Codename Parellic

I was asked why I have used the name Parellic in my e-mail address and as a name for this blog. Well, Parellic was the codename allocated to me by MI5 in the so-called Operation Billiards. Apparently MI5 like to add a little mystery to their work by giving the subject of their surveillance a strange name.

Who makes up such codenames seems to be a puzzle, but there is probably a little department in the basement of Thames House where a geriatric MI5 officer sits bent over dusty volumes of the complete Oxford English Dictionary, searching for unusual or unique words to identify their subjects - get up to date you guys, you can get it online here now! I am probably underestimating the ingenuity of MI5, as they must actually have some sort of enigma code machine, to create fresh codenames which pop out in sealed manila envelopes when a button is pressed.

We know so little about such goings on in these intelligence agencies, and perhaps an insider like Richard Tomlinson or David Shayler will enlighten us as to how codename allocation is determined?