Dick Franks

Sir Arthur Temple "Dick" Franks (13 July 1920 – 12 October 2008) was Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1979 to 1982.

Career Educated at Rugby School and Queen's College, Oxford, Franks was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals in 1940. He became an Intelligence officer in the Western Desert and then joined the Special Operations Executive.

He started his career by "earning a reputation for daring military exploits against Nazi Germany before pursuing a fruitful career on Her Majesty’s secret service." Franks was a member of the Travellers Club and still made regular visits into the last years of his life, often reminiscing with old colleagues from the intelligence world.

He was nicknamed "Dick" and "Dickie".

Sir Colin McColl, former head of MI6, said: “He [Franks] was extremely effective yet also sensitive, intelligent and a most delightful man.”