What do you think?
Rate this book
Odd People: Hunting Spies in the First World War
Against the backdrop of World War One, and rising hysteria over German spies on the British home front, Basil Thompson was seconded from Scotland Yard to hunt, arrest and interrogate the potential German spies identified by the nascent British intelligence services. His is an extraordinary story of sleuthing and secrets during a time of war. Basil Thomson was Assistant Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, which made him the head of the Criminal Investigation Department at New Scotland Yard. As head of CID, Thomson was involved in the arrests of suspected spies, suffragettes, Indian revolutionaries and Irish rebels.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1922
5 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Basil Thomson
87 books16 followersSir Basil Home Thomson, KCB (21 April 1861 – 26 March 1939) was a British intelligence officer, police officer, prison governor, colonial administrator, and writer.
abridged from Wikipedia
abridged from Wikipedia
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Read
September 23, 2020Interesting 1922 read by the then head of CID on his career chasing down German spies in WW1 (very much on the admin side). Lots of great if obviously apocryphal stories and he's a good writer--became a detective novelist once he'd been disgraced due to a public indecency conviction. Predictable misogyny and anti-trade union attitudes; *massive* warning for gross anti-Semitism so proceed with caution.
May 13, 2020
These are the reminiscences of Basil Thomson, head of the CID at Scotland Yard during WW1, as he reflects on the different types of spies acting for the Germans whom he and his people chased during that war. They're not a balanced historical analysis, just one person's memories. As such you can't expect an in-depth survey of the subject. Thomson knows only the spies who were caught. Inevitably there were many spies about whom he knew nothing. Hence his comment that 'women do not make good spies' must be understood in the context of his knowing only the ones who got caught, and the ones he details clearly deserved to get caught.
Having said that, his views are of his time, and also they are the views of a very senior officer in the Metropolitan Police, albeit he'd been sacked by this time. His views on sedition consequently won't please anyone whose politics lean very far to the left, although they are the views of a professional and so can't be dismissed out of hand. And British society, let alone Europe as a whole, was still putting itself together after the unprecedented upheaval of the Great War, as it was known then. So the upheaval caused by the example of 1917 in Russia and Soviet support for certain agencies in Britain represented a threat of serious destabilisation.
I'd better make a couple of words about general style and content, seeing that this is the first Goodreads review. The book is ordered well, with each chapter concentrating on a different theme, so it's not a chronological work. As a result it's probably better not to read it in two sittings like I did (I'm using it as research for a guided tour I offer). It's better taken chapter by chapter, perhaps before bed? The pen portraits are brief and interesting. In his preface Thomson says how WW1 will prove 'a quarry for tales of adventure, of high endeavour and of splendid achievement' for future generations. This book is certainly that, giving stories the inquisitive will want to follow up.
Inevitably Thomson doesn't explain too much about the historical context, because these reminiscences were written shortly after the events they describe took place. Nor does this edition offer any real apparatus: there are two pages of introduction but no footnotes or explanatory notes. Also don't expect to find any references to MI5: although the Met was working closely with MI5 in the WW1 spyhunt, MI5 didn't exist officially until 1989!
All in all, a good read. Of its time, but once you've taken that into account it has much to enjoy.
Having said that, his views are of his time, and also they are the views of a very senior officer in the Metropolitan Police, albeit he'd been sacked by this time. His views on sedition consequently won't please anyone whose politics lean very far to the left, although they are the views of a professional and so can't be dismissed out of hand. And British society, let alone Europe as a whole, was still putting itself together after the unprecedented upheaval of the Great War, as it was known then. So the upheaval caused by the example of 1917 in Russia and Soviet support for certain agencies in Britain represented a threat of serious destabilisation.
I'd better make a couple of words about general style and content, seeing that this is the first Goodreads review. The book is ordered well, with each chapter concentrating on a different theme, so it's not a chronological work. As a result it's probably better not to read it in two sittings like I did (I'm using it as research for a guided tour I offer). It's better taken chapter by chapter, perhaps before bed? The pen portraits are brief and interesting. In his preface Thomson says how WW1 will prove 'a quarry for tales of adventure, of high endeavour and of splendid achievement' for future generations. This book is certainly that, giving stories the inquisitive will want to follow up.
