The Feather Men were a clandestine group of retired military officers from SAS, MI5, etc in UK. Ranulph Fiennes was proported to be one of them and exposed a series of assasinations of ex SAS officers ordered by the Sheik of Oman as a result of 3 of his sons being killed/murdered by these men in the war in his country in the '60s. (later made into a film with Robert de Niro) Very Complex and full of twists and deceipt. Was almost banned by HMG as a violation of the Official Secrets act but Fiennes declared some years later that it was just a work of fiction possibly as an appeasement to the government. Fiennes really was SAS and spent many years in dark corners of the world specializing in demolition and later became the explorer and the author on many feats of exploration and was later Knighted for his work. He also climed Everest 3 times despite him suffering from vertigo.