Time Essay: The Eclipse of the Gentleman

The Blunt affair came as no shock to the author of this Essay. He was recruited into the M16 branch of British intelligence during World War II, and operated for 18 months as a spy at Lourengo Marques in Mozambique. His boss at M16 headquarters was Kim Philby—as it turned out—of the KGB. "Intelligence gathering, "the author later observed, "is even more fantasy-prone than news gathering. In the latter, you are often expected to make bricks without straw, but in the former, to grow lemons without a tree. "He thus retired from spying...

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