John Debenham Taylor CMG OBE (25 April 1920 – 30 January 2016), was a British intelligence officer.
[1] In February 1939, he joined the Territorial Army, and at the start of the war in September, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery.
[1] In 1942, he moved into intelligence work, and became an instructor to Beaulieu, in the New Forest, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) "finishing school" for agents.
[1] When SOE was dissolved in January 1946, he joined the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and worked there for the next 30 years, but his official status was that of a diplomat.
[1] In 1966, Taylor married Gillian May James, a BBC make-up artist, having met her in 1965, and they had a daughter Cate Debenham-Taylor, an actress.