M. E. Clifton James M. E. Clifton James Meyrick Edward Clifton James (April 1898 – 8 May 1963) was an actor and soldier, with a resemblance to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. This was used by British intelligence as part of a deception campaign during the Second World War. Clifton James was born in Perth, Western Australia, the youngest son of notable Australian public servant John Charles Horsey James and his wife Rebecca Catherine Clifton. After serving in the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War, and seeing action at the Battle of the Somme, he took up acting, "starting at 15 shillings weekly with
M. E. Clifton James Fred Karno, who put Chaplin on the road to fame." At the outbreak of the Second World War he volunteered his services to the British Army as an entertainer. Instead of being assigned to ENSA as he had hoped, on 11 July 1940 James was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Army Pay Corps and eventually posted to Leicester. Here, his acting seemed to be limited to his membership of the Pay Corps Drama and Variety Group. In 1944 his resemblance to Montgomery was spotted, and he was employed to pretend to be the general as part of