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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review of William Haggard's 33 books,
By
This review is from: The Notch in the Knife (Paperback)
I have collected and reread the 33 books by William Haggard, alleged pen-name of Richard Henry Michael Clayton. Alleged because the only biographical data I have found are for Haggard (b. 1907 - d. 1993) and not Clayton! All of the copywrites are in Haggard's name. His background is Anglo-Irish, ie a descendent of English landowners (C of E) whose fields were worked by Irish peasants (Catholic). The first son inhereted the land and the title, the rest were educated in the best schools and must then fend for themselves.
Haggard was accepted into the ICS in 1929, changed to the Indian Army in 1939, finished the war as lt-col. In 1945 he rejoined the ICS untill 1947 and was then a civil-servant, Controller of Enemy Property, in Whitehall (= central UK government in London). Under the Viceroy the Indian Civil Service (ca 1000 men) ruled India (ca 350 million inhabitants, of which 200 million directly and 150 million indrectly, via 500+ "sovereign" native princes). The ICS was the premier British Civil Service; in effect the Imperial Civil Service. Realities in the 1920's and '30's: The King reigned and Parliament ruled directly the UK and the colonies. In India the King was the Emperor and his representative, the Viceroy, ruled! The Dominions were becoming imcreasingly independent. Haggard's first book was published in 1958, his last in 1990. The books are rather thin but not for lack of content. He follows closely the rule: not a word too many, or too few. His subject is mostly the activities of Col. Charles Russel head and creator of the shadowy and potent Security Executive (SE); activty that continues after his retirement (Anglo-Irish (C of I, served in the Guards, served in India and didn't like it - he has strong loves and hates). The SE is an officialy non-existant government financed organisation for the protection of the sitting government and the UK (priorities in that order) from subversive activities, both domestic and foreign. However, governments change, for example Labour can at a monent's notice be replaced by Conservative; the one's aims and fears may be the other's anathemas and loves. This requires the head of this organisation to have an extraordinary flexabilty of mind combined an equally strong sense of purpose. A rare combination! The "modus operandi" of the SE is not necessarily governed by the rule of law and the prime directive is "don't get caught". The government can disavow the SE without notice. The setting is the UK post-war, post-Empire and post-great power status. The intrigues are intricate and intelligent. There are usually one or more subplots, some romantic. To really appreciate them it is worthwhile to review important events in and/or concerning the UK that took place, or didn't, or might have, during the ca 3 years before the year of copywrite. Some of them are "romans à clefs" or very close to it. Many of the main characters are easily identifiable. For eample "the inhabitant at a certain time of an office, neither round nor square". This may be bothersome for younger readers but I am 78 years old and have a good memory. Three men, Richard Henry Michael Clayton, about whom we know nothing (however, see below) except that he is allegedly the author. Lt-Col. William Haggard, allegedly fictional, pen-name of Clayton, but the only one of the three who has a complete and plausible biography and is nominally owner of the copywrites and Col Charles Russell, who is wholly fictional unless the stories are in fact his fictionalized memoirs. Which one is what? Further rereading gives data for Clayton that show that his biography is similar to Haggard's. Russell's tend in the same direction. The three are one? Just as a genuine memoir can be fictionalized, so can a fake memoir, the result of diligent research (the author/authors? is/are remarkably well informed), be fictionalized! A recurring item is interesting analyses of how men with strong convictions and/or who have been strongly indoctrinated or have neither think and in the given situation reason to a course of action.
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