The elderly lady would appear at 11am on the dot, ready for her first gin and tonic of the day, and again at 5pm, after her nap. Anyone taking up the special barstool in the corner was asked, politely, to vacate it and the most celebrated guest to grace the Stafford Hotel would make herself comfortable.

Then the stories would begin. And Nancy Wake, the secret agent, saboteur and spy who died at the weekend, aged 98, certainly had some stories.

“We all loved listening to her,” recalls Benoit Provost, head barman at the hotel in Piccadilly, Central London, where the Second World War heroine, once top of the Gestapo’s most wanted list, spent three years of her old age.

Codenamed “The White Mouse” by the Germans, who continually failed to catch her, Ms Wake became a French Resistance courier in 1940, setting up escape routes, sabotaging Nazi plans and saving hundreds, if not thousands, of lives in the process.

Having interviewed Hitler in Vienna in 1933, she went on to work for British Special Operations and was parachuted into France in April 1944 before D-Day to deliver weapons to French Resistance fighters. Her incredible feats soon became part of Allied legend, and her life story is said to be the inspiration for Charlotte Gray, the film based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks, starring Cate Blanchett.

“She always told me she had had some tough times, but she still felt blessed,” said Mr Provost at the hotel’s American Bar, where he would serve Ms Wake her daily gin and tonic, while she lived free of charge in a double room on the first floor.

“Some of her stories I fear are quite unprintable,” he added with a laugh. “She was a very strong-willed woman, and it was a privilege and an honour to have known her.”

Born in New Zealand, and educated in Australia, Ms Wake ran away from home aged 16 and by the early 1930s was living in Paris, where she worked as a journalist. She married a wealthy industrialist, Henri Fiocca. Only after the liberation of France did she learn that he was tortured and killed by the Gestapo for refusing to give her up.

When the war ended, she became a regular visitor to the hotel, thanks to her friendship with Louis Burdet, a former Resistance leader in Marseilles, who became the hotel’s general manager.

The hotel had its own wartime heritage — the wine cellar was used as an air-raid shelter, her beloved American Bar started life as an officers’ club, celebrating the special relationship between Britain and the US, and Mr Burdet was by no means the only former Resistance fighter among its staff. Ms Wake liked it so much that one day she decided to stay. Terry Holmes, her friend and former manager who ran the hotel from the mid-1970s until his retirement five years ago, told The Times: “On one of her visits, I asked her how long she would be staying. She replied, ‘Until I die’. I thought she was joking.” She wasn’t.

With the help of donations — from the Prince of Wales and others — Ms Wake, who was childless, widowed a second time and well into her old age, was able to stay at the Stafford long after she had run out of money. Mr Holmes, 65, eventually arranged for Ms Wake’s transfer to the Royal Star and Garter Home for former servicemen and women in Richmond, southwest London, where she lived until her death on Sunday. He once accompanied her in her wheelchair to a commemoration at the Australia and New Zealand war memorials at Hyde Park Corner. “The young soldiers came up to speak to her,” he said. “She was only ever interested in speaking to the young men, never the young women.”

France decorated her with its highest military honour, the Légion d’honneur, as well as three Croix de guerre and the Medaille de la Résistance. The United States awarded her its Medal of Freedom and Britain the George Medal. The Australian Government, however, was slow to honour her achievements.

“She used to threaten that if they ever did get round to giving her a medal, that she would tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine,” said Mr Holmes. When the honour did finally arrive, in 2004, “she was very well-behaved”. The Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, paid tribute last night to the country’s most decorated Second World War heroine, calling her “a woman of exceptional courage and resourcefulness”.

Ms Wake carried with her, however, a lifelong disgust of all things German. Mr Holmes recalled how she introduced him to one wartime comrade. “She said, ‘Terry, you must meet this man. We killed thousands of Germans together. Thousands’.”

Mr Holmes is willing to forgive such views. “She was part of history. She once said to me she would like to be remembered as somebody who did their bit. I think she did more than that.”

RIP Nancy.

She was celebrated and recognised here, though not alot.

RIP Nancy.

She was celebrated and recognised here, though not alot.

Sad really, sad, i would have loved to have met her and have listened to her stories. Now we're back to Harky being the only living antipodean Nancy

I wish there was a middle finger smiley.

Now you'll just have to wait until after my morning gin and my nap before I will tell YOU any stories.

Edited August 11, 201114 yr by Harcourt

I wish there was a middle finger smiley.

Now you'll just have to wait until after my morning gin and my nap before I will tell YOU any stories.

And typically of Australia, once again declaring a great New Zealander as one of theirs.

RIP Nancy.

I wish there was a middle finger smiley.

Now you'll just have to wait until after my morning gin and my nap before I will tell YOU any stories.

or

Edited August 11, 201114 yr by Blinky Bill

She sounds an amazing woman, I am pretty sure I have heard of her before. Good to hear that she was taken care of in her old age.

I wish there was a middle finger smiley.

Now you'll just have to wait until after my morning gin and my nap before I will tell YOU any stories.

or

...yay! Thanks Blinky. The other one's a bit too risque for me in this forum.....someone might take it seriously and get me banned again.

Now, I can use it for cheeky sods like Sui (because he knows it's in jest), but Mod help me if I was to use it in OTB!! (Though that's where it would come into most use)

RIP Nancy.

She was celebrated and recognised here, though not alot.

Sad really, sad, i would have loved to have met her and have listened to her stories. Now we're back to Harky being the only living antipodean Nancy

Horrified.......... Where's a mod when you need one eh ?