A sketchy Scotsman

A laconic article in The Scotsman informs its readership of the poet-spy who floated in its midst decades ago. Compton Mackenzie worked for MI6—the British secret service—before writing a tome titled, apparently, Whisky Galore. (If that doesn't ring a bell: the book was then adapted into the film Whisky Galore!)

The spy didn't bother keeping his poetic tendencies quiet.

As head of the Eastern Mediterranean Special Intelligence Bureau (EMSIB) during the First World War, he was reputed to have sent reports in blank verse. As one reply read: "We like your poetical reports immensely. Please send more."

Other reviews were mixed, and/or racist.

While his colleagues at the domestic secret service, MI5, complained of his "extravagant verbiage", they also praised him and said: "However flamboyant his methods, they irritate and unsettle the local Boche."