John Ashford Renshaw Starr (6 August 1908 – 1996), code names Emile and Bob, was a British artist and an agent in France of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization during World War II.
He was in Paris when World War II began in 1939, and in early 1940 joined the King's Own Scottish Borderers and later was assigned to the Field Security Police.
[4] Starr made his way from Valence to a villa in Cannes where he met SOE agent Peter Churchill and CARTE leader Andre Girard.
[5][6] Starr was held in high regard by SOE and, along with a wireless operator, John Young, he parachuted into France again on the night of 15–16 May 1943, landing near Blye in the French Alps.
Kieffer persuaded Starr to use his artistic talents to redraw a map and some charts of SOE operations in France.
Along with SOE wireless operator, Noor Inyat Khan, and a French colonel, Leon Faye, he tried to escape in late 1943 by climbing out the skylight of his room onto the roof of the building, but the three were soon recaptured.
[12] After the escape attempt, Starr again became friendly with the Germans, even going out to restaurants with some of them and on an operation to identify the bodies of British airmen who had been shot down near Paris.
"[13][14] Starr remained at Avenue Foch until August 1944 when, after the Normandy Invasion and with allied armies approaching Paris, he was transported to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen near Berlin.
By using his ability to pass himself off as a Frenchman, he joined a group of French and Belgian prisoners who were released into the custody of the Red Cross and taken to Switzerland as the war in Europe drew to a close.
[17] Stories from other SOE agents who shared his captivity at Avenue Foch resulted in doubts being raised about Starr's loyalty, and his case became the subject of an MI5 investigation, which concluded that although his behaviour was suspicious, there were no grounds for criminal prosecution.
After the war, Starr opened a night-club in Hanley, Staffordshire, with Alfred and Henry Newton, SOE agents (and brothers) whom he had met during his training and also at the Avenue Foch.