UNCLE stands for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement

(Henry MFUFAQ)


THRUSH stands for Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesireables and the Subjugation of Humanity

Note that the shows producers said it didn't stand for anything, but the above definition was given in "The Dagger Affair" - the 4th (6th in the UK) in the series of paperback MFU novels in this case written by David McDaniel. This will probably be the nearest we'll ever get to an "official" definition although for accuracy one should probably side with the producers of the original series and say it stands for nothing in particular. For more information about the MFU novels see 1.7) How many books are there? (and what are they called)

(Various people contributed to this answer)

(return to questions)

Point your browsers at:

https://uncleepisodeguide.wordpress.com/
This web page provides a detailed review of every MFU episode, a sampling of GFU episodes, a review/summary of The Return of the Man From UNCLE, a page detailing some of the never-produced UNCLE scripts, a page listing major links between UNCLE and James Bond 007. Web pages by W M Koenig

The Man from UNCLE Webring
There is now a man from UNCLE webring - use the link above to navigate around it's sites or see the bottom of the FAQ

The Final Season of UNCLE Yahoo Group
A Yahoo group for fans of the final season of UNCLE!

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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If you don't know what newsgroups or usenet are you should probably stop here and either forget about it or go and read up about it. If you do know and have the software the Man From UNCLE newsgroup is called alt.tv.man-from-uncle. Yours truly created this group - way back in 1994 or 1995... sometime round then. After I created it a guy called Gerry Swetsky contacted me and sent me abuse because (he said) nobody cared about UNCLE and nobody was interested and I was making his news server untidy. Hence the mysterious credit to him that used to appear at the top of the FAQ (I've finally removed it now). Despite Mr Swetsky's temper tantrum the newsgroup still exists and there are a few UNCLE fans writing in it. But as with a lot of usenet it suffers from irrelevant SPAM. If your ISP doesn't carry it ask them to and they may oblige. Otherwise I know you can get it from Giganews ok but other then that you are on your own! UPDATE 2015: Looking at the group now it seems poorly propagated and hard to find. What is there when you do find it seems years old - so I would suspect due to lack of interest the group is dying off and it may be in it's final days. However, if you are adventurous and do find it somewhere and/or find it useful do let me know. Probably nobody uses this kind of newsgroup any more instead preferring more modern web based groups. You can get a quick look at it at Google Groups - however the feed seems incomplete there and according to them the last post was in 2012. But if you want a quick look then follow this link.

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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Visit groups.io here and apply to join.

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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Season 1 - 29 episodes (B&W)
2 - 30 (Col)
3 - 30 (Col)
4 - 16 (Col)

Total: 105 Man from U.N.C.L.E. episodes
29 Girl from U.N.C.L.E. episodes

Bill Zimmer (zim)

There were 105 episodes made. The first season was in
black and white.

(Cindy)

Honorable mention to an episode of The A-Team entitled
"The Say UNCLE Affair". Robert Vaughn had a recurring role as
General Hunt Stockwell, and his old pal Ivan Trigorin (played by
David McCallum) came back to visit him.

Dorothy Klein (dklein)
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A wonderful episode guide can be found here: https://uncleepisodeguide.wordpress.com/

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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UNCLE Novels

23 in USA (published by Ace)
16 in UK, all duplicate US titles

       US# UK#  Title                         Author
                (The ---- Affair)

