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Portrait of Stella Rimington Photo: Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images (2004)

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Rimington, Stella

Dame Stella Rimington is a British author of spy novels. She is a former intelligence officer, she was the first female Director General of the British intelligence service MI5 and also the first director general who made her name publicly known. Stella Rimington was born Stella Whitehouse in South London. She moved with her family to Essex in 1939 to get away from the danger of living in...

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Literary figures

Mike Hammer

Gender: Male

One of the most severely criticised literary figures of all times is Michael ‘Mike’ Hammer – a cynical, vengeful army veteran who completely lacks any sense of humour, a communist-hater and private detective, who is the protagonist in a row of bestselling novels by Mickey Spillane. Hammer’s only weak point is his love for his secretary Velda. This figure is in part loosely based on a real-life Tex...

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