Colonel Ross

Ross is a classic old-school, establishment, senior military officer. He is brilliant, duplicitous and ruthless, using Machiavellian methods to achieve his ends, which generally involves telling his subordinates only part of the story. Ross is a straight talker but will use sarcasm and understatement. He plays his cards close to his chest, will use blackmail to achieve his goals, and is not above resorting to threats.

Ross is happily married and lives with his wife in a large house in the London suburbs.

The Ipcress File (1965) shows Ross to be fond of his London Club and feeding the birds. He keeps a packet of bird seed in a jar on his desk to feed pigeons from his office window and is seen feeding ducks in St James' Park. Ross claims to possess a "sense of humour". He tells Palmer that his B-107 personnel file "makes awful reading" and concludes that "you just love the army, don't you?"[1]

In Funeral in Berlin (1966), Ross is shown to be a keen gardener, briefing Palmer while tackling a large thistle patch in his suburban garden. "I like weeds," he tells Palmer rather pointedly. "You have to keep the flowers out, defend the strong against the weak. A garden should be like a country lane, a place you can walk in. Not with flower beds laid out like a cemetery."[2]

In Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Ross tells Palmer “I want you back in MI5”.[3] This is inconsistent with the two previous films, and the books, where it is mentioned that Ross’ department is under in the War Office and part of the Army, not a civilian department under the Home Office. The novels make it clear that 'Harry' does not work for MI5, and that department is referred to euphemistically as “The Friends”.[4]