Major-General Sir Edward Louis Spears, 1st Baronet, (7 August 1886 – 27 January 1974) was a British Army officer and politician. He served as a liaison officer between British and French forces during both World Wars. From 1917 to 1920, he was head of the British Military Mission in Paris, concluding the First World War as a brigadier-general. Between the wars, he was a Member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. During the Second World War, he resumed his role as an Anglo-French liaison officer, holding the rank of major-general.
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Family and early life
Spears was born on 7 August 1886 at 7 Chaussée de la Muette in the Passy district of Paris. His parents, Charles McCarthy Spiers and Melicent Marguerite Lucy Hack, were British residents of France. His paternal grandfather, Alexander Spiers, was a lexicographer known for publishing an English-French and French-English dictionary in 1846, which was widely used in French colleges.
During his childhood, his parents separated, and his maternal grandmother played a significant role in his upbringing. He moved frequently with his grandmother, including to Menton, Aix-les-Bains, Switzerland, Brittany, and Ireland. As an infant, he contracted diphtheria and typhoid and was considered physically delicate. However, after two years at a boarding school in Germany, his health improved, and he became a strong swimmer and athlete. His friends referred to him by the name Louis.
In 1918, Spears changed the spelling of his surname from Spiers to Spears. He stated that this change was due to frequent mispronunciations of his original name, though it has been suggested that he sought a name that appeared more English, particularly given his rank as a brigadier-general and his position as head of the British Military Mission to the French War Office. He denied having Jewish ancestry, but his great-grandfather, Isaac Spiers of Gosport, was married to Hannah Moses, a shopkeeper from the same town. His ancestry was known at the time; in 1918, the French ambassador in London referred to him as "a very able and intriguing Jew who insinuates himself everywhere".
Army service before First World War
In 1903, Spears joined the Kildare Militia, the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He acquired the nickname "Monsieur Beaucaire", a reference to the protagonist of a novel by the same name. The nickname remained with him, used by both of his wives, with his first wife often shortening it to "B."
In 1906, he was commissioned into the regular army with the 8th Royal Irish Hussars. That same year, he published a translation of Lessons of the Russo-Japanese War, a book by a French general. His upbringing, which involved instruction from a series of tutors, had not prepared him for socializing in military circles, and he struggled to adapt to life in the officers' mess. He was known to be tactless and argumentative, often positioning himself as an outsider—something that characterized much of his life.
In 1911, Spears worked at the War Office on the development of a joint Anglo-French codebook. He continued his interest in military translations, publishing Cavalry Tactical Schemes, another translated French military text, in 1914. In May of that year, he was sent to Paris to work at the French Ministry of War, tasked with establishing contact with British agents in Belgium.
With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Spears left Paris for the front on the orders of his colonel at the War Office. He later claimed that he was the first British officer to reach the front lines.
First World War
Linguistic barriers
Language barriers significantly hindered cooperation between the British and French armies during World War I, with many officers lacking proficiency in each other's languages. British soldiers who had difficulty pronouncing French place names developed their own versions of these names. French place names also posed difficulties for senior officers. In the spring of 1915, Spears was instructed to pronounce French place names in an anglicized manner so that General Sir William Robertson, the newly appointed Chief of Staff, could understand them.
On the French side, few commanders were fluent in English. In this linguistic environment, the bilingual Spears played a significant role. Despite holding the junior rank of lieutenant in the Hussars, he established connections with senior British and French military and political figures, relationships that would later prove influential in his career.
Early liaison work
On 14 August 1914, Spears was sent to the Ardennes to act as a liaison between Field Marshal Sir John French and General Charles Lanrezac, commander of the French 5th Army. His role was complicated by Lanrezac’s secrecy and dismissive attitude toward the British. With the German advance moving rapidly, allied commanders had to make quick decisions without consultation, while their constantly relocating headquarters made coordination difficult. To relay crucial information, Spears traveled by car between headquarters on roads crowded with refugees and retreating troops. Telephone communications were unreliable, with Spears describing frequent delays; on occasion, he was mistakenly connected to advancing German forces. In such cases, he attempted to pose as a German to gather intelligence, but his language skills were insufficient to maintain the deception.
On 23 August 1914, General Lanrezac abruptly decided to retreat, a move that would have left the British flank exposed. Spears relayed this information to Sir John French just in time, saving the army. The next day, he urged Lanrezac to counterattack, warning that if his decision led to the destruction of the British Army, England would never forgive France, and France, in turn, would not be able to afford to forgive him.
