Neil Gordon Clarke

Ronald having been elevated to Deputy Controlling Officer, it was decided that James and I ought to have another soldier to assist us. A very able lawyer named Buckley, who represented the Home Office on I.S.S.B. recommended for the job his brother-in-law, Major Neil Gordon Clark, who duly joined us.

He was a small, dark, rather hairy man with very heavy eyebrows. In the latter part of the First World War, Neil had served in the Royal Tank Corps. Re-joining in 1939, he had been given command of a formation of the Home Guard; so on being pitch-forked into our outfit he was, to begin with, somewhat overawed and hopelessly at sea. But he swiftly absorbed the indoctrination that it was my job to give him and later proved of great value to us. He had a delightful sense of humour and added a lot to the cheerfulness of our team.

There emerged, too, a special bond between Neil and me, because he and his brother were the heads of Messrs. Matthew Clark and Sons – the agents in the U.K. and numerous other territories for Martell brandies. We talked wine, became excellent friends, still are, and have enjoyed many a good bottle together.

He was a shy, rather diffident fellow, but could be very firm on occasions, and we could not have had anyone better for the job he was given to do. In addition to helping James and me to formulate Plans, during which he often put forward sound suggestions, he became responsible, in association with Harold, for maintaining our Fake Order of Battle. This was rather like inventing a new crossword puzzle every day; and God forbid that I should have been given such a task. But Neil handled it most efficiently.

Source: DW's unpublished Memoirs, slightly adapted for 'The Deception Planners' p 129