Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

MCLEAN, BILLY• 317

Mackenzie had joined SIS in 1916, age 33, after he had been

wounded in the Dardanelles offensive and invalided out of the Royal

Marines. He was by then, of course, already a successful author, hav-

ing made his name withSinister Street. Born in West Hartlepool, he

had read modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford, and then had

joined the 1st Hertfordshire regiment in 1900. Among his many later

literary successes were Extraordinary Womenand the comedy

Whisky Galore, which was based upon the true story of the wreck of

a freighter loaded with a cargo of whisky during World War II. After

the war, which Mackenzie spent on the island of Barra, he helped one

of his former subordinates,Wilfred Macartney, publish the story of

Eddie Chapman, the MI5double agentcodenamedzigzag, but the

enterprise failed. Macartney had been convicted of espionage on be-

half of the Soviets in 1928 but this misfortune did not prevent Mac-

kenzie from giving him his support when he attempted to publicize

Chapman’s remarkable story.

Always willing to back unpopular causes—he was one of the few

to backP. G. Wodehousewhen the latter was in danger of being

prosecuted for his unwise broadcasts for the Nazis—and married

thrice, he died in Edinburgh in November 1972, 20 years after he had

received his knighthood.

MACKIE, MARJORIE.Adopting the alias ‘‘Mrs. Amos,’’ Marjorie
Mackie was one ofMax Knight’sMI5agents, whom he employed
to penetrate theRight Clubin 1940. She masqueraded as a Fascist
sympathizer to ingratiate herself with Archibald Ramsay’s wife and
Anna Wolkoffand introduced another MI5 agent,Joan Miller,to
their circle of friends and political sympathizers. When Wolkoff was
arrested and charged withTyler Kent, Mackie gave evidence against
them at the Old Bailey.

MCLEAN, BILLY.Born in November 1918, Billy McLean was edu-
cated at Eton and was commissioned at Sandhurst into the Royal
Scots Greys in 1938, joining his regiment in Palestine the following
year. He volunteered for the Somaliland Camel Corps withDavid
Smiley, but had only reached Egypt when he was diverted to join
Orde Wingate’s irregular force in Abyssinia. In February 1942
McLean was posted to theYugoslav SectionofSpecial Operations