In September, Spears again asserted himself when General Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, Lanrezac's successor, reacted to an incorrect report of a British retreat by making disparaging remarks about the British and their commander. Spears demanded an apology from Franchet d’Espèrey’s chief of staff, which was granted. He also suggested that Sir John French meet with Franchet d’Espèrey to resolve the misunderstanding, which took place a few days later. Spears remained with the French Fifth Army during the First Battle of the Marne, riding on horseback behind Franchet d’Espèrey when Reims was liberated on 13 September.
Liaison duties – French Tenth Army
Spears remained with Franchet d’Espèrey after the Battle of the Marne until late September 1914, when he was assigned as liaison officer to the French 10th Army under General Louis de Maud’huy near Arras. The two developed a strong rapport, and at Maud’huy’s recommendation, Spears was made a "Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur".
In January 1915, he was wounded for the first time and repatriated to London to recover. He was mentioned in despatches and again commended by Maud’huy, leading to his award of the Military Cross.
Again on the front in April 1915, Spears accompanied Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, on a tour of inspection. Often the only Englishman in a French officers’ mess, Spears experienced isolation and criticism of Britain, as many in France believed the British should be doing more.
After recovering from a second wound sustained in August 1915—one of four he would suffer during the war—Spears returned to France to find tensions between General Sir Douglas Haig, commanding the British First Army, and General Victor d’Urbal, the new commander of the French Tenth Army. Spears was tasked to improve their cooperation.
On 5 December 1915, following the failure of the Dardanelles Campaign, Churchill arrived in France seeking a military command after losing his position as First Lord of the Admiralty. The two men became friends, and Churchill suggested that if given a brigade, Spears might serve as his brigade major. However, Churchill was instead assigned a battalion, and Spears, whose liaison work was highly valued, was not permitted to join him.
Spears became acquainted with General Philippe Pétain. Before the Battle of the Somme, Spears hoped British performance would silence French criticism, but after heavy losses, some suggested the British could not withstand shell fire. This led Spears to question whether his countrymen had lost the strength and resilience of previous generations. By August 1916, caught between conflicting pressures from both sides, he feared he might suffer a breakdown.
General Staff – liaison between French Ministry of War and War Office in London
In May 1917, Spears was promoted to major and appointed General Staff Officer 1st Grade before assuming a liaison role in Paris between the French Ministry of War and the British War Office. Over the previous three years, he had established connections with influential figures in both countries. Paris at the time was characterized by political and military rivalries, with competing factions within the French military and government. Spears navigated this environment and established an independent role within the liaison structure. His role required him to report directly to the British War Office, bypassing the military attaché.
On 17 May, General Pétain, who had recently been appointed French Commander-in-Chief, informed Spears that he wanted Lieutenant-General Henry Wilson removed as the chief British liaison officer due to Wilson’s previous association with General Robert Nivelle, Pétain’s dismissed predecessor. Spears objected, recognizing the potential consequences of Wilson’s removal, but his protests were unsuccessful.
By 22 May 1917, Spears had learned of mutinies within the French Army and traveled to the front to assess the situation. Spears was summoned to London to brief the War Policy Cabinet Council on French morale.
Spears recorded in a 1964 BBC interview that Prime Minister David Lloyd George asked repeatedly for assurances that the French would recover. At one point Spears said
"You can shoot me if I am wrong – I know how important it is and will stake my life on it." However, Lloyd George continued to question him, asking if he could give his word of honor as an officer and a gentleman. Spears, feeling insulted by the remark, responded that the question itself showed a lack of understanding of both concepts.
Spears also became aware of growing French dissatisfaction with the level of British commitment to the war, which was raised in a secret parliamentary session on 7 July. Left-wing deputies argued that while France had suffered 1,300,000 casualties, British losses stood at 300,000. They also pointed out that the British sector of the front covered 138 kilometres (86 mi), whereas the French held 474 kilometres (295 mi).
Romance and marriage
Jessie Gordon
In 1908, while serving as a young cavalry officer, Spears suffered a concussion after being knocked unconscious during a polo match. He was treated at a nursing home in London, where he developed a relationship with Jessie Gordon, one of the two women running the facility. The affair lasted several years and was a source of emotional turmoil for him.
Mary Borden
In October 1916, near the Western Front, Spears met Mary Borden, an American novelist and wealthy heiress. The two developed a mutual attraction, and by the spring of 1917, they had become lovers. Following her divorce in January 1918, they were married at the British consulate in Paris three months later.
