Montagu and Charles Cholmondely conceived the idea behind Operation Mincemeat and carried it out.
Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu was a British judge, Naval intelligence officer and author. Born into a British Jewish family. Was a machine gun instructor in the States during WW1. Joined the navy for WW2 and became Lieutenant Commander in Naval Intelligence.
After the war Montagu documented the story in the book The Man Who Never Was (1953). In 1956 this was made into a film, produced by his brother Ivor.
Ewen Edwin Samuel Montagu was the second of Baron Swaythling's three sons, and born in to a massively wealthy Jewish banking family. Erenow describes Montagu's extremely privileged upbringing at 28 Kensington Court. While at Cambridge he and his brothers invented table tennis (Wikipedia does not support this origin story). Erenow gives an account of Montagu's life after the war: he was appointed OBE and returned to the law. Appointed judge advocate of the fleet, in 1945 he was put in charge of the Royal Navy's court-martial system. He also served as a judge in which role he was apt to make inappropriate jokes. Became president of the United Synagogue.
