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BERNARD NEWMAN

1897 - 1968

Writing as: Don Betteridge, Bernard Newman


According to Wikipedia: "Bernard Newman (8 May 1897 – 19 February 1968) was a British writer of 138 books, both fiction and non-fiction. His works have been translated into over 20 languages including Japanese and Braille. An historian, he was considered an authority on spies, but also wrote books concerning travel and politics. His fiction included mystery novels, plays, science fiction and children's books.

He was a great-nephew of the 19th-century author George Eliot, and the father of the romance writer Margaret Potter, who was married to writer Jeremy Potter.

Serving in combat during World War I, with reasonable fluency in French, his regiment's French liaison officer occasionally used him to go undercover in Paris. Accompanied by a female French agent, they investigated casual talk by Allied soldiers about troop movements. It was here that his interest in espionage began, and his character 'Papa Pontivy' was based on the French liaison officer.

He ended the war as a staff sergeant, although in a lecture during 1942, he was introduced as a captain. Afterwards, having lost his desire for further education, he obtained a modest job as a civil servant with the Ministry of Works. He began writing and became a lecturer and passionate traveller, visiting more than 60 countries during the interbellum, many of those on bike. He gave some 2,000 lectures between 1928 and 1940 throughout Europe, even meeting Adolf Hitler. He started writing novels, gaining some recognition with his 1930 novel The Cavalry Went Through.

From 1936 to 1938, he was the first chairman of the Society of Civil & Public Service Writers.

During the early part of World War II, Newman was in France, witnessing some of the invasion by the Germans. For the next five years, he became a staff lecturer at the Ministry of Information and wrote patriotic British novels like Siegfried Spy and Death to the Fifth Column. The novel Secret Weapon featured Winston Churchill. During 1942, he was sent to Canada and the United States to lecture there on the British and the war. In Washington, he encountered President Franklin Roosevelt and lectured for senators and other major officials. He also was a guest in national and local radio broadcasts throughout the country. Returning to the United Kingdom during late 1942, he reversed his role and lectured throughout the country about America.

Newman was also considered an authority on spies and wrote Epics of Espionage and the novel Spy. His 1945 collection of 31 short stories, Spy Catchers, was praised as one of the best books ever written concerning counterespionage."



Series Books
Don Betteridge
 
Tiger Lester Balkan Spy (1942)
  The Escape of General Gerard (1943)
  Dictator's Destiny (1945)
  The Potsdam Murder Plot (1947)
  Spies Left! (1950)
  Not Single Spies (1951)
  Spy Counter-Spy (1953)
  The Case of the Berlin Spy (1954)
  The Gibraltar Conspiracy (1955)
  Otan Plot, The (1957)
  The Spies of Peenemunde (1958)
  Contact Man (1960)
  The Package Holiday Spy Case (1962)
 
Other Cast Iron Alibi [Peter Darrell] (1939)
  Scotland Yard Alibi [Peter Darrell] (1938)
 
Bernard Newman
 
Bernard Newman Spy (1935)
  Secret Servant (1935)
  The Mussolini Murder Plot (1936)
  Death Under Gibraltar (1938)
  Maginot Line Murder (1939)
  Death To The Spy (1939)
  Siegfried Spy (1939)
  Death To The Fifth Column (1941)
  Secret Weapon (1942)
  Black Market (1942)
  Second Front - First Spy (1944)
  The Spy In The Brown Derby (1945)
  Dead Man Murder (1946)
  Moscow Murder (1948)
  Cup Final Murder (1950)
  Centre Court Murder (1951)
  Double Menace (1954)
  Operation Barbarossa (1956)
  The Otan Plot (1957)
  Silver Greyhound (1960)
  This is Your Life (1963)
  The Travelling Executioners (1964)
  The Spy at No. 10 (1965)
  Evil Phoenix (1966)
  Draw the Dragon's Teeth (1967)
  The Jail-Breakers (1968)
  The Wholesale Spy (ss) (1945)
  Spy Trap (ss) (1945)
  V.I Flying Bomb (ss) (1945)
  Papa Pontivy and the I.R.A. (ss) (1945)
  The Trial Of Marius Derocq (ss) (1945)
  The Rat Trap (ss) (1945)
 
Inspector Marshall Spy (1935)
  Secret Servant (1935)
  The Mussolini Murder Plot (1936)
  Death Under Gibraltar (1938)
  Black Market (1942)
  Second Front - First Spy (1944)
  Dead Man Murder (1946)
  Moscow Murder (1948)
  Cup Final Murder (1950)
  Centre Court Murder (1951)
  Double Menace (1954)
  Silver Greyhound (1960)
  This is Your Life (1963)
  The Travelling Executioners (1964)
  The Spy at No. 10 (1965)
  The Jail-Breakers (1968)
  Radio Spy (ss) (1945)
  The Wholesale Spy (ss) (1945)
  Spy Trap (ss) (1945)
  Papa Pontivy and the I.R.A. (ss) (1945)
 