Inevitably Thomson doesn't explain too much about the historical context, because these reminiscences were written shortly after the events they describe took place. Nor does this edition offer any real apparatus: there are two pages of introduction but no footnotes or explanatory notes. Also don't expect to find any references to MI5: although the Met was working closely with MI5 in the WW1 spyhunt, MI5 didn't exist officially until 1989!
All in all, a good read. Of its time, but once you've taken that into account it has much to enjoy.
April 27, 2022
4.5 stars
A lurid, honest look at the Great War from the POV of the police in London. And since the Entente Cordiale resulted in a global network of spying and intelligence shortly thereafter, and since Scotland Yard was where the entirety of intelligence was funneled through, this was the seed that grew into what would later be the OSS, the CIA, the NSA, homeland security, CSIS, CSEC, etc etc etc -- almost all of it had its roots in the humble sluthing described in this book. So much of it echoing through the ages as we repeat the cycle of history failing to learn from it.
In this book you will see
* a thorough description of the beginning of the Soviet Union, and all of the problems that would become much more clear to the world of its internal working, and the terror of its intelligence apparatus - not just at the time but with historical context going all the way back to the 1848-1860 revolutionary era (which at the time was still not totally forgotten). Remember: Karl Marx lived in London, for a time, and the police very much knew what he was up to and, more importantly, why. What happened when Lenin seized power and had to deal with the reality of making Communism work with his understanding of the world.
* some clear impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic - in particular shorter, more revealing dresses on women
* some human, oh so human mistakes on the part of individual german spies, saboteurs, double agents and the like
* the overarching failure of German intelligence, and the resulting failure of the german war machine from it
* the overarching success of British intelligence - and how they did it (ie - being in communication with everyone, including the seedier elements - in a word keeping tabs on everyone). Especially in light of the Wikileaks Stratfor leaks there was definitely something to be said for the description of what intelligence work really is, and why it happens. While you can detest the people for siding with the state, and for doing the work...it's harder to argue against the collation and processing of information into intelligence after reading this book.
* the transition from a world at peace to a world at war - no one thought it would happen, and when it did happen, no one thought it would be serious, and when it turned out to be serious, no one thought it would escalate... other books have described this but this, as a personal account, seemed to make it real and make me wonder, in the light of the recent invasion of southern Ukraine
* The beginning of modern antisemitism and goy-jew, and especially jewish-russian relations at the dawn of the 20th century. More on that later (just picked up "The International Jew" while reading this book)
* The prosecution of crimes of war, from sedition to spying and more. What worked, what didn't, what was harsh (public executions), what wasn't (the treatment of PoWs).
* Little details that seem to be blurring into the haze of history, such as the failed Easter attempt at a revolution in Ireland, the story of the Ghadr newspaper (which resulted in a shootout in a US court room), the blurry line between journalists and spies(something that would also come up again in the modern era with Wikileaks), plenty of little tidbits about the Napoleonic wars, and the story of a letter copying machine lost to history when the Great Fire of 1666 lost the one working version of it before it could be replicated / described to Samuel Pepys in detail.
* This book correctly saw that the next war would come and most of the reasons why, though it was off in how soon. Some backdrop to the german side was discussed as much as information was available, making stories like Wreckers Must Breathe flesh out a little more too.
* The 6 month period that the Deserter took place in, and some of the politics of that little subchapter of history.
The preface to this book suggests that 100 years in the future, someone should read it, and breathe some life into some of its stories - stories that captured the character of the people and nations of its time. Well, it's been pretty much exactly 100 years, this year, and it's time. It has lived up to its goal - it's been a treat to read, and it really does open the door to seeing that generation for what it was, now otherwise gone forever except for extant stories like this one.
