Introduction

J Edgar Hoover was famous and feared throughout his reign at the FBI for his rigorous attention to detail. There is a story that revolves around him taking a holiday. He was going through his papers on the eve of departure when he came across a report from a junior agent which caught his eye. The layout failed to match his exacting requirements and sure enough when he took a ruler and measured the columns his wrote in disgust ‘watch the borders’ down the side of the offending page, threw it in his outbox and headed off for a fortnight’s break.