WHO WAS THE ACE OF SPIES?
The True Story of Sidney Reilly
Britain's Greatest Spy!
Paperback
Paperback
$29.95
+ $9 Priority Shipping
+ $9 Priority Shipping
Sidney George Reilly, known as the "Ace of Spies," was a Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and later by the Foreign Section of the British Secret Service Bureau, the precursor to the modern British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6/SIS). He is alleged to have spied for at least four different great powers, and documentary evidence indicates that he was involved in espionage activities in 1890s London among Russian émigré circles, in Manchuria on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), and in an abortive 1918 coup d'état against Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik government in Moscow.
He was Mansfield Cumming's (head of British Intelligence) most remarkable, though not his most reliable agent. Sidney Reilly, was the dominating figure in the mythology of modern British espionage. Reilly, it has been claimed, 'wielded more power, authority and influence than any other spy,' was an expert assassin 'by poisoning, stabbing, shooting and throttling,' and possessed eleven passports and a wife to go with each.
Contemporary newspapers dubbed him "the greatest spy in history" and "the Scarlet Pimpernel of Red Russia". In May 1931, The London Evening Standard published an illustrated serial headlined "Master Spy," which sensationalized his many exploits. The Saturday Evening Post serialized his adventures under the title “Ace of Spies.” Many people believe he was the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and a host of other spy thrillers.
No one knows for sure.
That the truth may never be known...
All that can be truly said is that he was mastermind in the ways of espionage and became a legend.
Perhaps he would be pleased...
Most people have no idea what real spies do. They read a Tom Clancy novel and think they get a look backstage. Here is the story of a real spy. The best agent the British had during World War I, the inspiration for Ian Fleming's James Bond. Reilly, Ace of Spies is a 1983 British television program dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian-born adventurer who became one of the greatest spies ever to work for the United Kingdom and the British Empire.
Among his exploits, in the early 20th century, were the infiltration of the German General Staff in 1917 and a near-overthrow of the Bolsheviks in 1918. His reputation with women was as legendary as his genius for espionage.
Find out why and how he was recruited by the British Secret Service, his early travels, his many wives, how he stole the port defense plans for Port Arthur and collaborated with the Japanese intelligence servces to attack the city, how he plotted to kidnap Lenin and end the Russian Revolution, and many more adventures.
Paperback | $29.95
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