  (a)  1   1    Thousand Coffins              Michael Avallone (1965)
       2   2    Doomsday                      Harry Whittington
       3   3    Copenhagen                    John Oram
  (b)  4   6    Dagger                        David McDaniel
       5   8    Mad Scientist                 John T. Phillifent
       6   9    Vampire                       David McDaniel
       7   7    Radioactive Camel             Peter Leslie (1966)
       8   12   Monster Wheel                 David McDaniel (1967)
       9   10   Diving Dames                  Peter Leslie
       10       Assassination                 J. Hunter Holly
  (c)  11       Invisibility                  "Thomas Stratton"
       12       Mind Twisters                 "Thomas Stratton"
  (d)  13       Rainbow                       David McDaniel
  (e)  14       Cross of Gold                 "Fredric Davies"
       15       Utopia                        David McDaniel
       16  14   Splintered Sunglasses         Peter Leslie
       17       Hollow Crown                  David McDaniel
       18  16   Unfair Fare                   Peter Leslie
       19  15   Power Cube                    John T. Phillifent
       20  13   Corfu                         John T. Phillifent
       21  11   Thinking Machine              Joel Bernard (1967)
       22   4   Stone Cold Dead in the Market John Oram
       23   5   Finger in the Sky             Peter Leslie

NOTES:

a) Cover title: "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."
b) In which he coins the anacronym for T.H.R.U.S.H
c) Thomas Stratton is a nom du plume for Buck Coulson and Gene DeWesse
d) of interest to Sherlockians/Holmesians for chapter 9, "How
Napoleon and Illya met an old old gentleman, and had several
obvious things pointed out to them", and chapter 11, "How Napoleon
and Illya hear a violin, and the old old gentleman spoke of bees,
drugs, death, and other mysteries." William Escott of Sussex,
indeed!
e) Fredric Davies is a nom du plume for Ron Ellik and Fredric Langley

There is also a finished but unpublished 103-page typed manuscript for #24, _The Final Affair_, by David McDaniel. Photocopies of this are sometimes found in fannish hands. Fannish traditions demands these never be sold, but instead be given to the faithful for a big fannish favor and possibly the actual cost of reproduction.

In the US, the novels up to #10 are relatively easy to find, though due to their age and original appeal to youthful readers, difficult to find in very good condition. The paper is yellowing, and the glue binding is sometimes brittle and/or cracked through. Most bear stamps/inscriptions from their original owners, school stores, and/or at least one used book store. The novels up to about #14 are moderately difficult to find, and above that are difficult. I've only ever _seen_ #22 and #23 once. The higher numbered novels are more often found in better condition.

Signet published a paperback, _The Man From UNCLE's ABC of Espionage_ by John Hall. A cold-war blast from the past... (Oct 1966)

Also, there were two Girl From UNCLE novels in the US, four in the UK.

The US ones were (both 1966):

1 The Birds of a Feather Affair Michael Avallone
2 The Blazing Affair Michael Avallone

The UK ones were:

1 Global Globules Simon Latter
2 Birds of a Feather (US#1) Michael Avallone
3 Golden Boats of Tatadata Simon Latter
4 Cornish Pixie Peter Leslie

There were also several hardcover juveniles published by Whitman in the US.

And let us not forget the "Man From UNCLE Magazine", published monthly from February '66 (v1, #1) to January '68 (V4, #6), six issues/volume. 24 total issues.

AND the "Girl From UNCLE Magazine", published bimonthly from December '66 (v1, #1) to December '67 (V2, #1). 7 total issues. These had an original novella in each issue, in addition to non-UNCLE short stories.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Jon Heitland's _The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of a Television Classic_, 1987/88, St Martin's Press (USA), Titan Books (UK) (Titan ISBN is 1-85286-075-8). The UK publishing info above is from this great reference, as are the pen-name and magazine issue detalis.

Dorothy Klein

Additionally:

At least 3 annuals, one of which I don't have. The others as follows:

The Man From UNCLE Annual 1966/7 Printed in England. Black cover. 8 Affairs, 11 articles, 3 comic strips.

The Man From UNCLE Annual 1966 Printed in England. Contents: The Last Flight Affair, The Fortune Cookie Affair, The Rip Van Solo Affair (comic strip), The Invisible Man Affair, The Explosive Affair.

The Man From UNCLE Television Picture Story Book (comic strips) 1967 Published in UK.

