In the Canva of your mind, assemble a sepia ensemble of British second world war MVPs. Churchill, obviously. Field Marshal Bernard ‘Monty’ Montgomery, the scourge of Rommel, picks himself. Turing, sage of Bletchley, almost certainly. Of course, add your valorous ancestors, for few British family trees didn’t lose branches in the carnage.
Now cast your eye over this glorious corps. Is there a diminutive, fine-boned woman of Indian descent with challenging eyes and the merest hint of a smile on her lips? Well, there should be.
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, was born in Moscow on January 1, 1914. The eldest of four children, with Sufi heritage and Indian Muslim roots, she and her family decamped to Britain shortly before the optimistically subtitled ‘war…
