When a spy's life was easy

London - So many German spies were swarming around Britain before the first World War that German military leaders knew more …

London - So many German spies were swarming around Britain before the first World War that German military leaders knew more about most towns and villages than the local policemen, according to 90-year-old records released yesterday.

Germany's spies were not necessarily brilliant enough to pass on great qualities of information, but Britain was doing nothing to stop them, the records of Britain's highly secretive intelligence services showed. So inept was British security at the turn of the century that a German man-of-war anchored in daylight at the naval port of Plymouth and waited while an officer went ashore and photographed every gun platform.