Brighton's Secret Agents ─ The Brighton & Hove Contribution to Britain's WW2 Special Operation's Executive (SOE)

During World War II, Winston Churchill authorized the creation of a new wartime secret service called the Special Operations Executive, whose order was to “set Europe ablaze.” In Brighton’s Secret Agents, Paul McCue tells a true story of heroism in extraordinary times, with a focus on four fantastic agents: Lieutenant Jacqueline Nearne, Captain Michael Trotobas, Captain Edward Zeff, and Captain Ronald Taylor.

In this book, McCue details the organization’s creation and postwar demise, its training methods, and the missions of the four chief subjects. He also covers three other agents, including a special duties RAF pilot who was the inspiration for Q from the James Bond stories. As McCue shows, some agents enjoyed great success, while others were doomed to failure and death, but all displayed the volunteer spirit and courage that saw Britain through the darkest days of the war. Their stories, largely little known, are here finally told.

Paul McCue has been a part-time military historian and author for over 25 years.