WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Undetected: Nicholas Elliott

Episode Date: February 10, 2024

This week, Megan and Alessia explore the life of Nicholas Elliott, a British intelligence officer whose impressive activities of espionage were overshadowed by his best friend and traitor, Kim Philby.

Welcome to Undetected. I'm Alessia. And I'm Megan. This is where we uncover the stories of spies throughout history that no one was supposed to know about. The feature of today's episode is Nicholas Elliott. Elliot was the subject of Ben McIntyre's book, A Spy Among Friends, and The Show of the Same Name. Elliot was born on November 15, 1916, in London as the son of Claude Aurelius Elliott, a dawn at Cambridge University and headmaster of Eaton College. According to McIntyre, Elliot grew up in the shadow of his accomplished yet distant father, yearning to earn his approval. After Elliot eventually graduated from Trinity College at Cambridge, he expressed interest in joining the British intelligence services.

Over a glass of champagne in the hog, he spoke to a high-ranking intelligence officer, who told him something along the lines of, I'm glad you asked me for something so easy in response to Elliot's request. During the war, he was stationed in Istanbul, where he recruited agents, and after the war ended, Elliot moved around different SIS stations as station head until he eventually ended up in Beirut, where he stayed from 1960 to 1962. Elliot suffered criticism after a failed mission involving the suspected death of Leon O'Krab, who was a Royal Navy Frogman that was employed by MI6 and was acting under Elliott. Alessia, do we really know what happened to Lionel Crab?

We don't exactly know what happened to him, however some suspect that he died of equipment failure while diving on a mission against the Soviets in 1956. Seeing how much Elliott's reputation tanked after this occurrence, we can see the burden of responsibility on intelligence officers concerning the lives of those who serve under them. Elliot came under similar, if not worse, criticism concerning his best friend, Kim Filby. If you haven't heard of Elliot before, this man may be part of the reason why. Elliot met Kim Filby after they both joined the SIS. The two of them had a great deal in common and quickly became best friends.

However, Philby had a dark secret he kept not only from Elliot, but the whole world. Elliot and Filby were such close friends that Elliot even defended Philby against accusations of Philby's being involved in a Soviet spy ring, known as the Cambridge Five. Years later, Philby was found to be a true Soviet mole. Elliot eventually confronted Philby in Beirut, but Filby was able to escape with the help of those he was working for. Philby's actions led to the loss of many American and British agents in the Soviet Union, which set back Western espionage by decades, and led to Elliot briefly being under suspicion.

There is still a great deal of uncertainty about whether Elliot allowed his friend of 23 years to escape to the Soviet Union, or if Philby really did just give him the slip. Elliot's book, With My Little Eye, details his last communications with Philby. Elliot retired in 1963 and died in London on April 13, 1994. He was 77 years old. Wow, Megan, can you imagine being betrayed by your friend of 23 years? Yeah, Alessia, his closest friend, the man he trusted so much,

ended up being the one that was undermining the operations that Elliot had dedicated his life to. Yeah, it's a tragedy. I'm sure we'll continue to see tensions between patriotism and friendship throughout these stories. I'm Megan. And I'm Alessia. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Undetected. Tune in next week to hear the story of the woman the Nazis deemed the most dangerous allied spy, Virginia Hall.