Tommy Macpherson Colonel Sir ( Ronald ) Thomas Stewart Macpherson CBE , MC and Two Bars , TD , DL is a Scottish businessman , having previously been a much decorated British Army officer during and after the Second World War . Origins and education . Macpherson was born in Edinburgh , Scotland on 4 October 1920 . He was youngest of seven children of Sir Thomas Stewart Macpherson CIE LLD and Helen , the daughter of the Reverend Archibald Borland Cameron . His father ’ s brother was the first Baron Strathcarron and one of his own brothers , Niall , was also raised to the peerage as Baron Drumalbyn . Another brother was George Macpherson , one of Scotland ' s greatest ever rugby players . His family originates from Newtonmore , in the Highlands , yet he was raised in the city . His childhood home was Edgebrooke , in East Fettes Avenue , and he attended Edinburgh Academy prep school before Cargilfield , in Barnton . At 14 , he went to Fettes College , where he joined the Officers ' Training Corps . He also attended Trinity College , Oxford , where he was awarded a first class degree in Philosophy , Politics and Economics . He represented Oxford at rugby , hockey and athletics and was also an international student athlete , representing the UK at the Universiade , the precursor of the World Student Games . Military career . Macpherson was commissioned in the Queen ' s Own Cameron Highlanders Territorial Army in 1939 , before serving in No 11 ( Scottish ) Commando in 1940 - 1941 . Macpherson was part of a four man team sent to reconnoitre beaches in preparation for Operation Flipper , an attempted raid on on the headquarters of Erwin Rommel , the famous German Field Marshal . In two canvas folboat s , they waited at sea for their rendezvous with a submarine which was to return them to their base at Apollonia . After two nights , the submarine had not appeared and one boat was leaking , so the men decided to land again and make a final attempt in one boat , but in the end the weather was too bad . They then decided to walk to Tobruk , despite the fact they had no food , water or maps , and were dressed only in shorts . Captain Ratcliffe and Lieutenant Ravenscroft were captured on 2 November , Macpherson and Corporal Evans managed to hold out for another day before they too were captured by Italian forces near Derna . Interrogated by four army officers and six carabinieri , one asked MacPherson to demonstrate how his Colt Automatic worked , he did so by " by putting in a spare magazine [ he ] still had , and then held the party up with the loaded weapon " . Unfortunately , he then suffered a severe attack of cramp , and was recaptured and placed in solitary confinement . He made one further escape attempt before being taken to Italy in a destroyer , and held in a prisoner of war camp at Montalbo ; here he made a further escape attempt , breaching the inner perimeter , but he could not find a way over the outer fence . In June 1942 he was moved to another camp at Gavi , near Genoa . After the Italian armistice the camp was taken over by German forces on 9 September 1943 , and the prisoners transferred to German prisoner of war camps from 14 September when they were taken by road to Acqui . From here they were to be taken by train to Austria . Macpherson managed to get away from his guards , but was soon recaptured , and almost shot ; fortunately the order by a feldwebel ( NCO ) was countermanded by an officer . The prisoners were then transported by train to Stalag XVIII - A at Spittal an der Drau , Austria . On arrival at this camp , Macpherson and a New Zealander , Captain Colin Norman Armstrong managed to hide from the Germans whenever they tried to take a roll call , and obtained assistance from the French held in a different part of the camp , escaping in French uniforms on 21 September , also accompanied by a Captain A . A . Yeoman . They managed to recross the Italian border , and were intending to make their way into Yugoslavia and link up with Allied - supported partisans there . Unfortunately , Armstrong became separated , and on 26 September Macpherson and Armstrong ran into a German patrol near Chiusaforte , Macpherson spoke to the patrol in Italian , pretending to be an Italian officer , and tried to convince the patrol that Armstrong was Croatian . The Red Cross rations they were carrying revealed their true status , and they were sent to a camp in Hohenstein , arriving on 30 September after a five day train journey with only a small amount of bread to eat and little water . On 1 October they were transferred to Stalag XX - A at Toruń , Poland . On 9 October they escaped again , with assistance from Private Hutson and Sergeant Glancy . The four then managed to travel to Sweden via Bromberg and Gdynia . On 17 February 1944 , Macpherson was awarded the Military Cross ( MC ) for his escape . Operation Jedburgh . Upon return to Scotland Macpherson joined the Jedburgh Unit , a team of hand - picked operatives who would be dropped into occupied Europe to conduct sabotage and guerilla warfare . French Guerrilla operations . In June 1944 Macpherson parachuted down to Nazi - occupied France with Lt Prince Michel of Bourbon - Parma , a French officer and a radio operator , where , on Churchill ' s orders to ' Set Europe ablaze ' , he was to embark on a remarkable war - time exploit . Apparently eschewing any attempt at stealth , Macpherson landed in full Cameron Highland uniform , including tartan kilt and Sgian - dubh . " Just as I arrived I heard an excited young Frenchman saying to his boss , ' Chef , chef , there ' s a French officer and he ' s brought his wife ! " Tommy aged 90 , 5 October 2010 , quote from The Scotsman newspaper . " Their mistaking me for a woman wearing a skirt was an easy error to make . " His first operation was to delay the advance of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich . His group demolished a small bridge , and then held the bridge at Bicteroux for six days , despite German attacks . Just 27 men were involved in these operations , of whom 20 were killed . They then switched to attacking road and rail routes between Brive and Montauban , eventually completely stopping railway traffic between Cahors and Souillac , Lot on 1 July . Similar operations continued through July , and following Operation Dragoon ( the Allied invasion of Southern France , aimed at capturing Marseille ) , operations increased in scale . In one attack Macpherson and his men trapped 300 Germans and 100 members of the Milice ( Pro - German French forces ) in a railway tunnel for several days . Over the course of the next two months Macpherson killed or captured many German troops and systematically blew apart bridges . He operated from caves and woodland areas with his radio operator . Under the mantle of Agent Quinine , he achieved an operation of some kind virtually every day , his high - profile presence – he brazenly toured the countryside in a black Citroën with a Union Flag pennant on one side and a Croix de Lorraine on the other - infuriating the Nazis to the extent that they placed a 300 , 000 franc bounty on his head , describing him as " The Kilted Killer , A bandit masquerading as a Scottish officer and extremely dangerous to the citizens of France " . On one occasion when a German staff car was approaching a level crossing Macpherson booby - trapped the barrier arm so it crashed down on the vehicle , decapitating the local commandant and his driver . On another occasion Macpherson took decisive action as the Second Motorised SS Infantry Division and the Das Reich Division pushed towards the fragile Normandy beach - head . Unarmed and accompanied by a doctor and a French officer , he drove a stolen German Red Cross Land Rover through ten miles of enemy - held territory , through machine gun fire and straight to the Das Reich Division headquarters where , dressed in full Highland regalia , he warned that he would unleash heavy artillery and call on the RAF if they did not surrender . In consequence , 23 , 000 German troops surrendered . It was a bluff that may have saved thousands of lives . Italian Guerrilla operations . In November 1944 , Major Macpherson led Italian partisans in several major attacks on railways in Udine , northern Italy , despite being wounded soon after his arrival . Much of this effort was aimed at disrupting the German defensive line based on Tarvisio . On one occasion during an allied air raid Macpherson spotted a group of Italian officers retreating into a bomb shelter . The Scot opened the shelter hatch and threw a grenade down it . Macpherson was shot by an Italian officer , who arrived late but whom he succeeded in stabbing after a struggle . Post war . After the war he reverted to the rank of lieutenant and continued to serve in the Territorial Army with the Camerons . He was promoted back to captain on 1 September 1948 , and awarded the Territorial Efficiency Decoration on 20 June 1950 . On 2 August 1960 he was promoted back to major , and transferred to the Gordon Highlanders . He was promoted lieutenant - colonel on 31 October 1961 , and until 1 November 1964 he commanded the London Scottish ( TA - then affiliated with the Gordon Highlanders ) , he was then promoted colonel . He transferred to Class III of the reserve on 1 April 1967 , and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1968 New Year Honours . His CBE was for his services as deputy commander of 56th Infantry Brigade from 1964 to 1967 , and his efforts in support of the TA in general . He is a member of the Royal Company of Archers . On 7 October 2010 , Macpherson ' s autobiography was published under the title , " Behind Enemy Lines " . Business career . Macpherson has enjoyed a successful business career , including periods variously as the Managing Director and Chairman of the Mallinson - Denny Group , as a director of Brooke Bond Group , Scottish Mutual Assurance Society and the National Coal Board , and as Chairman of Annington Holdings plc and Boustead plc . While with Mallinson Denny , he was a member of the National Board for Prices and Incomes between 1965 and 1967 . He was President of Eurochambres ( the Association of European Chambers of Commerce ) between 1992 and 1994 . Honours . Macpherson was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London in 1977 , and served as High Sheriff of Greater London in 1983 . He was knighted in the 1992 New Year Honours , receiving the accolade from the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 17 March 1992 . In 1985 / 86 he served as Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Dyers and between 2001 and 2005 he was President of the Highland Society of London . Beside his British decorations , he is also a Chevalier de la Légion d ' honneur and was awarded the Croix de Guerre ( 2 Palms and Star ) and was personally awarded the Star of Bethlehem and a papal knighthood from the Pope . Private life . In 1953 Macpherson married Jean Henrietta , the daughter of David Butler Wilson . She is a patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball . They have two sons and a daughter . Macpherson ’ s seat in the Highlands , Biallid House , near Newtonmore , is in the heart of the ancestral lands of the Clan Macpherson .