66 • BOURKE, SEAN
two children could be educated in England. During interrogation
while he spent five weeks in Wormwood Scrubs prison, Bothwell ac-
knowledged he had supplied information to theGRUbut insisted it
was without value and certainly did nothing to prejudice British in-
terests. He was cleared and the charges were dropped.BOURKE, SEAN.An Irish criminal and former Royal Air Force clerk,
Sean Bourke assistedGeorge Blake’s escape from prison in October
- Bourke became friendly with Blake while serving a seven-year
prison sentence in Wormwood Scrubs for sending an improvised ex-
plosive device to a police detective. Released in November 1965, he
had maintained contact with Blake via a small walkie-talkie. After
the escape, Bourke surfaced in Moscow, where he wroteThe Blake
Escape, and eventually flew to Ireland in October 1968. He was de-
tained briefly in Dublin at the request of Scotland Yard, but was re-
leased in February 1969 when his extradition was blocked. He died
of a heart attack in January 1982.
BOXSHALL, EDWARD.The prewar representative of theSecret In-
telligence Service(SIS) in Bucharest, Captain Edward Boxshall also
worked for Vickers and was married to Prince Stirbu’s daughter.
After the war, Boxshall remained in SIS and upon his retirement was
appointed the firstSpecial Operations Executive adviserto the For-
eign Office, acting as guardian of that organization’s archives. His
value as a human encyclopedia was such that he was eventually iden-
tified in a London newspaper as Britain’s oldest full-time civil ser-
vant.
BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT.Founded in 1908 by Lieutenant General
Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the hero of the siege of Mafeking and the
author ofScouting for Boys, the International Scout Movement was
intended to promote good citizenship and healthy outdoor pursuits.
However, the author’s pride in espionage and interest in fieldcraft
aroused considerable suspicion in some, including the Nazis who
borrowed some of the principles when creating the Hitler Youth. The
Sicherheitsdienstbelieved the Scout Association to be a branch of
British Intelligence and noted that John Wilson, formerly the deputy
police commissioner in Calcutta, and then the Scout Association’s