Colonel White

Colonel White was the codename of Charles Grey, (COMIC: Traitor Black Gives In!) the head of Spectrum, Earth's primary defence against the Mysterons during the Mysteron War. (COMIC: Traitor Black Gives In!, PROSE: They Watch the World et al.) Varying accounts dated Spectrum's founding and the ensuing conflict to either the 2060s (COMIC: SPECTRUM et al.) or the 2080s. (PROSE: 'Jinx Ship' Blasts Off For Mars et al.)

With the USS
Prior to his service in Spectrum, Grey was the second-in-command of the Universal Secret Service (PROSE: SPECTRUM is Green) under Brent Cleever. (PROSE: This is 2065)

Early days
According to one account, Grey was recruited to Spectrum as its head, becoming Colonel White, in 2067. (PROSE: SPECTRUM is Green) According to another, Spectrum's founding and Grey's promotion was dated to sometime in the 2080s, (PROSE: Get the Gunman! et al.) no later than 2086, (PROSE: Rogues Gallery) shortly after which the organisation became a "pet project" of World President Melchior when it saved his life. (PROSE: They Watch the World)

White was involved in the decision to assign Captain Black to the Zero X mission to Mars, (COMIC: SPECTRUM) which investigated the "strange radio signals received from the planet, (PROSE: Capt. Black Mars Expedition Lost!, 'Jinx Ship Blasts Off For Mars) in either June 2067 (PROSE: Capt. Black Mars Expedition Lost!) or 2087. (PROSE: Rogues Gallery) On 23 September 2067, one recorded date of the craft's return to Earth, White advised Destiny Angel to call the World Air Force in the Bahamas in order to stop TGW 197 K from pursuing her. The aircraft carried the TV 21 reporters Pete Tracker and Lens Sharpe, who were investigating Spectrum which was, at the time, a top secret organisation. TGW 197 K later collided with Zero X, causing both vehicles to crash at Glenn Field. White immediately asked Lieutenant Green for Black's report but he told him that Black had gone. White ordered a full-scale search of the base to no avail, leading him to suspect Tracker and Sharpe of orchestrating some kind of plot. His fears were eventually allayed, however, and White was eventually convinced to take part in an interview to ensure the secrecy of the organisation did not pose any more problems. Tracker's article was published on the front page of TV 21 that day, announcing the new security organisation to the world. (COMIC: SPECTRUM) White also confirmed that Spectrum was to take over all USS commitments on Earth, a task Tracker was confident they could handle. (PROSE: SPECTRUM is Green)

First stages
Following the Mysteronised Captain Scarlet's eight hundred feet fall (PROSE: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, COMIC: ) from the top of London Car-Vue, (PROSE: Scarlet Kidnapped!, Marineville Ablaze) Colonel White visited Doctor Fawn to check on Scarlet. Fawn explained that his patient was getting well again in spite of the fact he should have been dead, leading White to ask Fawn if he was certain the fall had broken the Mysteron spell and brought Scarlet back under Spectrum's control. (COMIC: )

In 2067, Colonel White was listening to reports from Captain Scarlet and Captain Blue about the attempted Mysteron attack on London when the Mysterons announced their intention to destroy Unity City. He had Lieutenant Green immediately order the Angels into the air and assigned Blue the field commander. (COMIC: ) The front page of TV Century 21 on its 7 October edition noted that White had ordered the immediate security clamp-down on the area "within seconds". (PROSE: Captain Scarlet Our Only Hope) The front page a week later on 14 October also mentioned White's deployment of the Angel Flight. (PROSE: Indestructible)

Later, after Scarlet was involved in a mid-air collision with a Mysteronised Angel aircraft which averted Cloudbase from destruction, White checked with Doctor Fawn about how soon it would be before the indestructible agent was fit for duty once again. Figuring out the Mysterons intended to destroy Unity City using a Mysteronised Cloudbase, he resolved to not be there for them to Mysteronise and had Cloudbase Control plot a new course to Australia. While on this new course, however, White and the rest of Cloudbase's personnel save the recovering Captain Scarlet were knocked unconscious by the D17 poison gas with which Captain Black had sprayed the surrounding clouds. (COMIC: ) TV21's front page for 21 October acknowledged Cloudbase had disappeared from its "familiar moorings" and speculated it had been Mysteronised, noting if so then Colonel White and the Spectrum organisation were "no more". (PROSE: Mysterons Destroy Cloudbase?)

When the gas wore off, White told Green to check all of Spectrum's ground stations and launch the Angels in an effort to find Scarlet, who was no longer aboard Cloudbase. The search was not fruitful, leading White to conclude that the power which made him indestructible had ended and that he must be dead. Some time after, White sent the Angels to Fiji when Green received a distress call from Captain Black on behalf of both himself and Scarlet which indicated their presence there. (COMIC: An article for TV21's front page on 18 November corrobated this, noting that according to unofficial reports Black had contacted White by radio, giving a position in the Fijian group of islands and claiming to have a live Captain Scarlet with him. (PROSE: Thunderbirds Fail)

As Cloudbase approached Fiji and Green informed he that he couldn't make radio contact, White asked that Captains Blue and Magenta be sent down in a helicopter with the remaining personnel to assume their emergency stations. White contacted Commander Shore of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol for help when they reported back that Scarlet and Black had likely gone into the sea. White was later contacted by the general in charge of the Southern Californian Research Station who told him two men had boarded the Alpha Centauri Space Probe prior to its unathorised blast off, one of them donning a Spectrum uniform which White identified as Captain Black. He immediately had Green contact the World Space Patrol in response and briefed a squad of XL craft on the situation, telling them they knew the Probe was heading for Mars and that it had to be destroyed. (COMIC: )

