The Bedbug: Klop Ustinov - Britain's Most Ingenious Spy

(Paperback)

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Description

Klop Ustinov (father of actor Peter) was Britain's most ingenious secret agent, but he wasn't authorised to kill. Instead, he was authorised to tell tall tales, bemusing and beguiling his enemies into revealing their deepest, darkest secrets. From the Russian Revolution to the Cold War, he bluffed and tricked his way into the confidence of everyone from Soviet commissars to Gestapo Gruppenfhrer.

InThe Bedbug, journalist Peter Day brings to life a man descended from Russian aristocrats and Ethiopian princesses but who fancied himself the perfect Englishman. His codename was U35 but his better-known nickname 'Klop' meant 'bedbug', a name given to him by a very understanding wife on account of his extraordinary capacity to hop from one woman's bed to another in the service of the King.

Reviews

'Day offers a vivid, richly researched and highly entertaining portrait of this most colourful of twentieth-century spooks.' Sunday Times 'This thoroughly well-researched book is an excellent addition to the history of the Cold War and will fascinate anyone interested in real-life stories of secret agents, conspiracy, defectors and top secret intelligence.' Daily Express

Author Bio

Peter Day is a former senior reporter at the Mail on Sunday. A writer and journalist, he writes regularly for the Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday. He is the author of Franco's Friends (ISBN 9781849543613).