A Royal Celebration - Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust

and insisted on closing her performances with a
rousing rendition of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ –
possibly the clue that made Brown realise she was
still loyal to the British cause. But Hitler trusted her
so much, that he gave her a personal promise of
protection when the British accused her of being a
traitor. She was even publicly disowned by her
family in 1941.
One infamous story from Genshagen comes when
John Brown handed her a pile of secret
documents, ready to be passed on to British
Intelligence, minutes before she was due to go on
stage. With nowhere else to put them, Booth
had no other choice than to put them under her
dress, and perform for Hitler with them hidden
in her underwear. Discovery of this covert
operation would have meant certain death for the
pair and they were lucky to have gotten away
with such a plot.
It wasn’t long, however, before Brown’s secrets
were revealed and Booth was arrested. Despite
questioning, and even torturing, by the Gestapo,
Booth remained silent about her part in the
conspiracy and was soon released. She fled Berlin
and made it to Bavaria, before being picked up by a
group of American soldiers.
At the end of the War, it was the information that
she and Brown had recovered that led to the arrest
and subsequent hangings of two British traitors –
William Joyce (also known as Lord Haw Haw) and
John Amery.
John Amery was arrested and tried for treason,
after it was revealed that he had produced Nazi
propaganda and played a large part in the
recruitment of the British into the Nazi cause. At
first he pleaded his innocence to these claims,
stating that he was an anti-Communist, rather than
a Nazi, but on the first day of his trial on 28
November 1945, he pleaded guilty to the charges
and was sentenced to death. His hanging took
place on 19 December 1945.
William Joyce was a radio broadcaster for the
Nazis, urging the British forces to surrender. His
trial took place in September 1945 and resulted in
a verdict of guilty of treason. Despite being
American, his possession of a British passport
signalled his allegiance to the King and he was
given the punishment of hanging. The appeal
based on his American nationality fell through and
he was hung on 3 January 1946.
But, while John Brown was hailed as a hero for the
capture of these traitors, Margery Booth’s
friendship with Hitler led the British to believe that
she was a Nazi. Following the divorce from her
husband, she returned to England, where she
struggled to find work, due to her supposed Nazi
associations. She eventually moved to New York,
where she died in 1952, following a battle with
cancer at the age of 47.
Pleas for a posthumous award for her part in
capturing these traitors have largely been ignored.
But how long can these refusals last? Despite
everyone thinking they knew who Margery Booth
was, her tale has only recently come to light. Not
just a beautiful woman, with a voice that
enchanted Hitler, but also the ability to use these
talents to befriend him, while all the while revealing
his secrets, from the very depths of her petticoats.
Sources
The Wigan Examiner, 12th October, 1935
Manchester Evening Chronicle, 23rd, September, 1936
The Evening Chronicle, 17th March, 1941
BBC News website, 10th September, 2010 -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11258623
The British Gazette, 30th December, 2010
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