Spymaster
The Life of Britain’s Most Decorated Cold War Spy

Maurice Oldfield was born in the kitchen of the family farmhouse, Meadow Park Farm, in the parish of Youlgreave, Derbyshire, on 16 November 1915 and grew up in the nearby village of Over Haddon. So from such humble beginnings, to rise to become the chief of MI6 was some achievement; it was usually t......more

Meticulously researched and artful telling of a truly great man's life. However, it is let down by the biases the author has for Oldfield, who was his uncle. While this bias, based on deep seated awe and affection, is understandable, it leads Pearce to fall into fulsome defences and overwrought prai......more

Brilliant and remarkably honest. Given that author Martin Pearce is the nephew of Sir Maurice Oldfield, respected long time head of the UK's MI6...The Secret Intelligence Service, and as is usual such secret organisations as the years pass the 'warts and all' start to appear. Pearce does not adopt t......more

If Sir. Maurice Oldfield had written a book about Networking, it would have flown off the shelves. This man came from unlikely stock for an MI6 spy, a Derbyshire farming family. That he rose to become 'C', or Chief of Britain's Secret Service is well-documented elsewhere, but this book is far and aw......more