Listen to the True Spies podcast Codename: Madeleine

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If you were to wander around London, you will almost certainly spot a blue circular plaque on buildings - some impressive, some humble, and others mentioning spies.

The plaques are used to honor the notable men and women who have lived or worked in the buildings, and one of the heroes of the film A Call to Spy has been honored with her own blue plaque.

Indian actress Radhika Apte (pictured above) played Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan in the Hollywood movie but the story behind the scenes is equally compelling. Noor, also known as Nora Inayat Khan, Nora Baker, and by her code name Madelaine, was a British spy in WWII who became the first female wireless operator to be sent from the UK into occupied France to aid the French Resistance.

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SEO spy Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan

Noor Inayat Khan’s mother was the American poet Amina Begum and her father was the Indian musician and Sufi teacher Inayat Khan. The family lived in London and Paris where Noor studied child psychology at the Sorbonne. She was pursuing a career as a children’s writer when WWII erupted. Noor’s family moved back to England to join the fight against fascism just before the fall of Paris in 1940.

Not content to sit still while the war raged, Noor enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1940 and later applied for a commission in Intelligence. She was posted as a wireless operator in Wiltshire and was soon interviewed by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) set up by Churchill to conduct subversive warfare. Noor was sent to paramilitary training at secret locations across Britain but still considered her home to be with her family in London's Bloomsbury neighborhood.

On June 16, 1943, Noor flew to France. Her mission was to contact Henri Garry (codename Cinema or Phono) in Paris and serve as his wireless operator. Noor was codenamed ‘Madeleine’ - a character from one of her own stories. Soon after her arrival, her undercover network collapsed and the Gestapo made multiple arrests but Noor was still operational, the only transmitting agent in Paris.

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A Call to Spy‍

By keeping on the move and changing her appearance, she evaded capture for more than three months while continuing to transmit messages - via radio and the SOE air force - to Baker Street. Noor was betrayed on October 14, however, captured by the Gestapo and taken to their Paris HQ. Although Noor escaped at least twice, she was recaptured and sent to Germany. At Pforzheim Prison, ‘Nora Baker’ was kept in isolation with only short periods out of chains.

She would scratch the address onto the bottom of her feeding bowl while imprisoned in Pforzheim in order to communicate with fellow prisoners: ‘Nora Baker, Radio Office Service RAF, 4 Taviton Street, London’.

On September 11, 1944, Noor and three other female agents were sent to the Dachau concentration camp where she died. Noor was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Gold Star on January 16, 1946, and, on April 5, 1949, the George Cross.

If you are ever in London, Noor-un-Nissa’s blue plaque can be seen on the outside of what was her family home in Bloomsbury at 4 Taviton Street, London, WC1H 0BT.
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