Jimmy Burns OBE, "A Faithful Spy, a biography of Walter Bell"

When Walter Bell died in January 2004, aged 94, the details of his life-not least his career in the British secret and security services during a defining period in the history of intelligence-remained a well-kept secret. Twenty years later his story is told by Burns thanks to the author gaining access to sources and previously undisclosed personal papers. Bell, who married the oldest of US General Carl Spaatz after liaising with the FBI and the OSS in WW2, was at the heart of the emerging special relationship between the Britain and the US. During the Cold War he moved from MI6 to MI5 and had postings in Kenya, India and the West Indies , playing a crucial role in the passing of power to newly independent states. The Cold War had him also playing a covert role in an operation to limit the the fall-out from the Cambridge Five affair, three of whose spies-Philby, Burgess,and Maclean- Bell was acquainted with.

Jimmy Burns OBE is a former Financial Times journalist where he worked as a foreign correspondent and a senior reporter and analyst covering security and intelligence. He formed part of the newspapers' prize-winning investigative unit that won the NetMedia European Online Journalism Award for its groundbreaking report on weapons of mass destruction. Educated at Stonyhurst College, University College, London and the London School of Economics, Burns has contributed to several academic conferences on intelligence and security.

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