Their only child, Michael, was born in 1921. He suffered from osteomyelitis as a teenager and struggled with poor health throughout his life. After winning a scholarship to the University of Oxford, he worked at the Foreign Office.He later suffered from depression and was unable to continue working. He died at the age of 47.
The financial security Spears and Borden had through her inheritance ended when she lost her wealth in the Wall Street crash of 1929.
During the Second World War, Borden established the Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit in 1940.
In June 1945, despite Charles de Gaulle barring British participation in a Paris victory parade, Borden’s ambulance unit joined, displaying the French and British flags. Hearing wounded soldiers cheer Spears, de Gaulle ordered the unit’s dissolution and British members’ repatriation. Borden protested to de Gaulle, who denied disbanding the unit over the British flag, citing broader cuts. On 5 July, she voiced disappointment, highlighting its ties to the 1st Free French Division.
Mary Borden died on 2 December 1968.
Nancy Maurice
Spears resigned his commission in June 1919, concluding his tenure as Head of the Military Mission in Paris. In October of the same year, Sir Frederick Maurice visited the city with his daughter, Nancy. Nancy Maurice, who had received a formal education and training as a secretary, agreed to work for Spears in a temporary capacity. She later remained in the position for 42 years and an affair developed.
In the spring of 1942, Nancy accompanied Spears to the Levant as his secretary following his sick leave in Britain. After World War II, she assisted him in his role as chairman of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation in the Gold Coast. Following the death of Mary Borden in 1968, he and Nancy married on 4 December 1969 at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge. She became the second Lady Spears and died in 1975.
Inter-war years
Business and political links with Czechoslovakia
In 1921, Spears entered into a business partnership with a Finnish associate with the goal of establishing trade connections in the newly founded First Czechoslovak Republic. During a visit to Prague, he met Prime Minister Eduard Beneš and Jan Masaryk, the son of President Tomáš Masaryk, and also came into contact with officials from the Czech Finance Ministry.
Spears' business activities in Prague expanded in 1934 when he became chairman of the British branch of the Bata shoe company, which was part of the larger international Bata organization. He later served as a director of J. Fisher, a merchant company with trade ties to Czechoslovakia, and as a director of a Czech steelworks. His business dealings were met with disapproval from some members of the Conservative Party, particularly those who held anti-Semitic views. Duff Cooper remarked that Spears was "the most unpopular man in the House" and advised against trusting him.
Spears' visits to Czechoslovakia and his connections with its political figures reinforced his efforts to promote support for the republic in both London and Paris. He strongly opposed the Munich Agreement of 1938. His opposition to the agreement placed him at odds with members of the Conservative Party who largely supported it. His advocacy for Czechoslovakia also aligned with his business interests, as the country's dissolution would have affected his financial holdings and an annual income of approximately £2,000.
Member of Parliament
Spears served as a Member of Parliament (MP) twice, representing Loughborough from 1922 to 1924 and Carlisle from 1931 to 1945. His strong support for France in parliamentary debates led to him being dubbed "the Member for Paris".
In December 1921, Spears was selected as the National Liberal Party's parliamentary candidate for Loughborough. He was elected unopposed in 1922 after the Labour Party candidate failed to submit nomination papers on time, and the Conservatives had agreed not to put up a candidate to oppose him.
During the campaign for the Dundee constituency, Spears and Borden campaigned on behalf of Winston Churchill, who was hospitalized at the time, but Churchill was unsuccessful in the election. As a gesture of friendship, Spears offered to vacate his seat at Loughborough, but Churchill declined the offer.
Spears delivered his maiden speech in February 1923, in which he criticized both the Foreign Office and the British Embassy in Paris. Later that month, he spoke in the House of Commons against the French occupation of the Ruhr. He retained his seat as a National Liberal in the 1923 general election but was defeated in 1924, finishing third behind the Conservative and Labour candidates.
He made two further unsuccessful attempts to return to Parliament: at a by-election in Bosworth in 1927 and in Carlisle during the 1929 general election.
At the General Election in October 1931, Spears stood as a National Conservative candidate and was elected Member of Parliament for Carlisle. In June 1935, Ramsay MacDonald resigned as Prime Minister of the National Government to be succeeded by the Conservative Stanley Baldwin. At the general election in November 1935, Spears again stood as a National Conservative candidate at Carlisle and was returned with a reduced majority. At his house in 1934, there was held the first meeting of a cross-party group which would later become the European Study Group. Its members included Robert Boothby, Josiah Wedgwood, and Clement Attlee. Spears became its chairman in 1936; it would become a focus for those MPs who were suspicious of the European policies of Neville Chamberlain's National Government.
