he would seek to keep him, whereas he would rather be in London. Arbuthnott’s fear proved justified, and while happy for the L.C.S. to keep Finter, Clarke sought to retain Arbuthnott indefinitely.

Bevan was away in Moscow, so the request was made to Wingate. Wingate drafted a reply saying:

“In view of urgent work can let you retain Arbuthnott.”

He then, rather than sending it off himself, gave it to DW to dispatch for him. On reading it, before sending it off, DW inserted the word ‘not’ before the word ‘let’, so it read:

“In view of urgent work cannot let you retain Arbuthnott.”

When Arbuthnott re-appeared, Wingate did not even raise an eyebrow, and as DW put it, “Neither of us ever referred to the matter again.”

It seems that Wingate knew his Wheatley.

To read the whole story in Wheatley’s words, click here.