I was gripped by the story this week of the Cold War Czech agent Vaclav Jelinek who posed as a Dutchman called Erwin van Haarlem and tried to spy on the Queen. He started by working in the restaurant of the Hilton hotel on Park Lane so that he could see into Buckingham Palace from the 24th floor. Which sounds like the sort of plan I would come up with.
After that came to nothing he was moved to Golders Green to spy on the Jewish community. You can imagine the dispatches, secreted in a packet of smoked salmon from Noshers deli. Top secret: there’s been a row in B’nai B’rith about how much to charge for the supper quiz. And a copy of Rabbi
