Bernard Newman (author)
Encyclopedia
Bernard Charles Newman (8 May 1897 – 19 February 1968) was a British
author of over 100 books, both fiction and non-fiction. An historian, he was considered an authority on spies, but also wrote travel books and on politics. His fiction included children's books, mystery novels and science fiction.
, Leicestershire
, in 1897. He was a great nephew of the 19th century author George Eliot
.
Serving in the trenches during World War 1, and with reasonable fluency in French, his regiment's French liaison officer occasionally used him to go undercover in Paris. Accompanied by a female French agent, they investigated loose talk by Allied soldiers about troop movements. It was here that his interest in espionage began, and his character 'Papa Pontivy' was based on the French liaison officer.
He ended the war as a Staff Sergeant, although in a lecture in 1942 he was introduced as a Captain. Afterwards, having lost his appetite for further education, he took a modest post as a Civil Servant with the Ministry of Works. He began writing and he became a lecturer and passionate traveller, visiting over sixty countries during the Interbellum, many of those on bike. He gave some 2,000 lectures between 1928 and 1940 throughout Europe, meeting even Adolf Hitler
. He started writing novels, gaining some recognition with his 1930 novel The Cavalry Went Through.
From 1936 to 1938, he was the first chairman of the Society of Civil & Public Service Writers.
At the start of the Second World War, Newman was in France, witnessing the invasion by the Germans. For the next five years, he became a staff lecturer at the Ministry of Information and wrote patriotic British novels like Siegfried Spy and Death to the Fifth Column. The novel Secret Weapon featured Winston Churchill
. In 1942, he was sent to Canada and the United States to lecture there on the British and the war. In Washington, he encountered President Roosevelt
and lectured for senators and other high officials. He also was a guest in national and local radio broadcasts throughout the country. Returning to the United Kingdom in late 1942, he reversed his role and lectured throughout the country about America.
Bernard Newman was also considered an authority on spies, and wrote Epics of Espionage and the novel Spy. His 1945 novel Spy Catchers was praised as one of the best books ever on counter-espionage.
His science fiction novel The Blue Ants has been described by professor Paul Brian in his study Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction
as an "absurd classic of Sinophobia" and "perhaps the earliest example of a fictional Russo-Chinese nuclear war" Boucher
and McComas
praised Flying Saucer as "good fun", but dismissed its politics as "hardly realistic."
Bernard Newman was a Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur
.
at King's College London
, confirm Victor Gollancz's marketing tactics by asking Newman to 'disappear' for two weeks during the book launch.
On its publication, Spy attracted considerable attention in the press. Newman had written the novel in such a way that it appeared to be autobiographical, although there were several 'facts' that could easily be checked up on. Relishing the free publicity, (Spy ran to 12 editions) Newman eventually said in an interview
I am not a spy, I have never been a spy and I don't suppose I shall ever become one. I have never met the King, the Kaiser, Ludendorff, Hindenberg or Lloyd George. I did not win the DSO nor was I as much as half an inch behind the German lines during the war. I am trying to devise a new kind of thriller. I believe I have succeeded. I quite agree that there are plenty of people who might believe it, but I believe the intelligent reader will treat the book exactly as he would a good detective story
This statement was widely reported in the press worldwide. But the seeds of conspiracy had been sown. Even his 1968 New York Times obituary repeated the fiction. To this day, internet articles can be found stating his 'espionage activities' as fact.
Other allegations of espionage activity relate to his extensive travels in Europe between the wars, including reports that he was the agent who first reported Hitler's V-1 rockets. It is highly probable that Newman reported back to the British government after his travels. But again, these allegations may stem from the fictional novels written by Newman at the same time.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
author of over 100 books, both fiction and non-fiction. An historian, he was considered an authority on spies, but also wrote travel books and on politics. His fiction included children's books, mystery novels and science fiction.
Biography
Bernard Newman was born in IbstockIbstock
Ibstock is a village and civil parish about south of Coalville in North West Leicestershire, England. The village is on the A447 road Between Coalville and Hinckley....
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
, in 1897. He was a great nephew of the 19th century author George Eliot
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
.
Serving in the trenches during World War 1, and with reasonable fluency in French, his regiment's French liaison officer occasionally used him to go undercover in Paris. Accompanied by a female French agent, they investigated loose talk by Allied soldiers about troop movements. It was here that his interest in espionage began, and his character 'Papa Pontivy' was based on the French liaison officer.
He ended the war as a Staff Sergeant, although in a lecture in 1942 he was introduced as a Captain. Afterwards, having lost his appetite for further education, he took a modest post as a Civil Servant with the Ministry of Works. He began writing and he became a lecturer and passionate traveller, visiting over sixty countries during the Interbellum, many of those on bike. He gave some 2,000 lectures between 1928 and 1940 throughout Europe, meeting even Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. He started writing novels, gaining some recognition with his 1930 novel The Cavalry Went Through.
From 1936 to 1938, he was the first chairman of the Society of Civil & Public Service Writers.
At the start of the Second World War, Newman was in France, witnessing the invasion by the Germans. For the next five years, he became a staff lecturer at the Ministry of Information and wrote patriotic British novels like Siegfried Spy and Death to the Fifth Column. The novel Secret Weapon featured Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. In 1942, he was sent to Canada and the United States to lecture there on the British and the war. In Washington, he encountered President Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and lectured for senators and other high officials. He also was a guest in national and local radio broadcasts throughout the country. Returning to the United Kingdom in late 1942, he reversed his role and lectured throughout the country about America.
Bernard Newman was also considered an authority on spies, and wrote Epics of Espionage and the novel Spy. His 1945 novel Spy Catchers was praised as one of the best books ever on counter-espionage.
