Sir Arthur Temple "Dick" Franks (13 July 1920 – 12 October 2008) was Head of the British

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

from 1979 to 1982.

Career

Educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

and

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, Franks was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals in 1940. He became an

Intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a rank, used in the same way ...

in the Western Desert and then joined the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

. He started his career by "earning a reputation for daring military exploits against Nazi Germany before pursuing a fruitful career on Her Majesty’s secret service." After the War he briefly worked for the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...

'' before joining the Secret Intelligence Service in 1946. He became involved in Operation Boot, a plan to overthrow

Mohammad Mosaddegh Mohammad Mosaddegh ( fa, محمد مصدق, ; 16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967) was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 35th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, after appointment by the 16th Majlis. He was a member of ...

, the nationalistic Iranian

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

in 1953. He was posted to

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

in 1962 and was promoted to Deputy Chief in 1977. He was appointed Chief of the Service in 1978, in place of Brian Stewart, the Director of Support Services.Obituary: Brian Stewart
The Scotsman, 10 September 2015 As Chief, Franks was forced to contend with budget cuts, which he accepted for fear that SIS would otherwise be merged with the Security Service. One of the consequences of these cuts was the virtual closure of the MI6 station in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

– and the sole remaining officer was forbidden from operating out of the British Embassy by Ambassador

Anthony Parsons Sir Anthony Derrick Parsons (9 September 1922 – 12 August 1996) was a British diplomat, ambassador to Iran at the time of the Iranian Revolution and Permanent Representative to the UN at the time of the Falklands War. Career Anthony P ...

– forcing him to instead rent a flat and depend on briefs delivered by SAVAK.

Personal

He lived at

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...

in Suffolk.Obituary: Sir Dick Franks
The Independent, 30 October 2008 Franks was a member of the

Travellers Club The Travellers Club is a private gentlemen's club situated at 106 Pall Mall in London, United Kingdom. It is the oldest of the surviving Pall Mall clubs and one of the most exclusive, having been established in 1819. It was described as "the ...

and still made regular visits into the last years of his life, often reminiscing with old colleagues from the intelligence world. He was nicknamed "Dick" and "Dickie". Sir Colin McColl, former head of MI6, said: “He rankswas extremely effective yet also sensitive, intelligent and a most delightful man.”

References

External links

Daily Telegraph obituary
* Sir Dick Franks entry in '' Who's Who & Who Was Who'' 1920 births 2008 deaths Military personnel from London Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Cold War spies Chiefs of the Secret Intelligence Service People educated at Rugby School Hertfordshire Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War II British Special Operations Executive personnel Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Royal Corps of Signals officers British expatriates in Germany {{UK-gov-bio-stub