Operation Mincemeat: Meet the Characters

Posted on 6 Jul 2026

1943, Britain is at war. With the most ingeniously bizarre deception plans in wartime history, *Operation Mincemeat* could change everything. The story of how a disguised corpse won the war. Meet the [*Operation Mincemeat*](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/operation-mincemeat-tickets) musical characters who tell this story, and the real life wartime heroes behind the operation.

**Ewen Montagu** is one of the main characters in the West End’s *Operation Mincemeat*. He was a British judge, Naval intelligence officer and then author. As commanding officer, Montagu brought the ingenious plan into fruition. The idea being dressing a homeless man’s corpse as a British officer carrying fake papers revealing a plan for the invasion of Greece.

Montagu states in his book, though there was no shortage of bodies, he felt he couldn’t take the body of his peers. Instead he sought a corpse elsewhere.

This corpse became known as ‘William Martin,’ though his real name was **Glyndwr Michael**, later revealed in 1996. Montagu never intended the man’s real identity would be revealed. Though Glyndwr’s story is not told in the [*Operation Mincemeat* musical](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/operation-mincemeat-tickets), he lived a short and tragic life, with his coal miner father dying by suicide when he was only 15, and later his mother died aged 31. Michael came to London from Wales to live on the streets.

He was found in an abandoned warehouse, unwell from ingesting rat poison that was smeared onto bread crusts. His death is deliberated as either a suicide, or because he was hungry. Glyndwr Michael though he doesn’t appear in *Operation Mincemeat* in London’s West End, he is a pivotal part of the story.

## **Charles Cholmondeley** Charles Cholmondeley was a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) and British intelligence officer, who worked closely alongside Montagu. Cholmondeley initially presented the *Operation Mincemeat* plan in 1942, but was deemed as unworkable. Later they brought in Montagu to assist the plan, due to his Naval intelligence background. So really, we have Cholmondeley to thank for *Operation Mincemeat* the musical. ## **Jean Leslie** To make William Martin a convincing British Officer, Cholmondeley and Montagu fabricated the vision of a fiancée at home named Pam. Within the pockets of the corpse, they planted a photograph of MI5 clerk, Jean Leslie, along with some love letters for good measure and a receipt for a diamond engagement ring from Bond Street. They were quite the storytellers. In *Operation Mincemeat* West End, the character Jean Leslie represents the disdain against the systematic exclusion of women in MI5. ## **Hester Leggat** Hester Leggat was a British MI5 employee, an administrative assistant to the department of Double Cross agents. Some historians believe she contributed to the false love letters written by ‘Pam’ the fake fiancée of William Martin. Leggat was unmarried and remained that way for the rest of her life. The love letters were described as "chattering pastiches of a young woman madly in love, and with little time for grammar.” ## **Ian Fleming** Ian Fleming, yes that Ian Fleming who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels and the writer of the children’s story *Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang*. So basically the mind behind Bond himself and a flying car was involved in *Operation Mincemeat*. Fleming was Admiral John Godfrey’s assistant and it is said that Fleming based James Bond’s boss ‘M’ upon Godfrey. ## **Admiral John Godfrey** Admiral John Godfrey was an officer for the Royal Navy. Though he was initially skeptical of the plan he eventually approved *Operation Mincemeat*. Get your tickets to *[Operation Mincemeat](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/musical/operation-mincemeat-tickets)* and see the minds behind the bonkers plan on stage, in this musical adaptation at the [Fortune Theatre](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/fortune-theatre-london).