Mrs Zigzag: The Extraordinary Life of a Secret Agent's Wife (24 page)

8.
     Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor nominated seven times for an Academy Award, and at one time was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. He is most remembered in the public consciousness for his turbulent marriages to his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor.

9.
     Paul Douglas (1907–59) was an American actor, who began his career as a stage actor. He began appearing in films in 1949.

10.
   Audrey Hepburn (1929–93) was a British actress and humanitarian. She became one of the most successful film actresses in the world and performed with notable leading men. She starred as Eliza Doolittle in the film version of
My Fair Lady
(1964), becoming only the third actor to receive US $1,000,000 for a film role. By the mid–1950s, she was not only one of the biggest motion picture stars in Hollywood, but also a major fashion icon.

11.
   Burl Ivanhoe Ives (1909–95) was an American actor, writer and folk-music singer. As an actor, Ives’s work included comedy, drama and voice work in theatre, television and motion pictures.

Chapter 5

1.
     Easily equivalent to ten times or more that amount today.

2.
     Belgravia is a district of central London in the City of Westminster, lying to the south-west of Buckingham Palace. Noted for its immensely expensive residential properties, it is one of the wealthiest districts in the world.

3.
     Krobo Edusei was a high-profile member of Kwame Nkrumah’s government. He was a popular, outspoken and prominent Ashanti activist and at the forefront of the Ghanaian independence movement, galvanising support amongst the Ashantis for Nkrumah’s independence movement. He served as Minister without Portfolio, Minister for Transport and Communication, and Minister for the Interior, under Nkrumah.

Chapter 6

1.
     Because of the primitive telephone system in Ghana, most communication was by short-wave radio.

2.
     A British term for Native Americans, used to distinguish them from natives of India.

3.
     The Golden Stool is the royal and divine throne of the Ashanti people. Such seats were traditionally symbolic of a chieftain’s leadership, but the Golden Stool is believed to house the spirit of the Ashanti nation – living, dead and yet to be born. And, female. Eddie is mistaken about its construction. It is wood overlaid with gold.

4.
     Squadron Leader Guy Gibson, VC was the leader of the famous ‘dambusters’ squadron.

5.
     Sir Lionel Thompson, CBE was Deputy Master and Controller of the Royal Mint from 1950–57.

Chapter 7

1.
     
The Red Beret
was retitled
Paratrooper
for its US release, and is a fictitious story about an American who enlists in the British Parachute Regiment (wearers of the Red Beret) in 1940, claiming to be a Canadian. The film starred the American actor Alan Ladd.

2.
     Albert Romolo ‘Cubby’ Broccoli (1909–96), was an American film producer who made more than forty motion pictures. Broccoli followed Terence Young as the producer, along with Harry Saltzman, of the later James Bond films.

3.
     Soho in London’s West End. For much of the twentieth century Soho had a seamy reputation for sex shops as well as nightlife and film industry. Since its transformation in the 1980s, the area is now predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices.

4.
     Barbara Woolworth Hutton (1912–79) was the heiress to the retail tycoon Frank W. Woolworth. Seven times married, she was often dubbed ‘Poor Little Rich Girl’ because of her troubled life. Her life made great media copy and she was roundly exploited by them. She committed suicide in 1979.

5.
     Sir Reginald Carey ‘Rex’ Harrison (1908–90) was an English actor of stage and screen. One of Harrison’s best remembered film roles was that of Professor Henry Higgins in the stage and film versions of
My Fair Lady
.

6.
     Kay Kendall (1927–59) was an English actress. She began a romantic relationship with actor Rex Harrison after they appeared together in the comedy film
The Constant Husband
(1955), and they were married in 1957.

7.
     At that time Morocco was a French protectorate, and the Sultan was in exile in Madagascar. Moroccan nationalism was beginning to strongly assert itself, and the Sultan’s return would have had serious consequences for the French. Independence from France was attained in 1956.

Chapter 8

1.
     Yul Brynner,
Yuliy Borisovich Briner
(1920–85) was a Russian-born actor, best known for his portrayal of the King of Siam in the musical
The King and I.
His other well-known role was as Chris in
The Magnificent Seven
. He was noted for his distinctive voice and for his shaven head, his personal trademark.

2.
     Romy Schneider (1938–82) was an Austrian-born German film actress who also held French citizenship. She made sixty films and was the recipient of many awards. The French film industry initiated the Prix Romy Schneider (Romy Schneider Award), the most prestigious award for promising upcoming actresses.