Renewed threats
In 2068, White went through a number of comics produced by the readers of TV Century 21 so he could choose one to be printed in the magazine. He eventually selected The Pillager by Spectrum Shade Philip Bevan. He praised Bevan's use of colour as well as the amount of action in the story. White was also aware Bevan's piece was one of ten he had written, drawn and coloured, with each containing over two hundred pictures. He thought "such determination and interest" to be worthy of recognition and so rewarded Bevan with ten pounds. (PROSE: Comic Shades)

Later, White responded to Shade Gregory Kaser's discovery of a crashed Dalek ship on Venus and a Dalek heading in the direction of the Earth colony on the Magnax continent, as well as his query of whether this meant their announced invasion of Earth had started. White replied that the implications of the Daleks' visit to Venus were unknown but that Spectrum would investigate, also assuring Kaser there was not yet any cause for anxiety. (PROSE: Daleks on the Move?)

A change in career
Also in 2068, Colonel White headed a meeting with Captain Scarlet, Captain Blue and Captain Black after the latter had been freed from the control of the Mysterons and lost all knowledge of them. Following the results of Doctor Fawn's tests which indicated that Black was fit for a return to active service, the conversation turned to how best to take advantage of the Mysterons' loss of power. White eventually approved a plan to destroy the Mysteron City with an electrode cannon mounted on a spaceship and later attended the lift-off from Helsinki.

The mission was successful and six months past with no sign of Mysteron activity, prompting World President T.J. Younger to disband Spectrum at the final celebration of humanity's victory. Grey chose to join the President's staff in Unity City while the former Captains Scarlet and Blue joined the World Space Patrol and Black retired. Though he enjoyed life in the civil service for a time, getting a chance to improve his golf, Grey was soon ordered to head to Astra to become Earth's ambassador when his predecessor hit the Kaplan. Upon arriving, the Kaplan noted it would be a nice change to have a "military man" around, while Grey expressed his hope of a long stay on the planet.

Sometime later, it became clear that the Mysterons' defeat had been a ruse and that they posed an imminent threat to Earth. The World Security Council soon decided to reassemble Spectrum, immediately recalling Grey, who pledged to leave within the hour on a borrowed Astran spaceship. After the immediate threat had been dealt with, White was with Scarlet and Blue on Cloudbase as the Mysterons reiterated their position to seek vengeance for Black's original attack. (COMIC: Traitor Black Gives In!)

2069
In 2069, White responded to Spectrum Shade Martin Cater after he sent in to Cloudbase a facsimile of an earlier edition of TV 21 which he had created along with a query about the availability of back issues. White praised Cater for his "excellent work" but stated that, for security reasons, back issues of the magazine were not available. (PROSE: Shades Calling Cloudbase...)

On 27 September 2069, Colonel White sent out a personal message to all members of Spectrum which stated they had all been tricked by the Mysterons. He elaborated that the whole world breathed a sigh of relief for several weeks as they believed the Martian threat had gone, unaware as they went about their business that the "deadliest Mysteron attack" was merely days away. He finished his message by proclaiming that Spectrum was once more in a "bitter struggle" and was relying on its agents to play their part and report any and all suspicious activity without delay. (PROSE: Stingray Strikes Back!)

On a later occasion, White assured reporters there would be "no repeat of history" as Spectrum officers prepared to oversee security arrangements at the opening of London's rebuilt Car-Vu, which was to be attended by the World President. (PROSE: Thunderbirds Film for Sale!)

The 2080s and beyond
According to the accounts which dated Spectrum's creation and the beginning of the Mysteron War to the 2080s, the first Mysteron threat to Unity City occurred much later in the conflict (PROSE: Rogues Gallery) when compared to the 2060s accounts, which presented it as one of the first acts. (PROSE: SPECTRUM is Green, Captain Scarlet Our Only Hope et al.) These accounts instead posited that the attempted destruction of Unity City happened around a year or two into the War. (PROSE: Thunderbirds Ready for Action!, Send For Stingray!)

In January 2089, (PROSE: Sniper!) World Senators were keen to know why Spectrum had not responded following the threat to Unity City. In fact, Cloudbase was seen to be moving away from Bermuda, towards the Pacific. Action 21 speculated that this had something to do with Colonel White being against holding peace talks in Unity City on security grounds. (PROSE: Get the Gunman!) It later transpired that Cloudbase had been attacked by knock-out gas, explaining Spectrum's silence and Cloudbase's strange movements. (PROSE: Zero X Beats Space Curse!)

As a member of the World Security Council, White was a member of the Kaplan Commission, formed to investigate the assassination of the Kaplan of Astra during a state visit to Earth. Friction was expected between White and World President Lhomel, who was convinced that the original incidents on the Astran border were engineered by the Mysterons. Meanwhile, White insisted he knew the Mysterons better than any politician and would not admit a mistake on his part. (PROSE: They Watch the World) Lhomel later resigned after Steve Zodiac found evidence the Kaplan's successor was behind his predecessor's death. (PROSE: Lhomel to go as freedom force hits Astra!)

Behind the scenes

 * A pastiche of Colonel White appears in PROSE: The Indestructible Man: Colonel LeBlanc.