For The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Robert Gardner was none other than Frank’s father, operating under the cover of Second Secretary at the British Embassy in Prague. Of the Ostrava incident itself, it was reported that Gardner placed 40,000 Czech crowns in bank notes – the equivalent of £9,000 in today’s money – at the dead drop. For whatever reason mother later moved into a cottage in the grounds of the embassy.’She added: ‘Outside work she led the high life. Fiona added: ‘My mother and Robert Gardner certainly did a lot of driving around together in Czechoslovakia. You always had to use a butter knife and have tea from bone china cups – that kind of thing.’Last week, Frank Gardner politely declined to discuss his father’s secret career.

Source: Daily Mail June 21, 2020 01:49 UTC