On November 20th 1979 a distinguished-looking 72-year-old, a knight of the realm, a royal courtier for almost 30 years and one of the finest art historians in the world, was about to reveal another, more sinister side to his character: this was Sir Anthony Blunt, Russia secret agent, the spy inside Buckingham Palace. In a career of treachery spanning three decades, he gave away the Allies’ most precious wartime secret: the D-Day invasion plans. He seems to have had a mania for betrayal. But he claimed to be loyal at least to the British crown. He undertook secret missions for them: to smuggle art treasures and perhaps to smuggle documents which the House of Windsor had to keep secret. Queen Elizabeth and the Spy in the Palace, Channel 4 2021
‘He would never have become a spy had it not been for Burgess.’ ibid.
May 18th 1965: These [Syrian] attacks. My God, they’re not random. It’s a diversion. The Syrians are trying to make us look the other way. The Spy I: The Immigrant, spies in war room, Netflix 2021
We want to offer you the opportunity to do something important with your life. Do you consider yourself a patriot? ibid. spy boss
Working for the government. It has so much potential. If I prove myself over the next few years, who knows they might even make me an ambassador. ibid. Eli to wife
18 years. That’s all it’s been. 18 years since we were told that nothing bad is going to happen to us. That we have time, that we should stay put, the world won’t let anything bad happen to us, they said. Well the world doesn’t care if people die. And if we don’t take care of ourselves, no-one will. There’s no time, Dan. Time was never on our side. The Spy II: What’s New, Buenos Aires? Shimoni to Peleg
What you are doing with her, what you are feeling for her, endangers the whole operation not just your job. Get back in the car right now, Dan. The Spy III: Alone in Damascus, spy re Eli’s wife
Eli: The enemy. They look like us.
General: Would you like to shoot one? Please, my present to you … They might wear civilian clothes but each one is an Israeli soldier. Even the old ones. Simply shoot the target. The Spy IV: The Odd Couples
Find out what Bin Laden’s working on and that’s all. The Spy V: Fish Gotta Swim, spy chief
I would like you to become our new deputy minister of defence. ibid. General
Please, don’t go back, Eli. Quit. OK? The Spy VI: Home, relative
On 18th May 1965, Cohen was publicly hanged in Marjeh Square in Damascus. His body stayed on display for 6 hours. Two years after his death, during the 6 day war, the Eucalyptus trees Eli planted above Syrian bunkers were used as target markers by the Israeli military. The Golan Heights were taken in two days. Eli Cohen’s body was never returned to Israel. Even today more than 54 years after his death the Syrians refuse to return his remains to Eli’s family. ibid. captions
On this shore just after midnight on 7th December 1941 Japanese troops invaded the British colony of Malaysia. The Pacific War had begun. The Fall of Singapore: The Great Betrayal, BBC 2012
Japan’s crowning victory – the fall of Singapore, symbol of British power in the East. ibid.
It was the British who gave the Japanese the know-how to take out Pearl Harbor and capture Singapore ... through a mole who was a peer of the realm known to Churchill himself. ibid.
Within two years [William] Sempill and his military missionaries had given Japan’s naval air service a potentially world-wide reach. ibid.
Rutland’s paymasters then revealed they had a much more important job for him: they would increase his salary if he agreed how to show their pilots how to fly off and on to the decks of carriers. ibid.
Sempill was passing on a whole range of secret information. ibid.
MI5 was appalled by Sempill’s behaviour. ibid.
Japan now had the means to realise her imperial ambitions. She set her sights on South East Asia. The ultimate prize was Singapore. ibid.
Sempill maintained his secret links with the Japanese. ibid.
Sempill was never prosecuted. ibid.
Rutland was deported to Britain where he was interned for two years. ibid.
Five years later the writer of that letter was somewhere in this intimidating landscape, prisoner of bandits whose language he couldn’t speak ... Gareth Jones had trespassed into a snakepit of international intrigue ... What came back from China was his ashes. Hitler, Stalin and Mr Jones, BBC 2012
The story of an extraordinary life has emerged. ibid.