First World War books
Liaison 1914; A Narrative of the Great Retreat, was published in September 1930 with a foreword by Winston Churchill. This personal account of his experiences as a liaison officer from July to September 1914 was well received. The preface states: 'The object of this book is to contribute something to the true story of the war, and to vindicate the role of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914.' As far as the French were concerned, Charles Lanrezac came in for heavy criticism but there was praise for Marshals Franchet d'Esperey and Joseph Joffre. On the British side, Spears wrote favourably of General Macdonough, who, as a colonel, had recruited him for military intelligence in 1909, and of Field Marshal Sir John French. Liaison 1914 describes vividly the horrors of war – the shoeless refugees, the loss of comrades and the devastated landscape. Two years later, a French translation was also successful, the only dissent coming from the son of General Lanrezac, who denied Spears' account of his father's rudeness to Sir John French. The French politician Paul Reynaud, who would later serve briefly as Prime Minister of France from 21 March to 16 June 1940, took the book as an illustration of how France must not allow herself to become separated from Britain. Liaison 1914 was published again in the US in May 1931 and received high praise.
In 1939 Spears published Prelude to Victory, an account of the early months of 1917, containing a famous account of the Calais Conference in which Lloyd George had attempted to place the British forces under the command of General Nivelle, and culminating in the Battle of Arras. With war looming once again, Spears wrote that given time constraints he had chosen to concentrate on the period with the greatest lessons for Anglo-French relations. The book also contains a foreword by Winston Churchill, stating that Spears had not, in his view, been entirely fair to Lloyd George's wish to see Britain abstain from major offensives until the Americans were present in force.
Opposes appeasement
Spears became a member of the so-called 'Eden Group' of anti-appeasement backbench MPs. This group, known disparagingly by the Conservative whips as 'The Glamour Boys', formed around Anthony Eden when he had resigned as Foreign Secretary in February 1938 in protest at the opening of negotiations with Italy by the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain. Given his long-standing friendship with Winston Churchill, it was not surprising that Spears also joined the latter's group of anti-appeasers, known as 'The Old Guard'. Both groups called for rearmament in the face of Nazi threats.
Eve of war
In August 1939, with war looming, Spears accompanied Winston Churchill to eastern France on a visit to the Maginot Line. In Strasbourg, he had the idea of floating mines linked together by cables down the Rhine – an action to be carried out on the declaration of war to damage bridges. Initially sceptical about the plan, Churchill would later approve it under the code name of Operation Royal Marine, but claim that it had been his own idea.
Second World War
Phoney War
During the Phoney War, Spears favoured a hawkish policy; lamenting that Britain and France were not doing 'anything more warlike than dropping leaflets'. He urged active support for the Poles and wanted Germany to be bombed; he was set to speak in the House criticizing the failure to aid Poland as a violation of the Anglo-Polish Agreement but was dissuaded by Secretary of State for Air Kingsley Wood – much to his later regret.
As Chairman of the Anglo-French Committee of the House of Commons, he fostered links with his friends across the Channel, and in October 1939 led a delegation of MPs on a visit to the Chamber of Deputies of France when they were taken to the Maginot Line.
Four months later, Spears was sent to France to check on Operation Royal Marine for Winston Churchill, returning with him in April. Thousands of mines were to be released into the Rhine by the Royal Navy to destroy bridges and disrupt river traffic. The operation was vetoed by the French for fear of reprisals, but a postponement was finally agreed.
Battle of France
On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht began the Battle of France by invading Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The same day, King George VI appointed Churchill prime minister following the resignation of Chamberlain. The Churchill war ministry was a unity coalition government.
Also on 10 May 1940, Operation Royal Marine was launched, producing the results that Spears had prophesied.
By then the German blitzkrieg was underway and the success, as Churchill noted, was lost in the 'deluge of disaster' that was the fall of France.
Churchill's Personal Representative to the French Prime Minister
On 22 May 1940 (four days before the Battle of Dunkirk beegan), Spears was summoned to 10 Downing Street. With British and French forces retreating before the German Blitzkrieg, and confused and contradictory reports arriving from across the Channel, Churchill had decided to send Spears as his personal representative to Paul Reynaud, the Prime Minister of France, who was also acting as Minister of Defence since 18 May 1940.
