What do we know of Peter Dalton- Leggett (Tim's dad) during WWII?

Number24

I know Peter Dalton-Leggett (1916-2004) was a captain in the SOE during WWII and stationed in Colwyn Bay. I find this interesting. Does anyone know more?

Thunderpussy

I know He had two Sons Tim and one they never
spoke of, he was sent to Germany. Appatently there
was some fued over trainers, Tim won, but this
sadly led to a great rivalry. No one knows what happened
to that German brother, infact we may never know ?

sorry Number24. Just a little joke. Up until tonight
I didn't even know Tim's Dad was a spy. -{

AlphaOmegaSin

Interesting -{

I once learned that my Great GrandDad (On my Dads Mums Side) owned Docks in South Africa (During Apartheid)

Number24

Dalton's father's SOE connesction opens up some questions:

-How much did Timothy Dalton know?

- Why didn't they use this during interviews and other PR when timothy was Bond? Did Timothy Dalton say no, or perhaps Peter Dalton-Leggettt himself?

- What did he do during his war service? Sabotage,assassinations, training guerillas, training other SOE agents? And where? I'm guessing France or around the Med, because Denmark and Norway pretty much supplied its own agents. The Far East is unlikely since he was stationed in Wales.

Thunderpussy

Tim is a very private man so I'd guess he didn't
want any family history brought up.

Number24

Likely, but many SOE agents didn't like any attention on their WWII career. Both explainations are likely I guess. It's hard to imagine something like this happening today without the media getting involved. I mean, imagine if DC's father or grandfather was ex SAS, MI6 or SOE. The media would find out, write about it and EON would use it for all it was worth.

Thunderpussy

Although sadly these days that may put his
family at risk !

Number24

Obviously if a family member was in active or had seen recent service it would have to be kept a secret, but I imagined cold war or WWII service (much more likely given DC's age), If this had been the case there would have been a lot of pressure to use this link for public relations purposes for Craig and his Bond movies.

Lady Rose

As has been mentioned,Tim never talks specifically about family, though he has been photographed with them.

I've seen the information that he was a Captain in the SOE before but very rarely. It usually just says his Dad was stationed in Colwyn Bay during the war and that's why Tim was born there but generally in any articles that mentions his father it normally just says he was in advertising.

Tim has spoken about his grandfathers both being in the theatrical business and his grandmother but never spoken of his father as far as I am aware.

It seems the 'Leggett' bit was dropped from the family name on the birth of Tim ... All his siblings ( and there's 4 more) appear to be just Dalton as well ....

Obviously this is just what I can gather from internet stalking ... )

AlphaOmegaSin

Tim is like Connery when it comes to his Privacy -{

Silhouette Man

Interesting - I had no idea about any of this. News to me.

Number24

Thank you for the link. The film is very informative and interesting, the British are marvelously British and the French are tres tres French.

As a captain in the SOE Dalton-Leggett could possibly have been an active agent, an instructor or on staff duties. The most famous Norwegian SOE agents were ranked like this: Joacim Rønneberg, Second Lieutenant (Commander of the heavy water raid and explosives instructor). Max Manus, Lieutenant (important member of the Oslo Gang). Leif Larsen, Lieutenant (had his own boat in the "Shetland Bus" and the most decorated naval officer in Norway ever). Gunnar Sønsteby, Captain. But the only one I could find with the rank of captain was Sønsteby, and he was the commander of the Oslo Gang. This group was ranked by the SOE as the best sabotage outfit in Europe. If he was an active agent, captain Dalton-Legget must have been a very important and skilled or possibly he was an officer before he joined the SOE. Sønsteby was just a private when the war started. Do we know of active SOE agents from other nations with the rank of captain or higher?

Number24

stag wrote:

As said these were actual ex SOE agents not actors. I like the part where they are doing their training. The agent having to steal top secret plans as part of his selection procedure! From memory I believe there were several 'foriegn' mrmbers of SOE who held quite senior (field) ranks. Again from memory I believe one Frenchman held the rank of Wing Commander (Lt Colonel), ranks not being restricted to the army.

You're quite right TDs father could have been a field agent then a staff officer/instructor. I believe this was done to allow those with actual experience of live operations to pass on that experience. He may also have been injured after training but prior to deployment. It could be that he was purely an administrator.

You may be aware of the Norwegian/French 1948 movie "The Battle of the Heavy Water". It reconstructs the famous sabotage mission to prevent the nazis from getting an atom bomb and five out of nine saboteurs play themselves. Until today I believed thsi was the only case where real secret agents/commandos play themselves in a movie. The heavy water movie stil distinguishes itself by portraing a real mission.

I searched SOE + AGENT + MAJOR and got several hits for active agents, so higher ranking agents really did go out in the field like you said.

Lady Rose

For those that are interested, whilst doing a bit of internet stalking I came across this ...

http://www.academia.edu/2311033/THE_MOST_SECRET_LIST_OF_SOE_AGENTS_L

On page 39 you'll find Tim's dad.

It would appear this is only coming to light recently because the records have been closed and a lot of the records have been damaged or destroyed.

Number24

Interesting. I noticed these dates:

"Date range: 01 January 1939 - 31 December 1946"

This can't be his time serving in the SOE, since the organisation only excisted from the summer of 1940 to January 1946. I assume this is the time he served in the armed forces, included the SOE.

bryank

I worked for Peter Dalton in the early to mid 70's.

He had previously been the MD at Osborne Peacock (Royds) Advertising and had set up in partnership with Don Howarth as Dalton Howarth & Partners.

He lived out at Belper in Derbyshire and commuted into Manchester.

New only that he had served in the forces ww2.

Tim was mentioned as up and coming having appeared in an episode of Charlies Angels if I recall correctly.

My other half worked at Mirror Newspapers as secretary to Tom Sherman who was in special forces and Peter seemed to know him but neither ever mentioned what they had experienced, perhaps only amongst themselves or maybe never.

Only found out about Tom Sherman a few years ago in a documtary on TV.

Number24

Thank you :007)
This was very interesting. The fact that Peter never talked about what he did during the war is to me a sign he really did something wortwhile during the war. I suspect he would be more likely to let it slip "I was in the SOE during the war, you know ......" if he had been a pencil-pusher. The real secret agents were seldom talkative. I may very well be wrong, thought. Thanks anyway, brybank.

bryank

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9983605