His science fiction novel The Blue Ants has been described by professor Paul Brian in his study Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction
Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction
Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction, 1895–1984 was written by Paul Brians and published in 1987. This comprehensive study covers Nuclear holocaust fiction published in English-language works between 1895 and 1984. Brians notes that 1895 marked the first appearance of an atomic weapon in...
as an "absurd classic of Sinophobia" and "perhaps the earliest example of a fictional Russo-Chinese nuclear war" Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
and McComas
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
praised Flying Saucer as "good fun", but dismissed its politics as "hardly realistic."
Bernard Newman was a Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
.
Allegations of Espionage During World War 1
Some of his early fictional novels, particularly Spy were written in the first person, with himself as the lead character. This has led to allegations that he was a spy. It should be noted that Newman lied about his age to enlist at 17 years old, and makes it clear in his 1960 autobiography, Speaking From Memory that his war service was routine and unremarkable, and that his novels were publicised in this way to achieve sales, at the suggestion of his publisher, Gollancz. Correspondence between Newman and the military historian B. H. Liddell Hart held in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military ArchivesLiddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King's College London was set up in 1964. The Centre holds the private papers of over 700 senior British defence personnel who held office since 1900. Individual collections range in size from a single file to the 1000 boxes of Captain Sir Basil...
at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, confirm Victor Gollancz's marketing tactics by asking Newman to 'disappear' for two weeks during the book launch.
On its publication, Spy attracted considerable attention in the press. Newman had written the novel in such a way that it appeared to be autobiographical, although there were several 'facts' that could easily be checked up on. Relishing the free publicity, (Spy ran to 12 editions) Newman eventually said in an interview
I am not a spy, I have never been a spy and I don't suppose I shall ever become one. I have never met the King, the Kaiser, Ludendorff, Hindenberg or Lloyd George. I did not win the DSO nor was I as much as half an inch behind the German lines during the war. I am trying to devise a new kind of thriller. I believe I have succeeded. I quite agree that there are plenty of people who might believe it, but I believe the intelligent reader will treat the book exactly as he would a good detective story
This statement was widely reported in the press worldwide. But the seeds of conspiracy had been sown. Even his 1968 New York Times obituary repeated the fiction. To this day, internet articles can be found stating his 'espionage activities' as fact.
Other allegations of espionage activity relate to his extensive travels in Europe between the wars, including reports that he was the agent who first reported Hitler's V-1 rockets. It is highly probable that Newman reported back to the British government after his travels. But again, these allegations may stem from the fictional novels written by Newman at the same time.
Selected bibliography
- The Cavalry Went Through (1930, Victor GollanczVictor GollanczSir Victor Gollancz was a British publisher, socialist, and humanitarian.-Early life:Born in Maida Vale, London, he was the son of a wholesale jeweller and nephew of Rabbi Professor Sir Hermann Gollancz and Professor Sir Israel Gollancz; after being educated at St Paul's School, London and taking...
) - Hosanna! (1935, Denis Archer)
- Spy (1935, 12 editions by 1938: banned in Germany, used as a textbook in Russia)
- Pedalling Poland (1935, Herbert Jenkins)
- Albanian Back-door (1936, Herbert Jenkins)
- Secret Servant (1937)
- Woman Spy (1937)
- The Story of Poland (1940, HutchinsonHutchinson (publisher)Hutchinson & Co. was an English book publisher, founded in 1887. The company merged with Century Publishing in 1985 to form Century Hutchinson, and was folded into the British Random House Group in 1989, where it remains as an imprint in the Cornerstone Publishing division...
) - Siegfried Spy (1940)
- Savoy! Corsica! Tunis! (1940)
- The Secrets of German Espionage (1940, The Right Book Club)
- Death to the Fifth Column (1941)
- One Man's View (1941)
- Secret Weapon (1942)
- The New Europe (1942, MacMillanAlexander Macmillan (publisher)Alexander Macmillan, , born in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland. He was a cofounder, in 1843, with his brother Daniel of Macmillan Publishers...
: translated in Spanish in 1944) - American Journey (1943)
- British Journey (1945, Robert Hale)
- Balkan Background (1945)
- Spy Catchers (1945, collection of short stories)
- The Spy in the Brown Derby (1945-1946)
- Russia's Neighbour, the New Poland (1946, Victor Gollancz)
- The Red Spider Web: The Story of Russian Spying in Canada (1947, Lattimer)
- The Flying Saucer (1948, Victor Gollancz: also translated in German)
- Tito's Yugoslavia (1952)
- Morocco Today (1953)
- Report on Indochina (1953, Robert Hale)
- Speaking from Memory (1960, Herbert Jenkins: memoirs)
- Bulgarian Background (1961)
- The World of Espionage (1962, Souvenir Press: translated the same year in German as Spionage: Mythos und Wirklichkeit (Bechtle))
- The Blue Ants: The First Authentic Account of the Russian-Chinese War of 1970 (1962, translated in Dutch in 1970)
- Behind the Berlin Wall (1964, Robert Hale)
- Background to Vietnam (1965, Roy Publishers)
- Turkey and the Turks (1968, Herbert Jenkins)
- Spy and counter spy: Bernard Newman's story of the British Secret Service (1970, Hall)
- Death at the Wicket: story, included in The Rupa Book of Great Crime Stories by Ruskin BondRuskin BondRuskin Bond, born 19 May 1934, is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist....
- As Don Betteridge, he wrote 14 mystery novels in the series Tiger Lester, some of them translated in Dutch, French, German and Spanish.
External links
- Research project to investigate the spy allegations, maintained by Bernard Newman's family.