4. Graham Greene Worked for MI6

Greene’s long and varied intelligence career took place alongside his successful one as a writer. He had murky connections with possible pre-war intelligence groups in Ireland and Europe, and in 1941, his sister Elizabeth, station head for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in Cairo, decided to bring Graham into the fold. During this tipping point in the North African conflict, he was sent to work counter-intelligence in Sierra Leone, where the Nazi-aligned Vichy French had a strong presence.

Afterward, Greene was sent to England to operate in the Iberian section of MI6, where the head of his department was Kim Philby, who achieved notoriety later as the most successful Soviet mole in the Cold War. Greene worked closely with Philby and they became friends, but when Philby suppressed reports from Greene’s agents in Germany that suggested Hitler could be removed without the necessity for a full-scale Soviet invasion, their friendship soured and he requested a transfer. Greene’s suspicions about Philby’s KGB involvement are unclear, but it has been suggested that Philby’s betrayal was a source of inspiration for Harry Lime in The Third Man. After leaving the offices of MI6, Greene continued to carry out intelligence work for the organization in Europe, the USSR and China, often using research for his latest novel as his cover.