Anthony Cave Brown, 77, Historian of Espionage, Is Dead

Anthony Cave Brown, a British journalist who wrote books about espionage, including a study of the role of intelligence in the invasion of Europe in World War II, died on July 14 in Warrenton, Va. He was 77.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, Edward Russell, his former brother-in-law, said.

Mr. Cave Brown’s best-known book, “Bodyguard of Lies” (1975), told how Churchill directly ordered elaborate schemes of deception to confuse the Germans about Allied plans, in particular the D-Day landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Tricks included deploying agents in the north of England to compose the daily wireless traffic for a nonexistent army that was training to invade Norway. The Germans monitored the traffic, and German double agents confirmed the news.

The title came from a Churchill epigram: “In war-time, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”

Another of his books, “Treason in the Blood: H. St. John Philby, Kim Philby and the Spy Case of the Century” (1994), provoked sharp debate by suggesting — without presenting hard evidence — that Kim, one of the most notorious Soviet spies, inherited his treasonous disposition from his father, H. St. John, an explorer of Saudi Arabia who was influential with that kingdom’s royalty.

Mr. Cave Brown wrote at least six books and edited three. His writings drew praise for their voluminous nature and often fascinating detail. For example, in his “Oil, God, and Gold: The Story of Aramco and the Saudi Kings,” (1999), he wrote that Aramco, then an American oil company operating in Saudi Arabia, cooperated with American spies to monitor the health of the king by reporting on the contents of his toilet.

Critics also found not a few inaccuracies in his works. Peter C. Speers, writing in the journal Middle East Policy, noted Mr. Cave Brown’s description of an Aramco executive’s departure from the kingdom on a company private jet with his wife, his dog and his cat. Mr. Speers said the executive never owned a dog and left on a commercial flight, economy class.

Mr. Cave Brown was born on March 21, 1929, in Bath, England. One of his book jackets said he became interested in the subject of deception through his father’s wartime experiences as a creator of deceptive cartography.

After serving in the Royal Air Force, he worked for newspapers in Luton and Bristol, both in England, before joining the staff of The Daily Mail in London. As a reporter, he covered events from the Hungarian uprising to the Algerian independence struggle to the plight of Soviet dissidents.