[1] He grew up in Punta Humbría, Spain, where his first language was the Spanish spoken in Andalusia, a dialect of Castilian.
[2] At the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, before being recruited by British intelligence services.
He was responsible for monitoring relations between Franco's regime and Nazi Germany, as well as helping to combat sabotage in Gibraltar.
[2] After leaving MI6, he worked for a time with Percy Sillitoe, former director general of MI5, investigating the illicit trade in smuggled diamonds in West Africa.
[1] Finally, Bristow decided to publish them first in Spanish, under the title Juego de topos (Barcelona: Ediciones B, 1993).
[2] Desmond Bristow was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre avec Palm in 1947.