Inverlair No. 6 Special Workshop School: ‘The Cooler’

Abstract

The Security Section found itself responsible for SOE’s recruiting mistakes, in the form of men who proved unsuited to the rigours of life as an agent in the field. Usually removed as their unsuitability became apparent during training, these men were held at the ‘No. 6 Special Workshop School’ at Inverlair Lodge, Inverness-shire, a facility which has achieved an unfair notoriety in the post-war world.¹ Officially known in London as ‘the Cooler’, but simply as ‘Inverlair’ north of the border, the facility provided the inspiration for George Markstein’s 1974 novel, The Cooler.² It has been claimed that Markstein found out about Inverlair while working as a journalist on the US forces magazine Stars and Stripes in post-war Europe. While The Cooler has faded into obscurity, the influence of Inverlair can also be seen in the cult television series The Prisoner, which Markstein developed with the show’s star Patrick McGoohan.