3.
     Claudine Auger (born Claudine Oger on 26 April 1941) is a French actress best known for her role as Bond girl Dominique ‘Domino’ Derval in the James Bond film
Thunderball
(1965). She earned the title of Miss France Monde and was also the first runner-up in the 1958 Miss World contest.

Chapter 9

1.
     Lilian Verner-Bonds is a noted author and colour-therapist, and long-time friend of the Chapmans.

2.
     Elstree Studios is a generic term that can refer to several film studios based in or around the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. A number of studios have existed in this area since film production began in the late 1920s. They are all owned by different organisations and produce both motion pictures and television programmes. MGM was among the more prominent of them.

3.
     Patrick Wymark (1926–70) was a British, stage, film and television actor. He took his acting name from his grandfather-in-law, the writer William Wymark Jacobs. He had four children, one being the actress Jane Wymark.

4.
     John Conteh (b. 1951) was world light-heavyweight boxing champion, and one of Britain’s most successful boxers. He was considered good enough to be an opponent of Muhammad Ali, although this never came about.

5.
     Lady Henrietta Guinness of the famous brewing family, jumped off a bridge at Spoleto – the ancient cultural city in Umbria, Italy – in 1978, at the age of 35. She said once: ‘If I had been poor, I would have been happy.’

6.
     The Profumo Affair was a 1963 British political scandal named after John Profumo, Secretary of State for War. His affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Russian spy, followed by lying in the House of Commons when he was questioned about it, forced the resignation of Profumo and damaged the reputation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s government. Macmillan himself resigned a few months later due to ‘ill health’.

7.
     Reported in:
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk

8.
     This is according to Betty; the ‘official’ version is different.

9.
     Harley Street in London is the location of a large number of medical practices, and is synonymous with it. When a Londoner speaks of ‘Harley Street’ it is automatically assumed that medical matters are being referred to. It is a significant distance from Shenley Lodge, and would have involved a great deal of travelling for Betty.

Chapter 10

1.
     Franklin Roy ‘Frank’ Bruno MBE (b. 16 November 1961) is an English former boxer, who won the WBC heavyweight championship in 1995. He has remained a popular celebrity with the British public since his ring career ended, and appears regularly as an actor in Christmas pantomimes.

2.
     This was a time in Britain and Ireland when women in top executive positions were extremely rare, and generally much resented by male executives.

3.
     Tithing, (from Old English
teogothian
, ‘tenth’), is an ancient custom adopted by the Christian Church whereby lay people contributed one-tenth of their income either in money, goods, or produce, for religious purposes, and often under legal or ecclesiastical compulsion. It was abolished in Ireland in 1871. A tithe table lists all things tithable, and the times at which certain tithes are due.

4.
     Sir John Mills (1908–2005) was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. From 1959 through the mid–1960s, Mills starred in several films alongside his daughter Hayley.

5.
     Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland (1901–2000) was an English author, one of the most prolific of the twentieth century. She was one of London’s most prominent society figures and one of Britain’s most popular media personalities, appearing often at public events and on television, speaking on issues such as love, health, and social and political issues.

Chapter 11

1.
     Mohammad Rezā Shāh (1919–80) was the last Shah of Iran, who ruled Iran from September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The Shah’s White Revolution, intended to transform Iran into a global power, succeeded in modernising the nation, nationalising many natural resources, and extending suffrage to women. His modernisation of Iran and his pro-Western stance set him at odds with Muslim fundamentalists.

2.
     Princess Basma bint Talal of Jordan is the sister of the late King Hussein of Jordan and paternal aunt to the current king of Jordan, King Abdullah II. She is considered to be the Princess Royal of Jordan.

3.
     Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi (b. 27 October 1940) is the first child of the late Shah of Iran and his first wife, Princess Fawzia of Egypt.

4.
     Qom is considered a holy city by Shi’a Islam, being the site of the shrine of Fatema Mæ’sume, sister of Imam ‘Ali ibn Musa Rida (Persian
Imam Reza
, 789–816
AD
). It is the largest centre for Shi’a scholarship in the world, and is a major destination of pilgrimage.

5.
     The name comes from the shape of a throne, having the figures of two peacocks standing behind it, their tails being expanded and the whole of the throne inlaid with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, pearls and other precious stones.

Chapter 12

1.
     ‘School celebrations make investor “sick”’,
The Times
, article by Emma Schrimsley.

2.
     Quoted in
ZigZag
, by Nicholas Booth.

3.
     And, of course, it is the source of much of the material in this book.

4.
     Walter Winchell (1897–1972) was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator. Although controversial among his broadcast colleagues, he was one of the most listened to men in America.

Chapter 13

1.
     This was written in 2008.

Plate Section