• 1922: He went to University College of Wales, Aberystwyth where he graduated with a first-class degree in French.
• He went on to Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated with a first-class honours’ degree in French, German and Russian.
• 1930: He was chosen to be David Lloyd George’s private secretary, dealing in foreign affairs.
• 1931: During a two-year period, he worked in the USA, in Italy, and in the Soviet Union.
• 1933: He joined the staff of the ‘Western Mail’ in Cardiff.
• 1933: He had an opportunity to meet Hitler’s Secretary and accepted an invitation to fly with Hitler in his private plane to a rally in Frankfurt.
• 1934: He started on a round-the-world journey.
• 1935: Whilst travelling in Mongolia, he was caught by Japanese soldiers. When released, he was sent on what was supposedly a safe route through bandit country, where he was kidnapped and held for 16 days.
• 1935: He was shot dead in Chahar Province, China, on 12 August 1935, on the eve of his 30th birthday possibly by Soviet Russia or the Japanese.
‘He had a passion for finding out what was happening in foreign lands wherever there was trouble, and in pursuit of his investigations he shrank from no risk. I had always been afraid that he would take one risk too many.’ – David Lloyd George in ‘London Evening Standard’, 26 August1935