Alec Finter

Another new arrival was a Lt. Commander Alec Finter, R.N. On Dudley Clarke's last visit to England, he had suggested to Johnny that it might prove helpful if, for a period of two months, we exchanged two officers so that each could gain experience of the workings of the other's staff. James was the officer who was selected to go out to Dudley and Finter was sent to us. We were very definitely the losers.

Finter was a tubby little man with a high-pitched voice and a nervous, worrying disposition. Having retired from the Navy a number of years before the war, he had become a professional actor then, on the outbreak of war, had been recalled to the colours. He was an expert on dummy landing craft and on all matters to do with Tactical Deception; but about Strategic Deception he knew absolutely nothing and was completely out of his depth. In consequence, at our planning sessions he was always raising hares that had no real bearing on the problem, and as he was an inveterate arguer, endlessly prolonging our already long discussions. Added to which he spent half the day holding interminable conversations over the telephone with his numerous acquaintances. I use the word 'acquaintance' deliberately, as he was the sort of man who had no real friends. As he occupied the desk next to mine and his voice was as high-pitched as that of a eunuch, this nearly drove me nuts.

… He was not really a bad chap, but as a member of L.C.S. he was a square peg in a round hole and to us a constant irritant and a bore.

Source: DW's unpublished Memoirs, cut down for 'The Deception Planners' pp 160,173.