Chinese spy scandal reminds me of one very surprising meeting I had with spooks

It was reported this week that Chinese spies have been placing bugs in pubs, park benches and some famous buildings in Whitehall. Of course this is a very serious issue and no one should make light of it, but the various ingenious attempts that countries have made to spy on each other never ceases to amaze. A few years ago I went to Moscow and toured the famous Bolshoi Theatre: I was shown one particularly splendid room where receptions were held to entertain diplomats.

It also had a strange echoing effect in that there was one part of the room in which, even if you were speaking very quietly, your words could be heard on the other side. It was similar to St Paul's Whispering Gallery - and guess where the visiting diplomats were placed. The whole history of spying is a fascinating one.

I once met someone who I am convinced was a spy: he looked like an overweight accountant and said he was a civil servant. And yet he'd spent a good deal of his life behind the Iron Curtain, when such a thing still existed, and we're constantly being informed by the relevant authorities that in real life no spy would ever look remotely like . Rather, they are the kind of people who blend into the background and you never even notice them.

There are notable exceptions, of course, like the great Frederick Forsyth, late of this parish, but even he kept his intelligence service background a secret for many, many years.

Freddie once took me to lunch in a place frequented by ex-spies and although I can't say a great deal about it, one fact did stand out. At least a quarter of spies were women, possibly more, something I'd not at all expected.

But we shouldn't be surprised, given how often it emerges that some unremarkable middle-class lady living her life in the shires had actually spent the war years in Bletchley Park. Like the men, they are no Mata Haris, just someone you'd associate more with jam making than intelligence gathering and it's quite right they should quietly have the last laugh.

So next time you order a Chinese takeaway, don't be too surprised if one of the prawn crackers looks a little odd. Just best not to tell it the details of your bank account.