The Man From UNCLE All-Colour Comic Album 1965/66 Published in UK. The Deadly Devices Affair, The Explosive Affair (both comic strips)

(mdryden)
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First Volume of "Television's Greatest Hits" (1985, TeeVee Toons, Inc.) has the UNCLE theme. The albums were rereleased on CD recently and are still widely available. The song is the first, military-sounding version.

(Becky)

There are some limited edition UNCLE CD's being sold by Film Score Monthly at the moment. There are two volumes and both contain remastered music from the shows and booklets with copious notes! Apparently a volume 3 is in the works with music from The GIRL from UNCLE. The website for Film Score Monthly is www.filmscoremonthly.com. Direct links to the CD's: Volume 1 and Volume 2. Note that direct links often die - so if the direct links stop working try going to the main website and search for the CD's manually. UPDATE: (2015) A CD of the music from the movies is now available also at the same location.

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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Right here! The Man From UNCLE FAQ in association with Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk brings you a Man From Uncle Storefront. Just click right here and enter a world of Man From UNCLE books, videos and other stuff...!

(MFUFAQ)

Try the Movie Market website (these people used to be S&P Movie Market and are now online). They have many stills of various celebrities including MFU stuff.

(Henry MFUFAQ - 9th June 2005)

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To Trap a Spy (1964)
The Spy With My Face (1964)
One Spy Too Many (1965)
The Spy in the Green Hat (1966)
One of our Spies is Missing (1966)
The Karate Killers (1967)
The Helicopter Spies (1967)
How To Steal The World (1968)
The Return of the Man from UNCLE (1983)

(Tracy)
(return to questions)

At the beginning of the series the guns were a bit more varied, but very shortly into the first season the gun the field agents carried was standardized as a modified Walther P-38.

The modifications consisted of shortening the barrel and attaching a "bird cage" flash suppressor, and replacing the two handgrip panels with a one piece aluminum grip that also provided the mounting points for the removable shoulder stock and removable scope mount (which attached to the right side of the pistol). The custom handgrip also had provision for the agent's initial to be displayed on the left side of the grip.

The standard Walther P-38 was developed during WWII as a replacement for the Luger. The Walther P-38 was more reliable than the Luger and cheaper and easier to manufacture.

The Walther P-38 as used by UNCLE was the heart of a system which, when fully assembled, consisted of attaching a scope, a telescoping shoulder stock, an extended magazine (16 rounds instead of the normal eight), and a barrel extension that included an integral sound suppressor (aka "silencer").

The UNCLE SPECIAL had previously been based around a Mauser pistol. Also, Napoleon Solo has appeared in publicity photos carrying a Luger P-08.

The secretarys at UNCLE HQ carried a gun in a holster at the small of their backs. The gun was a Baretta model 1934 (but the show discovered that any REAL gun weighed too much, so the women actually carried toy squirt guns!).

James McMahon

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Sec. 1 Policy and Operations. Waverly and the 4 other guys; Gabhail Samoy, New Delhi regional office and Harry Beldon, Europe, who turned traitor. Only these two were mentioned in the series. However, there is good reason to believe that Carlo Farenti (of Children's Day Aff) may have been an equal to Waverly. If he was, he was probably Beldon's predecessor who was killed in Birds and Bees Aff. (Samoy seen in Brain Killers Aff and Beldon in Summit Five Aff)

Also in section 1 all station chiefs and people like that. The big 5 meet once a year (see Summit 5 Aff) the others also meet (see Children's Day Aff).

Sec. 2 Operations and Enforcement. These are the top guns, the field agents. Also, head of this section is No. 2 man in the five regional offices. Solo is chief in NY. Brian Morton (Deep Six) is chief apparently for Europe, based in London. (And judging by evidence in episodes, he was running European operations after the Beldon thing --- see Summit 5 and Deep Six Affs)

Sec. 3 Enforcement and Intelligence. These are also field agents but lower echelon. Probably junior agents start here.