A lurid, honest look at the Great War from the POV of the police in London. And since the Entente Cordiale resulted in a global network of spying and intelligence shortly thereafter, and since Scotland Yard was where the entirety of intelligence was funneled through, this was the seed that grew into what would later be the OSS, the CIA, the NSA, homeland security, CSIS, CSEC, etc etc etc -- almost all of it had its roots in the humble sluthing described in this book. So much of it echoing through the ages as we repeat the cycle of history failing to learn from it.
In this book you will see
* a thorough description of the beginning of the Soviet Union, and all of the problems that would become much more clear to the world of its internal working, and the terror of its intelligence apparatus - not just at the time but with historical context going all the way back to the 1848-1860 revolutionary era (which at the time was still not totally forgotten). Remember: Karl Marx lived in London, for a time, and the police very much knew what he was up to and, more importantly, why. What happened when Lenin seized power and had to deal with the reality of making Communism work with his understanding of the world.
* some clear impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic - in particular shorter, more revealing dresses on women
* some human, oh so human mistakes on the part of individual german spies, saboteurs, double agents and the like
* the overarching failure of German intelligence, and the resulting failure of the german war machine from it
* the overarching success of British intelligence - and how they did it (ie - being in communication with everyone, including the seedier elements - in a word keeping tabs on everyone). Especially in light of the Wikileaks Stratfor leaks there was definitely something to be said for the description of what intelligence work really is, and why it happens. While you can detest the people for siding with the state, and for doing the work...it's harder to argue against the collation and processing of information into intelligence after reading this book.
* the transition from a world at peace to a world at war - no one thought it would happen, and when it did happen, no one thought it would be serious, and when it turned out to be serious, no one thought it would escalate... other books have described this but this, as a personal account, seemed to make it real and make me wonder, in the light of the recent invasion of southern Ukraine
* The beginning of modern antisemitism and goy-jew, and especially jewish-russian relations at the dawn of the 20th century. More on that later (just picked up "The International Jew" while reading this book)
* The prosecution of crimes of war, from sedition to spying and more. What worked, what didn't, what was harsh (public executions), what wasn't (the treatment of PoWs).
* Little details that seem to be blurring into the haze of history, such as the failed Easter attempt at a revolution in Ireland, the story of the Ghadr newspaper (which resulted in a shootout in a US court room), the blurry line between journalists and spies(something that would also come up again in the modern era with Wikileaks), plenty of little tidbits about the Napoleonic wars, and the story of a letter copying machine lost to history when the Great Fire of 1666 lost the one working version of it before it could be replicated / described to Samuel Pepys in detail.
* This book correctly saw that the next war would come and most of the reasons why, though it was off in how soon. Some backdrop to the german side was discussed as much as information was available, making stories like Wreckers Must Breathe flesh out a little more too.
* The 6 month period that the Deserter took place in, and some of the politics of that little subchapter of history.
The preface to this book suggests that 100 years in the future, someone should read it, and breathe some life into some of its stories - stories that captured the character of the people and nations of its time. Well, it's been pretty much exactly 100 years, this year, and it's time. It has lived up to its goal - it's been a treat to read, and it really does open the door to seeing that generation for what it was, now otherwise gone forever except for extant stories like this one.
October 21, 2022
An interesting memoir from 1922. Near the end, Thomson speculates that the earth's population may DOUBLE by 2022, from 1.5 to 3 billion. The actual number of course is almost EIGHT billion now -- and almost 2 billion in 1922.
The book is better on spies than on the post-war security situation. Throughout, Thomson is a classic upper-middle-class English male - white, slightly misogynist, with biases against workers<, Irish, and Jews. He did like Americans, so there's that.
The book is better on spies than on the post-war security situation. Throughout, Thomson is a classic upper-middle-class English male - white, slightly misogynist, with biases against workers<, Irish, and Jews. He did like Americans, so there's that.
October 6, 2022
It was an entertaining and interesting fast read. The last five chapters were a bore, tough.
What I most enjoyed, though, is that his book gives a detailed explanation of the "Spanish Prisoner" confidence trick, and why it receives its name.
What I most enjoyed, though, is that his book gives a detailed explanation of the "Spanish Prisoner" confidence trick, and why it receives its name.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews