Now You Can Own A Secret World War 2 Bunker For Nearly Rs 2 Crore ndtv.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ndtv.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
GEORGE John Charles Mercer Nairne Petty-Fitzmaurice, the 8th Marquess of Lansdowne (1912-1999) Minister of State for the Colonies (April, 1962-October, 1964) is perhaps better known in Sarawak and Sabah as Lansdowne, Chairman of the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC). The IGC was tasked to prepare a blue print to lay the groundwork for the merger of the Borneo territories with Singapore and Malaya.
The IGC Report purported to articulate among other constitutional matters, safeguards for the Borneo territories. However, it did not go to the extent of delineating the right of these territories – as prospective equal partners – to secede from the proposed federation despite a strong representation made to the Cobbold Commission for such right (Para. 47, Report of the Commission of Enquiry, North Borneo and Sarawak, June, 1962)
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.