In his novel Scoop, Evelyn Waugh fictionalized the speculator and businessman Francis William Rickett as “Mr Baldwin”.
Evelyn Waugh was aware that the mysterious Rickett had deep links with oil companies and foreign governments and that they were far deeper than the press were reporting at the time. Waugh considered this secretive businessman as “the one who got away”.
This is how Waugh introduces “Mr Baldwin”:
