THE LAST SECRET AGENT

The only authorised life story of Pippa Latour, who died in in Auckland in October last year. Pippa Latour parachuted into France on 1 May 1944 and operated as a secret agent for weeks, successfully using her exceptional field skills to remain undetected.

She sent 135 transmissions to the Allied forces in the lead-up to D-Day. During her operation, she posed as a young soap seller, gathering intelligence about the Nazis. She narrowly avoided arrest on several occasions and was interrogated by the Gestapo, showing unbelievable courage under pressure. After the war she remained silent for decades she took the 'secret agent' brief very seriously until her contribution to the liberation of occupied France were officially recognised when she was awarded France's highest order of merit, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. She was 102 when she died last year. She had been the last survivor of the British secret agents who served in France. ht Her life was one that could only be written by the turbulent and colonial history of the early 20th century: born in 1921 on a Belgium ship docked in South Africa to a French father and a British mother, she lost her parents early and grew up with extended family on the African continent. After being sent to a finishing school in Paris, the war broke out and she had to flee, eventually ending up in England, where she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Her remarkable command of various languages (including French) was noticed, and she was trained by the British as a Special Operations Executive. Pippa chose TV personality and award-winning historical documentary producer and writer Jude Dobson to write her authorised memoir. They met many times before her death, and Jude combined Pippa's memories with her own exceptional research skills, and has weaved everything together into a remarkable piece of history.