A widow who went through her husband's secret papers after his death was shocked to discover he was leading a double life as a spy against the Nazis.
Audrey Phillips, 85, was married to Glyndwr for 64 years in Trowbridge, Wilshire, and knew him as a family man and civil engineer.
But until his death in 2015, she was unaware he had been working for MI5 since he was 13.
Audrey Phillips was married to her husband Glyndwr for 64 years without realising he was leading a double life as a spy, pictured with their children in the 1980s
Mrs Phillips, an 85-year-old great-grandmother of three, said she was 'astonished' to read about Glyn's clandestine life in 2017
Mrs Phillips cleared his paperwork and found he had written his life story as a spy which started in the 1940s.
The documents showed he had become a spy when he was pulled out of school in 1944 because of his photographic memory and began to work for Operation XX.
The operation, otherwise known as the Double-Cross System, was a counter-espionage and deception project which saw Nazi agents captured in Britain being used to send misinformation back to Germany.
Mrs Phillips, a great-grandmother of three, said she was 'astonished' to read about Glyn's clandestine life in 2017, after he died from Parkinson's in January 2015, aged 83.
The memoirs of his time as a spy during a fascinating period of British history are being published in a book Operation XX and me: Did I have a choice?
After he died in 2015, the widow went through his documents and found out he was recruited by MI5 as a schoolboy
The operation were looking for recruits who were interested in horses, small for their age, and had a photographic memory
She said: 'I was completely oblivious. I have so many questions now that will probably never get answered. Why did I not know?'
In Mr Phillips's story is details of the training he underwent which involved him having to crawl through concrete pipes 18 inches wide to talk to German POWs.
He was recruited by an MI5 captain and continued working in espionage after WWII for most of his adult life, and only his father knew of his clandestine activities.
Mrs Phillips, a retired home economics teacher, has now published her husband's memoirs in a book titled 'Operation XX And Me: Did I Have A Choice?'.
She said: 'I never noticed any time that he was away for a long period, as he used to work away from home quite a lot.
![Mr Phillips (pictured as a boy, second left) wrote: 'I look back now and think about what sort of life [my wife] must have had and how she put up with me.'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/05/24/11/13904028-7066291-image-a-14_1558692573272.jpg)
Mr Phillips (pictured as a boy, second left) wrote: 'I look back now and think about what sort of life [my wife] must have had and how she put up with me.'
The documents showed Mr Phillips was working as an agent in Operation XX which saw Nazi agents captured in Britain being used to send misinformation back to Germany
'He wrote in his story that one of his missions was in a place called Portwrinkle in Cornwall. I couldn't believe it when I read that.
'I didn't even know where Portwrinkle was. I had to look it up.'
The only person who knew of her husband's involvement with British intelligence was his father, who was approached by a man known only as 'the Captain' for permission.
The teenager was one of 20 young boys around the country recruited by the security agency for the secretive operation.
Mrs Phillips said: 'He kept the papers in a drawer at home, and occasionally would get them out to top up his writing, but he never invited me to read them, so I never did.
'It took me three years after he died to read them and I was absolutely astonished
