LEADER 02751nam 22004453 450 001 9910136456903321 005 20251121235136.0 010 $a0-7509-8416-3 035 $a(CKB)3710000000884522 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC4783061 035 $a(VLeBooks)9780750964074 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL4783061 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr11327234 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL960292 035 $a(OCoLC)960718475 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000000884522 100 $a20251121d2017 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aHouse of Spies $eSt Ermin's Hotel, the London Base of British Espionage 205 $a1st ed. 210 1$aLondon :$cHistory Press Limited, The,$d2017. 210 4$dİ2017. 215 $a1 online resource (288 p.) 327 $aIntro -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Author's Note -- Foreword by Mark Birdsall -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- 1 The First World War -- 2 The Interwar Years -- 3 The War's Beginning -- 4 D-Day -- 5 The Cold War -- 6 Berlin -- 7 London Spies -- 8 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Places of Interest -- Picture Section. 330 $a St Ermin's Hotel has been at the centre of British intelligence since the 1930s, when it was known to MI6 as 'The Works Canteen'. Intelligence officers such as Ian Fleming and Noel Coward were to be found in the hotel's Caxton Bar, along with other less well-known names. Winston Churchill allegedly conceived the idea of the Special Operations Executive there over a glass (or two) of his favourite champagne in the early days of the Second World War, and the operation was started up in three gloomy rooms on the hotel's second floor, with the traitorous Cambridge Spies among its founders. When Stalin's Russia turned to a peacetime enemy in the Cold War that followed, Kim Philby and Guy Burgess handed over intelligence to their Russian counterparts in the dark corners of the hotel, while MI6 man George Blake operated as a Soviet double agent just across the road in Artillery Mansions. Meanwhile, St Ermin's proximity to government offices ensured its continued use by both domestic and foreign secret agents. In this first book on St Ermin's, Peter Matthews, a witness to the intelligence battle for supremacy between MI5, MI6 and the KGB, explores this remarkable true history that is more riveting than any spy novel. 606 $aEspionage, British 615 0$aEspionage, British. 676 $a327.1241 700 $aMatthews$b peter$00 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910136456903321 996 $aHouse of Spies$94459256 997 $aUNINA