Sec. 4 Intelligence and Communications. These are the support people you see running around HQ. People who do research, look stuff up, handle computers, etc. George Dennel is chief of this section in New York (see Waverly Ring Aff)

Sec. 5 Communications and Security. People who "answer the phone" also probably all those cannon-fodder types who get shot at when UNCLE is invaded. Rosey Grier (Brain Killers) is here. Also those security guys who keep running in when alarms sound in Never Never Aff.

Sec. 6 Security and Personnel. We've been talking about this one in regards to terry's character. Medical, personnel, training (and de-training) etc. Carla Drosten (Waverly Ring) was head of this section until she betrayed UNCLE in NY.

There is some controversy over the next two sections: McDaniels and some press material include them; some do not.

Sec. 7 Public Relations and Propaganda. UNCLE has a "front" that looks like an international social service type organization. These people are the ones who would have talked to that minister who came to Pat Crowley in Vulcan Aff/To Trap a Spy.

Sec. 8 As mentioned, Rolfe called it Deception and Camouflage. I like McDaniel's idea better: R & D. Anyway, this is "the Lab".

A mistake some writers make is thinking that section one ONLY contains the five top guys. Not true. All adminsitration people are here --- that is, desk types (unlike Solo) who aren't field agents (see for example that gruff station chief in Seven Wonders of the World Aff)

(Cindy)
(return to questions)

Field agents are retired from the field forcibly at age 40 (Moonglow Aff) If you watch Survival School aff and do a few calculated guesses on Solo, Illya and April's ages (again, for April check Moonglow) you'll see that people tend to join UNCLE around age 24-25. If that's so, a good field agent will spend some 15 yrs in the field. By that time, they SHOULD be retired. They deserve the rest. The good ones are obviously booted "upstairs" to lower positions in Sec. 1. The mediocre ones apparently take early retirement (see Odd Man Aff for Sully's situation).

(Cindy)
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--- Apparently --- and I mean apparently, this is extrapolation --- field agents are also required NOT TO MARRY while in the field. See Brian Morton's predicament in Deep Six Aff. Waverly makes a point that once Morton marries, he will "miss the action". One can assume this means Morton will be yanked to a desk job. None of the field agents we meet are married also --- including the alternative 40-yr old Mark Slate in Moonglow. In my universe, I call this the Celibacy Rule --- they must remain emotionally (not sexually) celibate in order to do the job.

(Cindy)
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--- Agents who leave UNCLE are "de-trained". That is, psychological blocks are inserted in their memories so they can't reveal any important UNCLE secrets. It is unclear if this means everyone. My conjecture is that only agents who are security risks and leave under cloudy circumstances are fully de-trained. Note that Sully and if you take the Return movie, Solo and Kuryakin , all seem to have memories intact.

(Cindy)
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--- Agents are trained at the UNCLE Survival School, run by Jules Cutter (see Survival School Aff) described as a secret tropical island that doesn't show up on reg. charts, 700 miles off the nearest shipping lane. Judging by Illya's arrival by submarine, it's hell to get there --- even harder than Lansing Mich :) [inside joke to MediaWest attendees).

(Cindy)
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--- There were several major breaches of UNCLE security after that invasion in Vulcan Aff. The Double Aff, in which a double agent was sent in Solo's place (he was kidnapped); Waverly Ring, Carla Drosten turned traitor; Discoteque Aff, Thrush managed to bug Waverly's office thru the attached rental apartments; Off-Broadway Aff, Thrush plugged in to UNCLE's main computer and of course, the treachery of Harry Beldon (Summit 5) who was one of the top 5 . In this aff, Solo was also under suspicion of being a double agent (apparently no one forgot about the Double Aff a few years before) and underwent a grueling interrogation at the hands of UNCLE's own people. Also, Geneva, apparently a major UNCLE office (and possibly one of the top five regionals at one point) was completely wiped out in Bird and Bees Aff.

