Bernard Charles 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. Personal life Newman was born on 8 May 1897 in Ibstock, Leicestershire, England, one of six children of Annie (Garner) and William Betteridge Newman, a cattle dealer and farmer. He was a great-nephew of the 19th century author George Eliot. On 23 August 1923 he married Marjorie Edith Donald, a former teacher. They had three daughters Margaret Edith, Hilary, and Lauriston. On 20 July 1966, he married second with Helen Johnston. He died in Harrow, London, on 19 February 1968. Career and works 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