Inquiry: Brian Garfield: THE MEINERTZHAGEN MYSTERY: THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF A COLOSSAL FRAUD

Richard Meinertzhagen was one of most controversial and exciting figures of the Twentieth Century. There are several histories written and movies made about his life. He was a star of military intelligence in both World Wars.  His legendary “Haversack Ruse” helped turn the tide of World War I. He had a “license to kill” and was the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s James Bond. He was an important supporter of the Zionist cause who met with Hitler three times. Finally he was one of the stars of British ornithology that collected thousands of key specimens during his countless adventures around Europe, Asia and Africa and single-handedly rewrote the ornithology of many parts of the world. But he was also a serial fabulist, an unrepentant fraud, and much of the most often cited episodes of his life were total fiction. This includes many of his discoveries in ornithology.  Tonight on Inquiry, we have a lively conversation with award-winning writer and historian BRIAN GARFIELD about his important and quite bizarre biography THE MEINERTZHAGEN MYSTERY: THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF A COLOSSAL FRAUD.