Colonel Charles Russell
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Colonel Charles Edward Russell, generally known as Colonel Russell, is an Anglo-Irish British army officer created by the British thriller writer William Haggard who, after World War II, becomes head of an unobtrusive but occasionally lethal British counter-intelligence agency called the Security Executive. The Executive figures in 25 novels featuring Russell and in several others in which Russell is not a character. Haggard himself, who had served at least for a while as an Intelligence Officer during the War, called it "not entirely imaginary". Russell is presented throughout the series as an "unapologetic" Establishment conservative but, perhaps because of his part-Irish heritage, is far from being a racist: in at least one of his books, he hopes that a Black "operator" of the Executive, William Wilberforce Smith, will become its head.
In book 1, Slow Burner, Russell is "not particularly tall" but "his stride was an inch or two longer than the average, an inch or two longer than an infantryman of the line would have felt comfortable"; he has "an abundant mustache"; he drinks sherry or whisky and soda before lunch; might have some port before going to an important meeting, but just to delay his arrival; plays golf; smokes a pipe & an occasional cigar. "By the standards of conformity" his office furnishings are a "scandal", an eclectic mix; his chief assistant is Major Mortimer. To help his thinking about a problem, he writes an APPRECIATION in long hand, arranged things in categories.
In book 21, The Mischief Makers, no longer smokes, still drinks, and still has a mustache; hopes Willy Smith will take over the Executive