'MI5's Double-Cross System' Talk with Dan Parry

Date: Thursday, 24 October 2024

Tickets:
£25 Reception and Lecture Only

Schedule:
6.00 PM Drinks reception
6.30 PM Dan Parry's Lecture begins in 3rd Floor Meeting Rooms
7.20 PM Q&A
7.30 PM Drinks & Nibbles
8.00 PM Event Ends

Audacious, dangerous, and difficult to replicate, the Double-Cross System remains one of MI5’s greatest operational successes. In June 1943, a senior officer involved concluded that every German agent in Britain was under his control. This was confirmed after the war when captured records showed that almost all of the 115 or so agents targeted against Britain had been successfully caught.

Double-Cross agents tipped off the FBI about a potential attack on Pearl Harbor, they supported D-Day in depth and limited the impact of the V-weapons. The System’s eccentric personalities included an agent so precious she was codenamed Treasure and a Serbian playboy said to be the model for Bond, all of them gambling with their lives in a high-stakes international arena.

Dan Parry looks at the mechanics of the project – the ‘who, what, and where’ practical details of how MI5 took on the Nazis’ spymasters, even inducing them to pay close to £85,000 to finance their own deception.

Dan Parry is an author and former journalist. After eight years with BBC News, he moved into history documentaries – starting out as the military researcher on the acclaimed British Empire in Colour series for ITV.

As the Head of Research at independent television company Dangerous Films, he supported many award-winning, international factual dramas. The first of these, D-Day (BBC1), marked the 60th anniversary of the assault on Occupied Europe. For this, Dan interviewed French Resistance veterans and former members of MI5, SOE, and other military units. This work sparked his interest in the Double-Cross System, which he explored in greater depth in his accompanying book, D-Day 6.6.44 (BBC Books).

Dan later researched films covering subjects from 9/11 to space exploration, and worked closely with NASA in Houston. Dan has interviewed national leaders including President George H. W. Bush and other key figures in recent history among them Neil Armstrong. He is the author of three books, D-Day; Blackbeard (National Maritime Museum); and Moonshot: the inside story of Apollo 11 (Ebury).

Dress code: Business attire (ties optional)