Nigel Groom OBE (April 26, 1924 – March 5, 2014)[1] was a British Arabist, historian, author,[2] soldier, counter-espionage officer in MI5 and perfume expert.
[1] Educated at Haileybury and Magdalene College, Cambridge, Groom served in the British Indian Army during the Second World War and fought in the Burma Campaign.
[3] Joining the Colonial Office after the war ended, he was posted to the Aden Protectorate in January 1948 and soon found himself in Bayhan as political agent, replacing Peter Davey, who had been killed in a gunfight.
[3] During his time in Bayhan he assisted in the construction of the first primary school and introduced the first motor car.
[3] From 1958-1962 he was based outside the Arabian Peninsula for the first time in his colonial career, moving to Nairobi in Kenya.