Katharine Fannin is chiefly remembered for her two journeys in 1938 and 1939 across Italian East Africa. Armed with an invitation from the Viceroy and an antiquarian guidebook to Abyssinia, she gathered vital information for British Intelligence. Her maps, details of military installations and reports of conditions proved invaluable in the Abyssinian Campaign of 1941. A fearless, independent, unconventional woman, Mrs Fanninn was also a talented journalist,...