Creating Noor’s cover

Despite it being the most dangerous place in France, Noor requested she be sent to Paris for her mission because she knew it so well. She was given a new name – Jeanne-Marie Renier – and a cover story as a children’s nurse. Her SOE codename was Madeleine.

Her clothes were faithful copies of those brought to the UK by recent refugees from Occupied France, which were aged to look as if they had been worn for years. She was given false papers, photographs of invented family and friends, ticket stubs, receipts, a ration card and other items to make her cover story believable. She was also given a money belt hiding thousands of francs.

On the night of 16 June 1943 – a full moon – Noor was driven to an RAF airfield, in a car nicknamed "the hearse". Noor was described as quietly “serene”. She was given a silver bird brooch as a good luck token, and a Webley pistol for her handbag. She would be flown in a small Lysander aircraft to a field in the French countryside, and from there make her way to Paris.