The Spying Game

Welcome to The Spying Game.

It is a story of espionage, of spying and of top-secret locations. It will take you from a secluded Mansion House to a “Doughnut”; from an imperial Neoclassical fortress to a building that looks like “a cross between a giant multiplex cinema and a ziggurat”.

For this project, I have concentrated on four of the UK’s intelligence operations starting with Bletchley Park.

Bletchley Park has a unique place in Britain’s intelligence history as it was from there, incredible breakthroughs in the world of codebreaking helped shorten the Second World War and save millions of lives. Winston Churchill referred to the Bletchley staff as “the geese that laid the golden eggs and never cackled”.

When the war was over, many of Bletchley’s staff who at that time were working for the Government Code and Cypher School, moved on and joined the newly created Government Communications Headquarters or as is more commonly known, G.C.H.Q.

Today, G.C.H.Q is based in Cheltenham and is responsible for providing signal intelligence for the British government and gains its intelligence by monitoring a wide variety of communications and other electronic signals. This information can then be shared with both MI5 and MI6 and can be vital in the prevention of threats to national security.

MI5 is the UK’s domestic security service. Based at Thames House in London, it is responsible for protecting and upholding the nation’s security from threats of terrorism, espionage and counter-proliferation. Led by its current Director General, Andrew Parker, MI5 has played a vital and secret role in countering the activities of spies and terrorists for over a century.

MI6, or to give it its proper name, the Secret Intelligence Service, was not formally acknowledged as even existing until 1994. However, today the service has its own website, recruits new staff quite openly in newspapers and magazines and it’s headquarters in London is one of the most striking buildings on the River Thames. Not so secret these days it seems. MI6 is responsible for collecting foreign intelligence for the British Government. It’s current chief is Alex Younger or “C” as he is known. In fact, every chief of the service since Sir Mansfield Cumming, it’s founder, is known as “C” and signs any letter that crosses his desk with that letter and in green ink as Cumming did.

The journey from Bletchley to MI6 has been an interesting one. Steeped in history and intrigue, the stories that emanate from the shared history of these organisations are not only fascinating but also exciting. It has been a pleasure to bring them together for this project.