Queen of Spies: Daphne Park, Britain's Cold War Spy Master

by Paddy Hayes

Overview

From living in a tin-roofed shack north of Dar-es-Salaam to attaining the British Secret Intelligence Service’s most senior operational rank, Daphne Park led a highly unusual life. In the 1970s, she was appointed to Secret Intelligence Service’s most senior operational rank as one of its seven Area Controllers—an unprecedented achievement for a woman working within this most male-dominated and secretive of organizations.In Queen of Spies, Paddy Hayes recounts the fascinating story of the evolution of the SIS from World War II to the Cold War through her eyes, providing the reader with an intimate narrative of how the modern SIS actually went about its business, and shows how Park was able to rise through the ranks of a field was comprised almost entirely of men. Queen of Spies captures all the paranoia, isolation, and deception of Cold War intelligence work, and unveils all that it may be possible to know about the life of one of Britain’s most celebrated spies—an extraordinary woman trying to navigate a secretive world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468316704
Publisher:	Abrams Press
Publication date:	10/09/2018
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	943,091
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Paddy Hayes was born in Cork and educated at Harvard University. He has spent five decades researching the world of intelligence. His interest in politics extends to acting as a constituency director of elections in the last two general elections in Ireland.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Introduction 1

Author's Note 4

Prologue - Moscow, April 1956 9

1 From Kayuki to Clapham, 1921-32 11

2 Born now bred, 1932-43 17

3 SOE 1 - Bingham's unit, 1943-44 23

4 SOE 2 - Coup defoudre, 1944 34

5 SOE 3 - Darters goes to war, 1944 41

6 Vienna role, 1946-48 52

7 A world changing, 1947-48 61

8 Into the lion's den. 1948-51 69

9 Moscow bound, 1951-54 79

10 Moscow 1 - Either silence or prison, 1954 88

11 Moscow 2 - The squirrel and his nuts, 1955 97

12 Moscow 3 - The strange affair of Yevgeni Brik, 1956 108

13 Moscow 4 - Annus horribilis, 1956 116

14 From SovBloc to sun-block, 1957-59 130

15 Congo 1 - Into the cauldron, 1959 138

16 Congo 2 - On the eve of destruction, 1959-60 144

17 Congo 3 - Seven months to murder, 1960-61 159

18 Congo 4 - Who killed Cock Robin? Not I, said the spy 1961 174

19 Bewitched, bothered, bewildered… and betrayed, 1962-64 182

20 Back in the held, 1964-67 196

21 Reform at last, 1967-69 204

22 Hanoi 1 - Spy station Hanoi, 1969-70 213

23 Hanoi 2 - 'Though never quite enough to ask for another year', 1969-70 223

24 What Daphne did next, 1970-74 239

25 C/WH 1 - Spymaster, 1975-77 245

26 C/WH 2 - Finale: Rhodesia and the ending of UDI, 1978-79 261

27 Return to Somerville, 1980-89 270

28 Daphne Park: a life extraordinary 276

Acknowledgements 286

Appendix: timeline of Daphne Park's life 288

Notes on Sources 290

Select Bibliography 315

Index 320

Editorial Reviews

In his richly entertaining biography, Hayes describes how she once smuggled a man whose life was in danger out of the Congo in the boot of her car. She spent part of the second world war training Special Operations Executive agents before they were dropped by parachute into occupied France.

The Guardian

In a series of vignettes, the author tells a dramatic story that he gathered over five decades of researching the shadowy world of intelligence and those who survived it as an occupation. Miss Park’s achievements were remarkable.

The Washington Times

Fascinating and long-overdue

The Washington Post

11/30/2015
Irish novelist Hayes (The First Secret) turns to nonfiction as he studies the life of Daphne Park, the first woman to join the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), producing a narrative that can be read three ways. The first is the tale an 11-year-old girl who leaves her mud shack in Africa to travel to Great Britain for her education, subsequently rising through the intelligence service to become a baroness and a member of the House of Lords. The second concerns the adventures of a Cold War–era British intelligence agent playing deadly cat and mouse games with the KGB, and serving in Moscow during the Hungarian Revolt of 1956 and in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. The third covers an exceptionally intelligent and strong-willed woman who forces one of the most male-dominated government bureaucracies to recognize her and promote her based on her competence. Park faced immense cultural and institutional obstacles, overcoming many of the challenges that talented professional women still face today. Hayes is open about his own speculations, given the still-classified nature of much of this material, but he successfully conveys the inspiring nature of Park’s personal story and achievements, offering an informative account of the Cold War and the workings of the supersecret SIS. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 11/15/2015
This work by Hayes (Break-Out!) peels backs Britain's espionage world in order to show the fortitude of a woman who ascended its ranks. The author treats the subject, Daphne Margaret Sybil Désirée Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth (1921–2010), with detailed care. He covers her entire life, from her girlhood on the African plains to her role as Chief of Western Hemisphere Operations for the Secret Intelligence Service. Through personal interviews, documents, and other secondary sources, Hayes vividly describe Park's character, revealing a woman who succeeded with wit, charm, and intellect. Also fascinating is how Park's lifespan seemingly parallels the UK's trajectory during the 20th century. Together with Ben Macintyre's A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal and Gordon Corera's The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6: Life and Death in the British Secret Service, readers can obtain considerable knowledge about Britain's art of espionage. VERDICT Highly recommended for those who appreciate unique biographies, those searching for examples of real-life heroines, and Cold War enthusiasts.—Jacob Sherman, John Peace Lib., Univ. of Texas at San Antonio

Library Journal

★ 2015-09-22
Intelligence researcher Hayes opens the door on the fascinating life of one of England's greatest spies, Daphne Park (1921-2010). Unlocking that door is an achievement in itself. The author was able to interview her subject after her retirement from the British Secret Intelligence Service after receiving a life peerage to add to her Order of the British Empire award. Of course, given that her life's work was espionage, the story she told was sparse. Hayes uncovered further information from retired colleagues from Oxford, the British government, SIS, the CIA, and even the KGB. Raised in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) by British parents, she was sent to England for school at age 11 and ended up at Somerville College, Oxford. She left Oxford in 1943 and joined the Special Operations Executive, eventually working with Operation Jedburgh paratroopers until the end of the war. Park had to be patient and extremely persistent in her work, but she succeeded in getting a place in the SIS. She served in Moscow, Congo, Zambia, and Hanoi, as well as three months in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on an unknown operation. She eventually rose to the most senior operational rank in SIS. That list of her assignments is misleadingly simple, as she was always in the right place at the right time: Moscow during the Suez crisis; Leopoldville for the post-colonial face-off in Africa and the murder of Patrice Lumumba; Lusaka for the Rhodesian declaration of independence. Hayes had access to the recent history of England's secret service, and she uses it to great effect. This is an excellent biography of a remarkable woman who easily built relationships to safeguard foreign policy objectives. She was forthright and obdurate, and she had an infectious sense of humor. Most importantly, she personified the qualities required: loyalty, respect, tradition, and absolute secrecy. As exciting as any good spy thriller—but it's all true.

Kirkus Reviews