Date: Wednesday 26th November 2025
Doors open 2pm, talk starts 2:30pm
Topic: MI9; A History of the Secret Service for Escape and Evasion in WW2
Speaker: Helen Fry
When Allied fighters were trapped behind enemy lines during WWII, one branch of military intelligence helped them escape: MI9. The organization set up clandestine escape routes that zig-zagged across Nazi-occupied Europe, enabling soldiers and airmen to make their way back to Britain. Secret agents and resistance fighters risked their lives and those of their families to hide the men. Central to MI9’s success were figures such as Airey Neave – the first British prisoner to successfully escape from Colditz, as well as the ‘James Bond’ Q gadgets. Helen’s talk sheds light on new research on aspects of wartime escape and evasion, with the previously untold stories behind the establishment of MI9 at Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. She reveals for the first time that not only did MI9 save thousands of Allied lives, it contributed to a massive intelligence gathering operation that impacted on the Allies’ ability to turn the tide of the war.
Speaker: Historian Dr Helen Fry has written numerous books on the Second World War, including the 10,000 Germans who fought for Britain, British intelligence, espionage and World War Two. Her latest bestselling book is Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World War. Her book Spymaster: The Man who Saved MI6 was in Waterstones top history books for 2021; and Daily Mail’s top biographies for 2021. Her acclaimed book The Walls have Ears was the Daily Mail’s top 8 books on war for 2019. She has written over 25 books, including MI9: A history of the British Secret Service for escape and evasion in WW2, and The London Cage about a secret interrogation centre in WWII. Helen appears frequently in TV documentaries, including Secrets of the Spies (ITVX), David Jason’s Secret Service, Spying on Hitler’s Army and Home Front Heroes (BBC1). She is an ambassador for the National Centre for Military Intelligence and has spoken to us previously on Latimer House.