The Russian Connection: Stalin’s famous five-year plan was all about industrialising a land of peasants. ibid.
He took a short-term contract with Lloyd George instead, and after his first trip to Russia was invited down. ibid.
At a stroke, Gareth had been reborn as an expert in Russian affairs, a journalist, and a novice member of the British establishment. ibid.
The line between journalism and gathering political intelligence then was not very clear. ibid.
Germany was Gareth’s great love. He spoke the language even better than Russians. But it was changing fast. Hitler had just become chancellor. ibid.
The new [Soviet] farms were failing to meet their targets. ibid.
Central Ukraine: the horrors both Stalin and Hitler inflicted on Ukraine. ibid.
Gareth’s plan was to gather evidence ... to break the conspiracy of silence. ibid.
Back in Moscow a big story had broken: six British engineers had been arrested and accused of sabotage. It threatened to become a major international row. Gareth reverted to his official role. ibid.
He gathered some journalists together and gave them his story. ibid.
The Soviet secret police had been alerted. ibid.
Gareth was a marked man in Soviet eyes. ibid.
Gareth sensed that what the Japanese did next was going to be the big story. And the focus of that was inner Mongolia. ibid.
Gareth Jones Killed By Bandits in China. ibid. article
This is the Persian Empire known today as Iran. For twenty-five hundred years this land was ruled by a series of kings, known as Shahs. In 1950 the people of Iran elected Mohammad Mosaddegh, the secular democrat, as prime minister ... But in 1953 the US and Great Britain engineered a coup d’etat that deposed Mosaddegh. Argo 2012 starring Alan Arkin & Ben Affleck & Bryan Cranston & John Goodman & Tate Donovan & Clea DuVall & Christopher Denham & Scoot McNairy & Kerry Bishe & Rory Cochran & Victor Garber, director opening commentary
What news of Jaime? Twenty thousand unwashed northerners have known about his escape for weeks; collectively you control more spies and informants than the rest of the world combined ... Try harder! Game of Thrones s3e3: Walk of Punishment, Tywin Lannister to council, HBO 2013
John le Carré: In a country whose power had collapsed, leaving only a drab decaying reality all around, the spies had managed to recreate a magical world where they could go anywhere they wanted, bug, burgle and even assassinate without any fear of judgment or control, just like in the empire. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head V: The Lordly Ones ***** BBCiplayer 2021
William Forbes-Sempill: The Sempill [trade] mission left for Japan. Churchill’s Traitors, Yesterday 2013
Rutland and Sempill had formed a bond with their hosts they did not want to break. ibid.
Sempill was passing on a whole range of secret information. ibid.
Japanese spies were now everywhere. ibid.
Rutland had turned his technical expertise to espionage. ibid.
Sempill also maintained his secret links with the Japanese. ibid.
Sempill was never prosecuted. ibid.
One week after 9/11 an FBI special agent interviewed a prisoner in a New York city jail. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, authorities placed the prisoner in twenty-four-hour lockdown; for a week he’d been in total isolation with no access to TV, radio or newspapers … ‘What he laid out was the attack as if he knew every detail. It was just kind of eerie’ … The prisoner was this man [Ali Mohamed]. He was Osama bin Laden’s spy in America. He worked for and betrayed three arms of the US government. Bin Laden’s Spy in America, National Geographic 2021
It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by a military grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. Secrets of the Salisbury Poisonings, Theresa May, DiscoveryPlus 2021
They were unconscious and slumped on a park bench heavily salivating. ibid. rozzer
Her: You are in uniform.
Harry: I take it off every night. The Ipcress File s1e1, ITV 2022
How many spies do you actually have on your payroll? Will you answer a damned question? Where are the headquarters of the W – O – O – whatever it is? ibid. committee to Dolby
Unexplained absence. Not a word to the Americans. Not until we know what’s happened. ibid. boss to Dolby