DARK WINDSURFING PAST OF JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHIEF

Those of you who bother to read newspapers will no doubt have come across the story revealing that Alex Allan, 56, our most senior British intelligence official, recently appointed to oversee MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, has a website revealing his home address, phone numbers and private photographs of himself, family and friends.

Viewed by officialdom as a bit of a serious security breach for someone who is an obvious target for terrorists, Alex has naturally removed these details, but what piqued our interest is the fact that our new head of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) is (or was) a windsurfing nut.

His website has a great pic of him windsurfing to work on the Thames (see above) in bowler and pinstripe during a train strike. (Note, too, the Grateful Dead logo on his sail. Alex has apparently been a ‘Deadhead’ since he first saw the Dead in the mud at Bickershawe in 1972).  

We’re not sure if Alex still windsurfs, but he’s obviously a man of taste who likes to enjoy life.

We could do with a few more of him in the corridors of power…