(Cindy)

In "The Mad Mad Tea Party Affair" Waverly's brother in law is brought in to sting NY Headquarters Into Awareness because of A MAJOR UNCLE Conference. He walks in and out of NY HQ.

(Mike Rush)

(return to questions)

--- All agents carry Capsule B, an amnesia-inducing pill carried at the tip of the pen communicator. It gives them some 72 (not sure of exact number) hours of protection . I speculated in my Double Blind Aff on how the drug actually works. In any case, agents not only don't remember UNCLE, they forget their own identity. (Nowhere Aff).

(Cindy)
(return to questions)

--- There is a rumour that works as follows: Solo is in fact, the head of Section II - Operations and Enforcement. So he should be Section II, No. 1 - Illya is next in line. He's Section II, No. 2. (note use of roman numerals). The rumour is that Solo wears the number 11 because Robert Vaughn walked in, saw that Leo G. was wearing "1", knew he was head of Section II and took the 11 for a Roman numeral 2. David McCullum then picked up number 2. Later they realised the mistake but let it slide (maybe they'd already shot some scenes) and so it remained that way. It's not known if this rumour is true or not - it's just a rumour.

The more likely explanation perhaps is that badge numbers simply have no connection to rank - they're like the numbers on sports uniforms. Even if the rumour above is true this is the way they ended up working. However, the colors of the badges do have a meaning in that they represent how much security clearance the wearer has.

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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--- Waverly smokes Isle of Dogs No. 22 pipe tobacco --- a special blend. Much is made of this in Never Never Aff.

(Cindy)
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Waverly is married. He has children (a daughter at least) and grandchildren. His brother-in-law (presumably his wife's brother) is Prof. Hemingway of Mad Mad Tea Party (so Mrs. Waverly's maiden name is Hemingway, natch!) He also has a neice played by Yvonne Craig named Maude in Alexander the greater Aff.

(Cindy)

In the episode "The Bow Wow Affair," Waverly offers the services of UNCLE to his cousin Lester Baldwin (also played by Leo G. Carroll) and his daughter Alice Baldwin. This was a bit of a personal matter; Baldwin was, according to Waverly, a party to an indiscretion of Waverly's youth involving a girl, and Waverly hoped the assistance would get Baldwin off Waverly's back over the matter.

(Leonard R. Cleavelin)
(return to questions)

Allegedly, he didn't have time to change when the show called for it, so he popped a turtleneck on over his suit.

(Terry Neill)

Additionally I have heard it said that he was too lazy to be bothered to keep changing suits and it really got to him. So he started using turtlenecks. After a few episodes this became established as a kind of Illya fashion so it was left in the show and hence the famous Illya turtleneck.

(Henry MFUFAQ)
(return to questions)

I don't know if it's really Russian, but it should be spelled "I-L-L-Y-A". That is the only way it is spelled in the show. The name Illya on any other person, should probably be spelled I-L-Y-A, as there is no double-l in Cyrillic and the name is spelled with three characters "I-L-YA" in Cyrillic.

(Terry Neill)

Illya -is- a real Russian name. There is a St. Illya and there is a folkloric character, as well, Illya of Muromets. I agree that the UNCLE character's name should be spelt ILYA. However, the Russian name has four letters (not 3- sorry): I-L-(a silent leter, myakiznak)-Y-A.

(Linda White)

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For current information about what David is doing see http://members.tripod.com/lsmtmo/index.html "The McCallum Observer" pages.

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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Robert Vaughn now has an official website - it's best to go there for the latest information about what he's doing:

Robert Vaughn's Website

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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Click on Robert Vaughn or David McCallum to find out!

(Henry MFUFAQ)
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Spin-off; starring Stephanie Powers as April Dancer. Can get you more information if you need it. Let me know.

(Becky)

<Additional information required>
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The Girl from UNCLE ran for 29 episodes, Sept 13, 1966 - April 11, 1967, with reruns through late August '67.

