Finding Hester explores the untold story of Hester Leggatt, a woman who helped trick the Nazis, and is a fascinating read for fans of West End musical Operation Mincemeat and anyone with an interest in women’s war stories
Operation Mincemeat is one of the stranger tales to come out of the Second World War. A corpse dressed as a British pilot was dropped in the ocean near Spain, with the forged documents he carried landing in the hands of the Germans to convince them to move their troops to the advantage of the allied forces.
It is an event perhaps most popularly told in Ben Macintyre’s 2010 book Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story That Changed the Course of World War II, but it has recently been retold in a 2021 film and is currently the plot of an Olivier-winning West End musical. Operation Mincemeat has never been more familiar to the public.
To sell the ruse of the corpse, MI5 had to create a credible backstory for their fictitious pilot. They filled his briefcase with receipts, cigarettes, a photograph, and, importantly, two fabricated love letters.
An interview with MI5 secretary Jean Leslie, conducted by Macintyre for his book, revealed the name of the woman behind those letters to be a ‘Hester Leggett’. This has been repeated ever since, including in both the film and the musical.
Hester Leggett does not exist.
The false identity was discovered by a group of fans of the musical. While we know much about the other key figures portrayed in the musical, Hester was always more of a mystery and once the group started to research her, they discovered she was actually Hester Leggatt.
This misplaced vowel made all the difference and we uncovered a huge amount about the real Hester. This book tells the story of how the musical fanbase found her school records, her family, her real love letters from the Second World War, and definitive confirmation from MI5 that they had the right person.
Finding Hester are a group of lawyers, archivists, technologists, educators, and authors who have all brought their specific skills to the research of Hester Leggatt and are now applying the same experience to the writing of a book about the process they undertook.
Erin Edwards is an archivist, author and theatre-lover living in London. With one MA in Theatre and Performance Studies (which she constantly has to explain did not include getting up on a stage), and a second in Archives and Records Management, working on a book that combines historical research and musical theatre was a perfect fit.
Greg Callus is a Welsh barrister at 5RB chambers in London, specialising in media & information law. As Fulbright Scholar at Columbia Journalism School in NYC, he discovered musical theatre by becoming a regular at Marie’s Crisis Cafe.
Claudia Caplan Wolff is an award-winning advertising copywriter and creative director. In 2019 she returned to academia, earning a degree in History and American Studies from Columbia University as well as the Herbert H. Lehman Prize for History.
Rose Crossgrove is an educator and researcher, currently completing a PhD on representation in the History curriculum. She holds masters degrees in Classical Linguistics and Education Policy and has worked extensively with heritage sites and national awarding organisations to advocate for missing figures in History..
Jack Lawrence is a London-based pancreatic cancer researcher working on a PhD at City St George’s, University of London. He holds a masters degree in Biomedical Science and has a keen interest in research integrity and a passion for uncovering untold stories.
