Mrs Zigzag: The Extraordinary Life of a Secret Agent's Wife

by Betty Chapman, Ronald L. Bonewitz

Overview

When Betty Farmer married double agent Eddie Chapman, Agent Zigzag, she knew her life would never be ordinary. Yet even before her marriage to Eddie, her life involved incendiary bombs, serial killers, film roles and love affairs with flying aces. After her marriage she coped with Eddie’s mistresses, his criminal activities, separations and personal traumas. Coming from humble origins, Betty would, in time, own a beauty business, a health farm and a castle in Ireland, become the friend and confidante of film stars and an African president, and the honoured guest of Middle Eastern royalty. In an age where women were still very much second-class, she became a perfect example of what, in spite of everything, was possible. Much has been written about Eddie Chapman, films have been made, television programmes produced. Yet alongside Eddie for most of his extraordinary life was an equally extraordinary woman: Mrs Zigzag. This book tells the story of the Chapmans’ often fraught but ultimately loving relationship for the first time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752492766
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	04/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	1 - 5 Years

About the Author

NIGEL WEST has written numerous books on security and intelligence topics and was voted ‘The Experts’ Expert’ by The Observer. He is the recipient of the US Association of Former Intelligence Officers’ first Lifetime Literature Achievement Award and has spent many years at the Counterintelligence Centre in Washington DC. His previous books include Churchill’s Spy Files and Spycraft Secrets (2017).

Table of Contents

Foreword 7

Introduction 11

Prologue: Agent Zigzag 15

1 Eddie is dead, long live Eddie 19

2 Spitfires, sabotage and serial killers 29

3 Round and round she goes 41

4 Beauty and the sea 57

5 Ghana 69

6 Kwame Nkrumah, I presume 85

7 A colourful bunch of villains 101

8 Double Cross on Triple Cross 113

9 Shenley 119

10 My home is my (Irish) castle 135

11 A healthy business 147

12 Eddie's last battle 155

13 Reflections 165

Notes 175

Acknowledgements 185

Index 186