Three days later, having managed to find the various pieces of his uniform which he had not worn since leaving the army in 1919, he left by plane for Paris holding the rank of major general.
During the chaos and confusion of the allied retreat, Spears continued to meet senior French political and military figures. He put forward the view that tanks could be halted by blowing up buildings; he also urged that prefects should not leave their departments without first ensuring that all petrol had been destroyed. On 26 May, he met Marshal Philippe Pétain; the old man reminisced about their time together during the First World War and 'treated him like a son'. Yet it seemed that the Marshal 'in his great age, epitomised the paralysis of the French people'. He became aware of the difficulties of re-creating a liaison organisation; in 1917 his mission had been established over several years. Starting again from scratch, the task seemed 'as impossible as to recall the dead'.
During a visit to London on Sunday 26 May, the French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud had reported to Churchill the view of the new Commander-in-Chief General Maxime Weygand that the struggle had become hopeless. On 27 May, Churchill demanded an immediate report from Spears, who was told to resist such defeatism. Reynaud referred to 'mortal danger' with reference to a possible attack by Fascist Italy, which had not yet entered the war;
Spears' view was that the French army in the Alps was strong and that the only danger from the Italians would be if they interfered with the transport of troops from French North Africa. Yet perversely, Italian intervention might be good for allied morale: 'our combined fleets would whip them around the Mediterranean'. Reynaud and Spears argued, the former calling for more British air support, the latter, exasperated, asking, "Why don't you import Finns and Spaniards to show the people how to resist an invader?"
Spears heads British government's mission to de Gaulle
De Gaulle's famous Appeal of 18 June was transmitted in French by the BBC and repeated on 22 June, the text having then been translated into English for the benefit of 10 Downing Street by Nancy Maurice, Spears's secretary. Towards the end of June 1940, Spears was appointed head of the British government's mission to de Gaulle, whose headquarters were finally established at 4 Carlton Gardens in London.
Over 100,000 French troops were evacuated from Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo between 26 May and 4 June 1940, but the majority returned to France from ports in the west of England within a few days. On 3 July, Spears had the unpleasant task of informing de Gaulle of the British ultimatum to the French ships at anchor in the North African port of Mers El Kébir; this would result in the first phase of Operation Catapult, an action which led to the loss many French warships and the deaths of 1,297 French seamen. The attack caused great hostility towards Britain and made it even more difficult for de Gaulle to recruit men to his cause. De Gaulle, while regarding the naval action as 'inevitable', was initially uncertain whether he could still collaborate with Britain. Spears tried to encourage him and at the end of July in an unsuccessful attempt to rally support, flew to the internment camp at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, where French seamen who had been in British ports were taken as part of Operation Catapult. In the event, de Gaulle had only some 1,300 men at his disposal in Britain, the majority being those who had recently been evacuated from Narvik following the Norwegian Campaign.
Winston Churchill pressed for action by the Free French to turn French colonies from the Vichy regime. The target was Dakar in French West Africa; the main reason being that it could become a base threatening shipping in the Atlantic. A show of force by the Royal Navy was planned coupled with a landing by de Gaulle's which, it was hoped, would convince the Vichy defenders to defect. Spears accompanied de Gaulle on the mission, (Operation Menace), with orders to report directly to the Prime Minister. However, security had been lax and the destination was said to be common talk among French troops in London.
While the task force was en route, it came in sight of a French fleet – including three cruisers – on its way from Toulon to Douala to recapture French Equatorial Africa which had declared for de Gaulle. Surprised, the French fleet sailed for Dakar instead, thus making the outcome of the expedition much more uncertain. Churchill was now of the opinion that the project should be abandoned, but de Gaulle insisted and a telegram from Spears to the Prime Minister stated, "I wish to insist to you personally and formally that the plan for the constitution of French Africa through Dakar should be upheld and carried out."
De Gaulle and Spears in the Levant
Still acting as Churchill's personal representative to the Free French, Spears left England with de Gaulle for the Levant via Cairo in March 1941. They were received by British officers, including General Archibald Wavell, the British Commander in Chief Middle East, and also General Georges Catroux, the former Governor General of French Indo-China, who had been relieved of his post by the Vichy France regime of Marshal Philippe Pétain.
Wavell, the British Commander-in-Chief, wanted to negotiate with the Governor of French Somaliland, which was still loyal to Vichy France, and lift the blockade of that territory in exchange for the right to send supplies to British forces in Abyssinia via the railway from the coast to Addis Ababa. However, de Gaulle and Spears argued in favour of firmness, the former arguing that a detachment of his Free French should be sent to confront the Vichy Armistice Army troops in the hope that the latter would be persuaded to change sides. Wavell agreed, but was later overruled by Anthony Eden, who feared an open clash between the two French factions. British vacillations persisted against the advice of Spears and to the extreme irritation of de Gaulle.
