Marcus Bloom (pictured above) was a businessman before he joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE)
Marcus Bloom was an unlikely spy. A bon viveur who followed a playboy lifestyle of swish apartments, expense accounts and beautiful women, he was far from the dashing, image of a secret agent.
He drove a pale blue convertible Delage classic car, an icon of French style, was often seen at the wheel sporting a white pilot s flying helmet, and owned a Great Dane called Sphinx.
In his mid-30s with a balding head, reddish moustache and a figure turned decidedly portly from the good life, he even struggled to enlist at the start of World War Two.