Espionage

circa 1942: Men of the 7th British Armoured Division, known as the Desert Rats, sitting on a field gun before the fall of Tobruk in the North African Campaign. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

Tobruk: 8 facts about the WW2 confrontation in North Africa

Anne Sebba explores the life of Ethel Rosenberg, who was executed for espionage in one of the most sensational and controversial episodes of the Cold War. (Image by Getty Images)

The trials of Ethel Rosenberg

Larry Loftis details the life and work of Aline Griffith, a model-turned-spy who rose to the upper echelons of society in WW2 Spain. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Socialite, countess, WW2 spy: Aline Griffith

Kate Vigurs discusses the female agents of Britain’s Special Operations Executive, who carried out resistance work in France during the Second World War

Second World War

Women secret agents in Nazi-occupied France

Alan M Turing and colleagues working on the Ferranti Mark I Computer, 1951.

Second World War

Your guide to Alan Turing: the man, the enigma

Roland Philipps tells the story of Mathilde Carré

Second World War

Traitor or triple agent? The WW2 spy Mathilde Carré

Helen Fry gives a lecture on MI9’s missions during the to help Allied prisoners of war escape during the Second World War.

Second World War

MI9’s secret escape missions

Trevor Barnes details the 1960s operation to uncover the infamous Portland Spy Ring – one of the most dangerous KGB espionage networks ever to operate in the UK. (Image by Getty Images)

Hunting down the Portland Spy Ring

Ian Fleming, British author and creator of the James Bond character

James Bond in real life: where did Ian Fleming’s inspirations come from?

Helen Fry discusses the top-secret work of MI9, which helped Allied prisoners of war escape during WW2. (Image by Getty Images)

Second World War

Escaping Nazi-occupied Europe

A portrait of Sir Walter Ralegh, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, c1588. (Photo by ACTIVE MUSEUM / Alamy Stock Photo)

Walter Ralegh: “The rankest traitor in all England?”

The Hughes Glomar Explorer was a salvage vessel disguised as a mining ship, designed to secretly recover Soviet sub K-129

Project Azorian: the Cold War CIA mission to snatch Soviet nuclear sub K-129 from the sea floor

Staff hard at work at Bletchley Park. The people who worked here did so under conditions of utmost secrecy, and with little idea of how their work slotted into the grand scheme of things. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Second World War

Bletchley Park: Britain’s wartime intelligence factory

American citizens Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, following their arrest by the FBI 1950. They were convicted of passing infomation to the Soviets and executed in 1953

The secrets and lies of Cold War spies

British author, historian, reviewer and columnist Ben Macintyre

Second World War

Ben Macintyre on Agent Sonya – the greatest female spy in history