Mark Seaman Biography

Mark Seaman is a military historian who for nearly forty years has specialised in the study of intelligence and special operations. He was an historian at the Imperial War Museum from 1980 to 2002 during which time he was the historical adviser for an exhibition on European Resistance, curated the permanent gallery ‘Secret War’ and organised the first international conference on the Special Operations Executive. In 2002 he joined the Cabinet Office and has collaborated on official works on SOE and the authorised history of the Secret Intelligence Service – MI6 by Keith Jeffery.

His publications include Bravest of the Brave – the true story of Wing Commander ‘Tommy’ Yeo-Thomas, The Secret Agent’s Handbook, Garbo – the spy who saved D-Day, Operation Foxley: the British plan to kill Hitler and SOE – a new instrument of war. He has written for numerous publications including The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and the Times Literary Supplement. He has broadcast extensively on radio and television and acted as historical adviser on several film and television productions.

How I Found the Agency

I first encountered Andrew Lownie many moons ago when he was still with John Farquharson. Following the establishment of his own agency, Andrew represented me on the sale of my biography of the SOE agent ‘Tommy’ Yeo-Thomas and a collection of historical anecdotes entitled The Rest is History. Our shared interest in intelligence history has helped keep us in touch even when I didn’t have anything for Andrew to sell. So, when ‘Saboteur’ was finally completed after many, many years of gestation, it was the natural thing to put it into his hands.