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David Walker

David Esdaile Walker (* 15. September 1907 in Darjeeling; † 24. October 1968 in Malta) was a British journalist, writer and war correspondent who also worked as undercover agent for MI6 (Military Intelligence).

Kestrel

David Esdaile Walker
Education	Ampleforth

Early life

David Esdaile Walker was the only child of Major General Sir Ernest Walker and Mary Powell, who met in India, where David Walker was born. He was brought to Britain at the age of three and was only to see his parents ocassionally after that. Walker was educated at the Roman Catholic Public School Ampleforth College, in Yorkshire, where he was succesful both academically and in sports (he was captain of The School Rugby Team in his last year). He went up to Christ Church College Oxford but had to leave university when he was suddenly struck with tuberculosis. A biographical account of the experiences in a sanatorium for tuberculosis sufferers before the discovery of penicilin is given in his work "Eat, Drink and be Merry". As a result of his disease, Walker underwent a successful pneumonectomy and consequently had to live with a greatly weakened heart for the rest of his life. Despite this, he chain-smoked about fifty cigarettes a day.

Career

David Walker was active as a foreign correspondent for the Daily Mirror between 1936 and 1952 and from 1939 to 1941 he worked as a correspondent for Reuters in the Balcans. He also worked for British Intelligence, MI6, in Switzerland, Greece and the Balcans. In 1940 he met Heinrich Pfeiffer an SD defector and obtained extensive information from Pfeiffer about SS and Gestapo security. Some of this is described in Walker's book "Lunch with a Stranger" in which Pfeiffer is given the name Schneider.

From 1943 to 1944 Walker was the main correspondent for The Times and for The Christian Science Monitor in Lisbon. Walker covered the Ardennes Offensive in 1944, also known as The Battle of the Bulge, the Korean War and the Suez crisis. From 1945 to 1955 he was based in Paris. From 1955 to 1959 he was the chief leader writer for the News Chronicle until it ceased publication in 1960. He was working for the News Chronicle when the paper closed. In the last years of his life he worked in London for Crawfords, the Public Relations Agents. He died of heart failure during a business trip to Malta in 1968. His memorial service in St. Bride's London [[1]] was attended by many journalists including his friend James Cameron (journalist) , who wrote and read the eulogy.

Family

David Walker married the painter and MI6 colleague Rosalys Amie Campbell ("Osu") in Lisbon 1943 who survived him. They had one child, Michael, who was born in London in 1954.

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Bibliography

Novels

• Eat, Drink and be Merry, 1933 (under the name David Esdaile).
• Diamonds for Moscow, 1953 (Filmed as "A Man could get killed" in 1966)
• Adventure in Diamonds, 1954 (Filmed as "Adventure in Diamonds" in 1959)
• The Rigoville Match, 1955

Biography and Travel

• Death at my Heels, 1942
• Civilian Attack, 1943
• We Went to Australia, 1949
• I go where I am sent, 1952
• Lunch with a Stranger, 1957'

Essays and Nonfiction

• Religion in the Reich, 1939 (under the pseudonym Michael Power)
• The Greek Miracle, 1942 (under the pseudonym "Athenian": "translated and with a forward by David Walker")
• The Modern Smuggler, 1960''

Children's Books

• The Fat Cat Pimpernel, 1958
• Pimpernel and the Poodle, 1959