SECRETS AND SPIES: TALES OF ESPIONAGE AND ADVENTURE
The Meath Epilepsy Charity presents not one, but two fascinating evenings of espionage and adventure in Guildford this month. Featuring talks from acclaimed spy writers Dr Tony Insall, Tim Willsasey-Wilsey, Gordon Correra, and Bill Bennett, discover some of the Secret Intelligence Service’s not-so-secret secrets.
DR TONY INSALL is a former British diplomat who served in Nigeria, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Norway, and is now a Senior Visiting Fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London. He is the author of Secret Alliances: Special Operations and Intelligence in Norway 1940- 1945. His latest book, The Madness of Courage: The Exceptional Achievements of Gilbert Insall, tells the gripping story of Tony’s great uncle, Group Captain Gilbert Insall, the only person to have both won a Victoria Cross and escaped successfully from a German prisoner of war camp during WW1.
TIM WILLASEY-WILSEY CMG served for 27 years as a British diplomat in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe. He is now Visiting Professor of War Studies at King’s College, London, and has published numerous articles and reviews for both the national press and academic journals. His new book The Spy and the Devil tells the untold story of the MI6 agent, Baron William de Ropp, who penetrated Hitler’s inner circle.
GORDON CORERA was the BBC’s Security Correspondent from 2004 until November 2024 and now co-presents the podcast The Rest is Classified. He is the author of a number of books including MI6—Life and Death in the British Secret Service, The Secret Pigeon Service and Russians Among Us: Sleeper Cells, Ghost Stories and the Hunt for Putin’s Spies. His latest book, The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB, will be published in June 2025.
GILL BENNETT OBE is an intelligence historian who worked for over 40 years in Whitehall, serving as Chief Historian of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 1995 and 2005. She is now a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College, London and Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. Gill is the author of several books including Churchill’s Man of Mystery: Desmond Morton and the World of Intelligence and The Zinoviev Letter: The Conspiracy That Never Dies. Gill will talk about some of her adventures as an official historian.
FOR TICKETS VISIT meath.org.uk
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