Papa Pontivy Maginot Line Murder (1939)
  Death To The Spy (1939)
  Siegfried Spy (1939)
  Death To The Fifth Column (1941)
  Secret Weapon (1942)
  Black Market (1942)
  Second Front - First Spy (1944)
  The Spy In The Brown Derby (1945)
  Dead Man Murder (1946)
  Moscow Murder (1948)
  Double Menace (1954)
  Operation Barbarossa (1956)
  The Otan Plot (1957)
  Silver Greyhound (1960)
  This is Your Life (1963)
  The Travelling Executioners (1964)
  The Spy at No. 10 (1965)
  Evil Phoenix (1966)
  Draw the Dragon's Teeth (1967)
  The Jail-Breakers (1968)
  The Biggest Picture In The World (ss) (1945)
  The Wholesale Spy (ss) (1945)
  22.50 To Vallorbe (ss) (1945)
  Papa Pontivy and the I.R.A. (ss) (1945)
  The Trial Of Marius Derocq (ss) (1945)
 
Other Albanian Back-Door [NF] (1936)
  Albanian Journey [NF] (1935)
  American Journey [NF] (1943)
  Anthology Of Armageddon [NF] (1935)
  Armoured Doves: A Peace Book [NF] (1931)
  A Bachelor Girl: A Comedy Sketch (1920)
  Background To Viet-Nam [NF] (1965)
  Balkan Background [NF] (1944)
  Balkans: Horizons D'hier Et Dáujourd'hui [NF] (1946)
  Baltic Backgound [NF] (1948)
  Baltic Roundabout [NF] (1939)
  Behind The Berlin Wall [NF] (1964)
  Berlin And Back [NF] (1954)
  The Blue Ants: The Russian-Chinese War Of 1970 [NF] (1963)
  The Blue Danube: Black Forest To Black Sea [NF] (1935)
  The Bosworth Story [NF] (1967)
  Both Sides Of The Pyrenees [NF] (1952)
  British Journey [NF] (1945)
  Bulgarian Background [NF] (1961)
  The Captured Archives: The Story Of The Nazi-Soviet Documents. [NF] (1948)
  The Cavalry Goes Through! [NF] (1930)
  Cycling in France [NF] (1936)
  Danger Spots Of Europe [NF] (1938)
  The Dangerous Age [NF] (1967)
  Day Walks In The Yorkshire Dales [NF] (2010)
  Death At Lord's (1952)
  Death in the Valley (1934)
  Death of a Harlot (1934)
  Epics Of Espionage [NF] (1950)
  The Face Of Poland [NF] (1940)
  Far Eastern Journey: Across India And Pakistan To Formosa [NF] (1961)
  The Flying Saucer [NF] (1948)
  France (Let's Visit Places And Peoples Of The World) [NF] (1983)
  German Secret Service At Work [NF] (1940)
  Hosanna! [NF] (1933)
  I Saw Spain [NF] (1937)
  In The Trail Of The Three Musketeers [NF] (1934)
  Inquest On Mata Hari [NF] (1956)
  The Lazy Meuse [NF] (1949)
  Let's Visit France [NF] (1967)
  Let's Visit Malaysia And Her Neighbours [NF] (1965)
  Let's Visit South Africa [NF] (1967)
  Let's Visit Vietnam [NF] (1983)
  Mediterranean Background [NF] (1949)
  Morocco Today [NF] (1953)
  Mr. Kennedy's America [NF] (1962)
  My Hospital in the Hills [NF] (1957)
  The New Europe [NF] (1942)
  The New Poland [NF] (1968)
  News From The East [NF] (1948)
  North African Journey [NF] (1955)
  Oberammergau Journey [NF] (1951)
  On The Trail Of The Three Muskateers [NF] (1973)
  One Hundred Years Of Good Company [NF] (1957)
  One Man's Year [NF] (1941)
  Pedalling Poland [NF] (1935)
  The People Of Poland [NF] (1940)
  Portrait Of Poland [NF] (1959)
  Portrait Of The Shires [NF] (1968)
  Presenting People Living Dangerously [NF] (1961)
  The Red Spider Web: The Story Of Russian Spying In Canada [NF] (1947)
  Report On Indo-China [NF] (1953)
  Ride To Rome [NF] (1953)
  Ride To Russia [NF] (1938)
  Round About Andorra [NF] (1928)
  Round The World In Seventy Days [NF] (1964)
  Russia's Neighbour - The New Poland [NF] (1946)
  Savoy! Corsica! Tunis! [NF] (1940)
  Secrets Of German Espionage [NF] (1940)
  Shoot! (1949)
  The Sisters Alsace-Lorraine [NF] (1950)
  South African Journey [NF] (1965)
  Soviet Atomic Spies [NF] (1952)
  Spain On A Shoestring [NF] (1957)
  Spain Revisited [NF] (1966)
  Speaking From Memory [NF] (1960)
  Spies In Britain [NF] (1964)
  Spy and Counter-spy [NF] (1970)
  Still Flows The Danube [NF] (1955)
  The Story Of Poland [NF] (1940)
  Taken At The Flood [NF] (1958)
  They Saved London [NF] (1952)
  The Three Germanies [NF] (1957)
  Tito's Yugoslavia [NF] (1951)
  To Russia And Back [NF] (1967)
  Turkey And The Turks [NF] (1968)
  Turkish Crossroads [NF] (1951)
  Unknown France [NF] (1963)
  Unknown Germany [NF] (1958)
  Unknown Yugoslavia [NF] (1960)
  Visa To Russia [NF] (1959)
  The Wishful Think [NF] (1954)
  The World Of Espionage [NF] (1962)
  Your Future In The High Fidelity Industry [NF] (1900)
  Yours For Action [NF] (1953)