Bletchley Park International Women's day inaugural symposium

8 March 2025

I was honoured to be an invited speaker at Bletchley Park's first International Women's Day Symposium all about women in intelligence during World War Two. The day focused on stories from all over the world that somehow linked back to Bletchley Park.

My talk focused on the small contingent of MI6 women who worked separately from GC&CS staff, initially occupying the first floor of the mansion. Referred to as ‘the other side’, by GC&CS staff, the women were a mix of wartime recruits and MI6 careerists who devoted their careers and lives to secretly serving their country. I focused on several of the careerists’ extraordinary journeys in the clandestine world which converged at ‘Station X’, because MI6 really was, and still is ‘the best travel agency in the world’.

It was a privilege to make history at my favourite spy history site.