Resources

This area of the website provides information as to where further written or published information about Maxwell Knight may be found. Two books have been written specifically about Maxwell Knight – Masters (1984) and Hemming (2017). Additionally, in Christopher Andrew’s “The Defence of the Realm” (Penguin 2009), the first-ever authorised account of the British Security Service, Andrew’s reveals that Knight was a ‘self-taught agent-runner, who later joined the Security Service’ – after serving in Sir George Makgill’s private Industial Intelligence (IIB) and that ‘Some of Knight’s self-taught intelligence tradecraft derived from his study of animal behaviour.’

Maxwell knight is also referred to in numerous texts, a number relating to his MI5 activities, many about natural history. Some of these will be listed as this part of the website evolves.
Insight into Maxwell knight’s character can be gained from his own publications – in some more than others. Thus, for example, in his “Animals and ourselves” (Hodder and Stoughton, 1962) Knight reveals and explains many of his more personal feelings about our (human) relationships with the Animal Kingdom, including discussion of such sensitive topics as field sports and the use of laboratory animals in research.

During his post-War, “naturalist” career, Maxwell Knight wrote many articles about natural history and pet-keeping for journals, magazines and newspapers. He also prepared reports for the Camberley natural History Society (of which he was founder President) and publications of other organisations and clubs. This, as yet unexplored area of his writing will in due course form the basis of a student project and a comprehensive list will be produced of Maxwell Knight’s little-known (sometimes unknown) contributions to literature.

Maxwell Knight’s films and the recordings of his broadcasts also warrant proper collation and analysis. This too is planned.