W. Somerset Maugham was a British Secret Agent
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William Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular as well as the highest paid authors of the 1930s. Known for his literary works like Liza of Lambeth, Maugham also wrote short stories and served as a playwright.
He worked in Switzerland in the network of British spies that worked against the Berlin Committee. Surprisingly, he ‘disguised’ himself as a writer at that time.
Later, a British Secret Intelligence Service officer William Wiseman sent him to Russia to undertake a special mission. He has a keen eye for observing things which he believed he inherited from his lawyer father. His experience as a spy gave birth to the famous collection of short stories – Ashenden: Or the British Agent. Surprisingly, some believe that this work might have been the primary influence behind the inception of James Bond.