David Pelham Guthrie-James, MBE, DSC (25 December 1919 – 15 December 1986) was a British Conservative Party politician, author and adventurer. Biography Early life and education James was born in 1919, the oldest son of Sir Archibald James and Bridget James Miller (née Guthrie). He went first to Summer Fields School in Oxford and then Eton. He left Eton at the age of 17, sailing round the world "before the mast" in the 4-masted barque Viking as a trainee officer. He then joined his father on a trip to Spain where he observed the ongoing Spanish Civil War. In 1938 he went up to Balliol College, Oxford, to read geography, but left after four terms to join the RNVR, having been awarded an honorary wartime degree. Wartime service In June 1940, James became a midshipman on HMS Drake. Later on he served on an armed merchant cruiser patrolling the Denmark Strait. In December 1941, he became the second in command of Motor Gun Boat No.63 operating out of Felixstowe. In the early hours of Sunday 28 February 1943, his then vessel MGB 79, was sunk in action off the Hook of Holland. James and three of his crew were rescued from the water by a German trawler and were taken prisoner, later earned the DSC for this action. He was sent to Marlag O, the naval prisoner-of-war camp near Westertimke. He attempted to escape in December 1943, slipping out of the shower block on a foggy morning, then crossed Germany wearing his full British naval uniform, but with forged papers identifying him as "I. Bagerov" of the Bulgarian Navy. This name was chosen as a joke, so that when asked who he was he would reply “Bugger off”. James made it as far as the port of Lübeck and had made contact with the crew of a Swedish ship willing to smuggle him out of the country before he was arrested, and returned to the camp. His second escape in late 1944 used the same method, relying on the corrupt shower-block guards not to report their own short head-count. James again headed for the Baltic coast, posing as a merchant seaman, and this time made it to Sweden. His successful escape earned him an Order of the British Empire and a spot at the Naval Intelligence Division where he lectured his colleagues on escape methods. Believing that his experience would