The Ipcress File Trivia Quiz

Answer: He's un-named

Deighton wrote a number of spy thrillers featuring the secret agent who first appeared in the 'Ipcress File' including 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Spy', 'Spy Story', 'Horse Under Water', 'Billion Dollar Brain' and 'Funeral In Berlin' but he never mentions the character's name. The only mention of a name in the 'Ipcress File' is when a contact addresses the hero as Harry which prompts the line, 'Now my name isn't Harry, but in this business it's hard to remember whether it ever had been.' He also carries false business cards for Bertram Loess & Brian Serck. Apparently Michael Caine himself suggested Harry Palmer for his character's name in the movie version. Carter and Charlie are characters played by Michael Caine in 'Get Carter' and 'The Italian Job' respectively.

Answer: 1962

The book was published in the same year that the first James Bond movie, 'Dr No', was released. The Bond movies glamorised spying and thrilled audiences with gadgets, fast cars and faster women. The 'Ipcress File' became an immediate bestseller, popular with readers for showing the seedier and perhaps more realistic side of espionage.

The hero's main concerns seem to be his overdue back pay and inadequate expense allowance.

Answer: WOOC(P)

At the start of the book he is serving in Military Intelligence under Ross. He then transfers to a civilian intelligence branch known as WOOC(P) who are investigating the disappearance of scientists. It is never made clear what the letters WOOC(P) stand for.

Answer: Dalby

Dalby is head of WOOC(P) which has various cover names including: The Ex-Officers' Employment Bureau, Acme Films Cutting Rooms, B. Isaacs. Tailor and Dalby Inquiry Bureau. It is Dalby that turns out to be the double agent. Ross is the hero's previous boss in Military intelligence, Carswell is a Captain from a unit called H.38 who is seconded to WOOC(P) to carry out statistical analysis and Sergeant Murray is Captain Carswell's assistant.

Answer: The Lebanese mountains and a Pacific atoll

Dalby and the hero rescue a kidnapped scientist in a roadside ambush in Lebanon. Later Dalby, the anonymous hero and his assistant, Jean, travel to a Pacific atoll to observe a test of an atomic bomb. It is here that the hero learns he is the main suspect as the double agent.

Answer: Raven

All people under long term surveillance have bird codenames. In the movie he is referred to as Professor Radcliffe. Jay is the head of the organisation responsible for kidnapping scientists and House Martin is one of his operatives.

Answer: Hungary

He is told he is being deported to Hungary to be exchanged for two pilots but actually he is drugged and taken to Wood Green in London to be brainwashed.

Answer: Christian Stakowski, Polish

Jay's dossier refers to him as Christian Stakowski and being recruited into Polish Army Intelligence in 1942. Barney Barnes is an American intelligence officer who warns the hero on the Pacific atoll that he is the suspected traitor. Henry Carpenter is one of the cover names used by Jay and Erik Ashley Grantby was the name used for Jay in the movie.

Answer: MI5

MI5 work for the Home Office and are concerned with counter espionage and national security issues whereas MI6 work for the Foreign Office and are concerned with intelligence issues originating outside of the UK although their responsibilities overlap. Special Branch are the division of the Police who would investigate espionage or terrorist related activities. CIA or Central Intelligence Agency are the US equivalent of MI6. KGB or Komitet Gosurdarstvennoi Bezopasnosti (which stands for Committee for State Security) is the Soviet intelligence service.

Answer: A method of brainwashing

IPCRESS stands for Induction of Psycho-neuroses by Conditioned Reflex with strESS and is a form of brainwashing involving isolation and disorientation. It is used when interrogating and brainwashing the kidnapped scientists.