Valentine Williams

Valentine Williams (1883–1946) was an English journalist and thriller writer who worked for Reuters and the Daily Mail, serving as Berlin correspondent before the First World War. He joined the Irish Guards in 1915, was wounded and decorated, and published The Adventures of an Ensign in 1917 under a pseudonym while still in uniform. The Man with the Clubfoot in 1918 introduced Dr. Adolph Grundt, the German master spy who became his best-known villain across a dozen novels. He later worked in Hollywood and, during the Second World War, for British intelligence in the United States, where he died. His memoir, The World of Action, appeared in 1938.