Robert Chartham

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Robert Chartham was the pseudonym of Ronald Sydney Seth (5 June 1911,[1] England – 1 February 1985[2]), a British writer who used the name Chartham for his activity as a sexologist and the name Seth for travel books and books about espionage.

As a child Seth was a chorister at Ely Cathedral and a King's Scholar at King's School, Ely.[3] He was educated at Cambridge University.[4]

Appointed Professor of Literature at the University of Tallinn, Seth returned to London at the start of World War II, joining the BBC and helping to start the .[4] In 1941 he was commissioned into the RAF and in 1942 joined the Special Operations Executive.[4] Parachuted into Estonia, he was captured by and later defected to the Germans. He was trained by the Sicherheitsdienst as an agent for a mission to Britain.[5] Seth spent most of the rest of the war as an informer in Oflag 79, but in April 1945 was entrusted with a message of peace by Himmler, which he carried to London via Switzerland.[4]

Chartham's career included teaching and counselling in European universities, lecturing to British university students on "How to Enjoy Sex" and serving as a counsellor in his own London clinic.

He was an editorial consultant to Forum: The International Journal of Human Relations.

During the 1970s Seth lived in Malta with his second wife, Barbara McAdam Seth.[6]

Works[]

as Ronald Seth:

  • Baltic Corner: Travel in Estonia, 1939
  • A Spy Has No Friends, 1952. Republished 2008 by Barbara Seth, Seth's second wife.[7]
  • Secret Servants, a History of Japanese Espionage, 1957
  • Operation Retriever, Before 1958
  • Operation Lama, Before 1958
  • The True Book about the Secret Service, Before 1958
  • Operation Ormer, Before 1958
  • How Spies Work, Before 1958
  • The Spy and the Atom Gun: Introducing Captain Geoffrey Martel of the British Secret Service, 1958
  • For My Name's Sake, 1958
  • Two Fleets Surprised, 1960
  • Anatomy of Spying, 1963
  • Forty Years of Soviet Spying, 1965
  • Caporetto, 1965
  • Russell Pasha, 1966
  • The Russian Terrorists, 1967
  • The Executioners: The Story of SMERSH, 1967
  • The Sleeping Truth: The Hiss-Chambers Affair: the Spy Case that Split a Nation, 1968
  • Spies: Their Trade and Their Tricks, 1969
  • Encyclopedia of Espionage, 1972
  • Jackals of the Reich, 1972

as Dr. Robert Chartham:

  • Mainly for Wives, 1963
  • Sex Manners for Advanced Lovers, 1969
  • The Sensuous Couple, 1971
  • Your Sexual Future, 1973

References[]

  1. ^ HS 9/1344-1345, The National Archives
  2. ^ "SETH.–On February 1st, after a too long illness, Ronald, alias Dr Robert Chartham, aged 73 years", 'Deaths', The Times, 6 February 1985
  3. ^ Information about the author in Unmasked! The story of Soviet espionage
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Obituary, The Times, 5 February 1985.
  5. ^ KV 2/377-380, The National Archives
  6. ^ 'Presentation of paintings to Din l-Art Óelwa', Vigilo 31, April 2007
  7. ^ 'War hero lived to tell tale after gallows failure', Kentish Express, 16 October 2008

External links[]

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