Bhagat Ram Talwar, a Hindu Pathan from the Northwest Frontier Province of British India, was the only quintuple spy of World War II, spying for Britain, Italy, Germany, Japan and the USSR. His exploits and the people he worked with were truly remarkable. His spying missions saw him walk back and forth 24 times from Peshawar to Kabul eluding capture and certain death. He fooled the Germans so successfully that they gave him £ 2.5 million, in today’s money, and awarded him the Iron Cross. His British spymaster was Peter Fleming, the brother of Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond. Fleming, operating from the gardens of the Viceroy’s House in wartime Delhi, gave him the code name Silver. Talwar became a spy after he helped Subhas Chandra Bose escape India via Kabul. Bose was seeking help from Germany and Japan to free India and never discovered that Talwar was betraying him to the British. Talwar settled in UP after India won independence; he died of natural causes in 1983.
Based on research in previously classified files of the Indian, British, Russian and other governments, The Indian Spy tells for the first time the full story of the most extraordinary agent of World War II.
Author info
Mihir Bose is a London-based award-winning author and journalist. His History of Indian Cricket was the first Indian cricket book to win the UK’s Cricket Society Literary Award. In the UK, he has won Business Columnist of the Year and Sports Reporter of the Year. Loughborough University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate for outstanding contribution to journalism and promotion of equality. His 28 books range from biography, including one on Subhas Chandra Bose (no relation), history, business, sport and the only narrative history of Bollywood. His most recent book, From Midnight to Glorious Morning?, charts how India has changed since Independence.
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