More serious differences between Britain and de Gaulle soon emerged over Syria and Lebanon. De Gaulle and Spears held that it was essential to deny the Germans access to Vichy French Air Force bases in Syria from where they would threaten the Suez Canal. However, Wavell was reluctant to stretch his limited forces and did not want to risk a clash with the French in Syria.
The French in Syria had initially been in favour of continuing the struggle against Germany but had been snubbed by Wavell, who declined the offer of cooperation from three French divisions. By the time de Gaulle reached the Levant, Vichy had replaced any Frenchmen who were sympathetic towards Britain.
Having left the Middle East with de Gaulle on a visit to French Equatorial Africa, Spears had his first major row with the general who, in a fit of pique caused by 'some quite minor action by the British government', suddenly declared that the landing ground at Fort Lamy would no longer be available to British aircraft transiting Africa. Spears countered furiously by threatening to summon up British troops to take over the aerodrome and the matter blew over.
Later life
Spears lost his parliamentary seat in the 1945 General Election, which saw the Conservative Party defeated in a landslide. The same year he accepted the position of chairman of the commercial firm Ashanti Goldfields. From 1948 to 1966 he was chairman of the Institute of Directors, frequently visiting West Africa. Spears published several books during the post-war period: Assignment to Catastrophe (2 vols., 1954); Two Men Who Saved France: Pétain and De Gaulle (1966); and his own autobiography, The Picnic Basket (1967).
In 1947 he founded the Anglo-Arab Association.
Spears was created a baronet, of Warfield, Berkshire, on 30 June 1953. He died on 27 January 1974 at the age of 87 at the Heatherwood Hospital at Ascot. A memorial service at St. Margaret's, Westminster followed on 7 March. The trumpeters of the 11th Hussars sounded a fanfare; the French and Lebanese ambassadors were in attendance. General Sir Edward Louis Spears lies buried at Warfield alongside the graves of his first wife, May, and his son, Michael.
Tragedy of his life
In the foreword to Fulfilment of a Mission, the account by Spears of his service in the Levant, John Terraine, writes of 'the tragedy of his life'. By this he meant that someone who should have been a warm friend of de Gaulle had become an intractable and spiteful enemy. His boyhood had been spent in France. He was happy in France, he liked the spirit of the people. He liked the sailors of Brittany and the peasants of Burgundy. He understood their wit. It amused him to talk to them and to be with them. It had been a very bitter experience to find himself opposed and having to oppose French policy so often. That, he said, had been the tragedy of his life. Terraine comments further, "If Mr Graham Greene had not already made good use of it, the title of Fulfilment of a Mission might just as well have been, The End of an Affair.
Linguistic competence
In October 1939, he led a delegation of British MPs to France and spoke on French Radio. After the broadcast, listeners protested that his speech had been read for him because 'an Englishman without an accent did not exist'! In February 1940, he gave a lecture on the British war effort to a large and distinguished audience in Paris. Fluent though he was, he nevertheless felt it would be helpful to attend lessons with an elocution teacher who coached leading French actors. It must be supposed that he also spoke some German thanks to the two years which he had spent at a boarding school in Germany.
Despite his linguistic competence, Spears hated interpreting. He realised that it required qualifications beyond a mere knowledge of two languages. At the conference at Tours on 13 June 1940, he had the awesome responsibility of translating Paul Reynaud's French into English and Winston Churchill's English into French. The final phase of the Battle of France and the destiny of two nations were at stake; it promised to be the gravest of the meetings so far held between the two governments. Furthermore, he was aware that others in the room were completely conversant with both languages and that most of them would have thought of the word that he was searching for before he had found it.
Media
Sir Edward Spears appears as an interviewee in numerous episodes of the 1964 documentary series The Great War, especially in reference to the major roles he played as liaison to the French Fifth Army in the episodes Our hats we doff to General Joffre, detailing the Great Retreat to the Marne and This business may last a long time, detailing the First Battle of the Marne and the subsequent Race to the Sea. He appeared in the 1969 French-West German documentary The Sorrow and the Pity about collaboration in Vichy France. He also appeared near the end of his life, in the episode "France Falls" of the landmark 1974 documentary series, The World at War.