Tuesday 6th June 2023
Difficulty: Hard
Monty's Double (Quiz #200)
Clifton James posing as Field Marshal Montgomery (Public domain)
M.E. Clifton James (1898-1963) was an actor and soldier, whose resemblance to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery was used by British intelligence as part of a deception campaign in the period leading up to D-Day during the Second World War.
1. Shortly before D-Day, Lieutenant-Colonel J. V. B. Jervis-Reid, head of Ops (B), a British military deception planning department, noticed Clifton James' resemblance to Montgomery. How did James come to Jervis-Reid's attention?
2. Clifton James was sent on trips to Gibraltar, Algiers, and Cairo on Churchill's personal aircraft, in order to give the Germans the impression that Montgomery himself was planning to invade southern France. How many of the following were differences between James and Montgomery that had to be overcome, in order to convince the Germans that James was in fact Montgomery?
- James had a finger missing, while Montgomery didn't
- James wore glasses, while Montgomery did not
- James was a heavy drinker, while Montgomery was teetotal
- James was a smoker, while Montgomery wasn't
- James spoke with a strong Geordie accent, while Montgomery did not
3. Clifton James's story was told in the 1958 film I Was Monty's Double. Who played the role of Clifton James?
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