Historians have discovered that Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini worked for the British secret service during World War I.
Cambridge University historian Peter Marland says MI5 records show the organisation paid Mussolini 100 pounds a week to spread pro-war propaganda in Italy via his newspaper.
In today's terms, the payments would be worth almost $11,000 a week.
The information was found in the papers of the former MI5 agent, Sir Samuel Hoare.
Sir Samuel went on to become foreign secretary almost two decades later, and in 1935 signed the pact that gave Mussolini control over Abyssinia, the country that is now Ethiopia.
