SNOW is the codename assigned to Arthur Owens, one of the most important British spies of the Second World War.
Described by Mi5 as a typical Welsh underfed type he became the first of the great double-cross agents who were to play a major part in Britain's victory over the Germans.
When the stakes could not have been higher, MI5 sought to build a double-cross system based on the shifting loyalties of a duplicitous, philandering and vain anti-hero who was boastful and brave, reckless and calculating, ruthless and mercenary... but patriotic.
Based on recently declassified files and meticulous research, Snow reveals for the first time the truth about an extraordinary man.
Click on a picture for media coverage of Snow
BBC Wales report on the seventieth anniversary of the formation of the double cross committee and the publication of Snow: the double life of a world war II spy.
Arthur Owens family were burdened with the knowlege of his war time activities. Each knew part of his life but none the whole story. His daughter Patricia went on to become a Hollywood film star appearing in films with Marlon Brando and James Mason. She was also the female star of the original version of The Fly.
Patricia Robert Graham Lily and Jean
Madoc Roberts tells the story of Arthur Owens on BBC Radio Wales
Agent Snow's son Graham White talks about his father. This video includes a clip from the 1957 film Sayonara in which Snow's daughter Patricia Owens stars alongside Marlon Brando.
Nigel West is the pen name of Rupert Allason, a military historian and author specialising in intelligence and security issues. He is European Editor of the International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence. He was awarded the first Lifetime Literature Achievement Award of the US Association of Former Intelligence Officers and was voted the experts expert by a panel of spy writers selected by The Observer.
Madoc Roberts has worked in television for thirty years. He is managing director of Barkingmad TV and as a producer and director has made history programmes for Channel 4, Channel 5, Discovery and the History Channel. As an editor he has worked on feature films and made award-winning programmes for all the major networks including Timewatch for BBC 2 and Time Team for Channel 4. He was also the main editor on the long-running BBC 2 series Private Life of a Masterpiece. In the 1970s he was lead singer with The Tunnelrunners. He lives in Cardiff with his wife, the artist Susan Roberts.
Contact: Madoc_Barkingmad.tv
