As a young officer in 1903, Edmund Ironside went undercover in German South-West Africa (now Namibia) to investigate German activities during the revolt by the Herero people. The Intelligence Department helped disguise the burly Ironside as a Boer ox-cart driver in battered hat and veldskoens. He grew a beard, smoked Boer tobacco in a foul pipe, and spoke authentic colloquial Cape Dutch. He was soon accepted, but was horrified one day to see his white bull terrier proudly trotting alongside his wagon in a bright collar proclaiming his owner’s name: ‘Lt. Ironside: Royal Artillery’.

Nicholas Rankin, Churchill’s Wizards: The British Genius for Deception 1914-1945 (2008)