Acursory look at Sir Arthur Temple Franks’ entry in Who’s Who would suggest a somewhat unremarkable life of wartime military service and foreign office postings spanning some 40 years.

Yet his life was anything but ordinary. Franks, who has died at the age of 88, was for four years chief of the Secret Intelligence Service – MI6. Known as Dickie, he started out by earning a reputation for daring military exploits against Nazi Germany before pursuing a fruitful career on Her Majesty’s secret service – not without controversy.