WHEATLEY, DENNIS• 573June 1941 he was posted to Tangier and in February 1942 partici-
pated in Operationfalaiseto destroy an enemy infrared detection
system overlooking the Strait ofGibraltar. While in North Africa,
Wharton-Tigar, himself something of a financial genius, found vari-
ous ways to exploit the local foreign currency markets and made
some large profits for SOE. In 1943 he was transferred to China to
work with (Sir) Walter Fletcher onmickleham, turning smuggled
diamonds, rubies, Swiss watches, and gold into national Chinese dol-
lars in Kunming, which was then used to buy hard currency at the
local rate. By the end of the war Wharton-Tigar, who became an im-
mensely successful businessman in London, had accumulated £80
million for SOE, as he later recounted in his 1987 autobiography,
Burning Bright.Wharton-Tigar died in June 1995.WHEATLEY, DENNIS.It was only when Dennis Wheatley’s liquor
business failed in 1931 that he attempted to write a novel, and his
first,The Forbidden Territory, was an instant success. He was a popu-
lar, Bohemian character, constantly in demand at parties, and it was
in the Chelsea flat of Sir Charles Birkin, then regarded as London’s
most eligible bachelor, that he was introduced toMax Knight,
MI5’s star agent-runner. Both had been cadets aboard HMSWorces-
ter, and from this common bond was formed a lifelong friendship.
Knight frequently used Wheatley for various clandestine purposes,
among the first being the provision of cover to one of his agents,
Friedle Gaertner, who had become a talenteddouble agent. Gaert-
ner, who was to acquire the code namegelatinein MI5, ostensibly
worked for Wheatley as his secretary, but in reality her salary was
paid by Knight.
Wheatley undertook other tasks for Knight, one of which was to
provide background information about the traitorWilliam Joyce,
later known as ‘‘Lord Haw-Haw.’’ Joyce had been a guest at one of
Wheatley’s literary parties, and after Joyce fled to Germany, Wheat-
ley’s name was found among his papers by MI5. Pro-fascist, but not
pro-Nazi, Wheatley had been recommended by Joyce as a suitable
candidate for the position of gauleiter of Northwest London after a
German invasion.
Based on his reputation as the successful biographer of Marshal
Voroshilov, Wheatley approached the Soviet embassy in 1942 on