Dorothy Klein
(return to questions)

Yes. It's been released. Directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Henry Cavill as Solo and Armie Hammer as Illya. As mentioned above this FAQ does not concern itself with the modern film which is seen as it's own entity rather than as connected to the original cult TV show. It is inevitable that any modern take on UNCLE would be changed around to suit modern audiences. Therefore it's inevitable that although the names will be the same all else will be quite different. Nevertheless after years of speculation and rumour it is here and you can go and see it.

A more pertinent question perhaps is "will there be ANOTHER Man From UNCLE movie?". The speculative answer to that is in the short term probably not. The takings at the box office at the time of writing have amounted to around $13.5 million which falls far short of the $80 million spent making it. It's not rocket science to guess the producers and investors were hoping for a better reception. It could be therefore that another movie based on UNCLE is unlikely in the short term. However, although Hollywood usually revolves around money and profit - sometimes things happen to buck this trend so we cannot be sure - it is... as stated just speculation.

If you have an interest in discussing modern movie efforts or the movie visit the Channel D mailing list where discussion and speculation frequently take place.

(Henry MFUFAQ)

(return to questions)

At this time we are not aware of any plans for a new TV series based on The Man (or Girl) from UNCLE.

(Henry MFUFAQ)

(return to questions)

NOW! This question is historical. As mentioned elsewhere in the FAQ the entire series and all the movies are available in the USA. Elsewhere the series is partly available but will probably become completely available very soon.

(Henry MFUFAQ)

(return to questions)

There is a British based fanzine called THE NETWORK. It's been in existence since 1984.You can contact the editor in order to subscribe or get more information at agent56.mfu@ntlworld.com.

Also refer to the web pages for more fanzines. (see 1.2).

NOTE: (2015) This information and email are somewhat old now. They are presumed correct still but if you try the email and find it doesn't work please let us know so we can update here.

(Henry MFUFAQ based on info provided by Jacqueline - thanks!)

(return to questions)

There is a convention held in the UK each year usually around March. Details can be found here:

www.uncleconvention.webs.com

If you are elsewhere you may be out of luck although it's said many UNCLE fans in the US meet up at the MediaWest multi-fandom convention...

(Henry MFUFAQ based on info provided by Jacqueline - thanks!)

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Joan Crawford (The Five Daughters Affair)
Telly Savalas (The Five Daughters Affair)
Jack Lord (The Master's Touch Affair)
Carroll O'Connor (The Green Opal Affair)
Kurt Russell (The Finny Foot Affair)
Robert Culp (The Shark Affair)
William Shatner (The Project Strigas Affair)
Leonard Nimoy (The Project Stigas Affair)
Elsa Lanchester (The Brain Killers Affair)
Vincent Price (The Foxes and Hounds Affair)
Martin Landau (The Bat Cave Affair)
Nancy Sinatra (The Take Me to Your Leader Affair)
Sonny & Cher (The Hot Number Affair)
Victor Borge (The Suburbia Affair)

Patricia Gallagher

Yvonne Craig (The Brain Killer Affair, One Spy Too Many)
Barbara Feldon (The Never-Never Affair)
Sharon Tate (The Girls of Nazarone Affair)
Bonnie Franklin (The Gazebo in the Maze Affair)
Pat Harrington Jr. (The Bow Wow Affair, The Hula Doll Affair)
Leslie Nielsen (The Seven Wonders of the World Affair)
Judy Carne (The Ultimate Computer Affair, The Gurnius Affair)
Norman Fell (The Moonglow Affair)
Don Harron (The Four Steps Affair, The Spy with my Face)
Ricardo Montalban (The Dove Affair, The King of Diamonds Affair)
Edy Williams (apparently a sex star) (The Hula Doll Affair)
Glenn Corbett (The Hong Kong Shilling Affair)
Gavin MacLeod (The Hong Kong Shilling Affair)

Sam Strange

(return to questions)