For more about the wartime IPC, see J.H. Bamberg, The History of the
British Petroleum Company. Volume 2: The Anglo-Iranian Years, 1928–
1954 , Ronald W. Ferrier, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2000), 206–29.
For the full details of Tenth Army’s devastating ‘scorched-earth’ scheme,
see Tenth Army Operation Instruction No. 29, Policy for Demolitions
under Plan WONDERFUL, 27 June 1942, WO 201/1369, TNA.
Everyone called him ‘Jonesy.’ Stark and Pamela Hore-Ruthven recall him
as ‘William’ Jones, which I think is an error. There was a ‘William Morris
Jones’ in SOE, but he was a highly decorated, one-eyed Canadian infantry
officer who fought with Tito’s partisans in Croatia. Cf. Freya Stark, Dust
in the Lion’s Paw: Autobiography, 1939–1946 (London: John Murray,
1962), 118.
Dalton to Wavell, 9 June 1941, HS 3/146, TNA.
Kelly, ‘A Succession of Crises’, 141–2.
SOE’s original London HQ was at 64 Baker Street.
Survey of Global Activities, War Diary 3, March 1941, HS 7/214, TNA;
Survey of Global Activities, War Diary 12, March 1942, HS 7/229, TNA;
S.H.F. Lloyd, n.d., HS 9/931/3, TNA.
A serdab is a hot-weather basement. For details of the renovations and life
at South Gate, see Lloyd, The Interval, 83–4.
As envisaged by Cornwallis, Bishop’s organization, operating in close col-
laboration with CICI, would be able to achieve important results. Survey
of Global Activities, War Diary 6, July 1941, HS 7/218, TNA.
Bickham Sweet-Escott, Baker Street Irregular (London: Methuen, 1965),
88; Gerald de Gaury, Three Kings in Baghdad, 1921–1958 (London:
Hutchinson, 1961), 118. In April 1941, Domvile wrote: ‘I have also had
to adjust myself to the heroic work of a “Scarlet Pimpernel” in Iraq. It has
all been tremendous fun.’ Domvile to Stark, 6 April 1941, Container 12.5
(Pat Domvile), Series II Correspondence, 1893–1985, Harry Ransom
Center, The University of Texas, Austin TX [HRC].
Nigel Clive, A Greek Experience, 1943–1948 (Wilton: Michael Russell,
1985), 19, 21. Cf. Tamman, Portrait, chapter 8. Domvile had been a cav-
alry officer (8th Hussars) before joining the RAF.
See Kelly, ‘A Succession of Crises’, 134–5.
Survey of Global Activities, War Diary 11, 1–15 February 1942, HS
7/227, TNA; Survey of Global Activities, War Diary 13, April 1942, HS
7/230, TNA. According to Malcolm Atkin, Section D for Destruction:
Forerunner of SOE (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2017), 49, Donald
Mallett transferred to Cairo in June 1942 (see also HS 9/980/2, TNA);
meanwhile HS 9/971/2, TNA states that McNearnie, who had studied
