“St. Ermin’s Hotel, London” – The History of a Legendary Spy Site, with Stephen Duffy

SpyCast

Education, News, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Summary Stephen Duffy (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss the spy stories of St. Ermin’s Hotel in London. It includes links to SOE, MI6, Ian Fleming, and the Cambridge 5. What You’ll Learn Intelligence The origins of the SOE MI6 and the SOE in the hotel during WWII (bad neighbors!) Incredible female spies of WWII St. Ermin’s Cambridge Five connection The history of the hotel Reflections The stories a hotel could tell if it could talk Proximity to power And much, much more … *FULL SHOWNOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE* Episode Notes During World War II, the hotel was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill’s Special Operations Executive – a crucial element in his initiative to “set Europe ablaze.” Notorious spies Kim Philby and Donald Maclean were known to enjoy a drink at the hotel bar while sharing secrets with their Soviet handlers. And that’s not all – to learn the rest, you’ll have to listen to the episode. Quotes of the Week “That’s where Burgess, MacLean, and Philby at different times met their Russian handlers in plain sight and sat there and spoke normally. Didn't talk out the side of their mouths, didn't have red carnations and copies of the Financial Times under their arm. They just passed over their information, their paperwork or whatever, in plain sight to everybody.” – Stephen Duffy. *FULL SHOWNOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE* Resources SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Hitler’s Trojan Horse – Nazi Intelligence with Nigel West (2023) Nazis on the Potomac – with former National Park Service Chief Historian Bob Sutton (2022) SPY@20: The Spy of the Century – Curators Alexis and Andrew on Kim Philby (2022) The Beverly Hills Spy – with The Hollywood Reporter’s Seth Abramovitch (2022) *Beginner Resources* MI6 History & Facts, Encyclopedia Britannica (2022) [Brief history of MI6] World War 2 Chronology, B. Johnson, Historic UK (n.d.) [Timeline of Britain in WWII] How Churchill Led Britain to Victory in the Second World War, J. Taylor, Imperial War Museum (n.d.) [Short article] The St. Ermin’s Autobiography, St. Ermin’s Hotel (n.d.) [Pamphlet] *FULL SHOWNOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE* Primary Sources File Release: Cold War Cambridge spies Burgess and Maclean, UK National Archives (2015) Alexander Simitch Stevens Oral History, Imperial War Museum (1992) Basil Davison Oral History, Imperial War Museum (1988) My Silent War, K. Philby (1967) SOE Training Advice on Disguise, UK National Archives (n.d.) *Wildcard Resource* The cocktail menu at St. Ermin’s Caxton Bar features a number of spy-related references, including Bond’s signature drink. To learn more about this “shaken, not stirred” beverage, check out this article for a brief history of the Vesper Martini. *FULL SHOWNOTES & FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE*

Transcript

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0:55.0	Welcome to Spycast, the official podcast of the International Spy Museum.
1:01.0	I'm your host, Dr. Andrew Hammond, the Museum's historian and curator.
1:06.0	Coming up next on Spycast.
1:09.0	It was also the kind of numbers the works can attain of the intelligence community.
1:14.0	It was also the kind of information you might get anywhere else.
1:20.0	But it was also the kind of numbers the works can attain of the intelligence community.
1:25.0	Because everybody used to either go into our bar or into the restaurant or the lobby to make people, but it was mostly in the bar.
1:32.0	And that's where Burgess McLean and Philby at different times met their Russian handlers in plain sight.
1:40.0	And sat there and spoke, you know, normally didn't talk outside of their mouths and have rape carnations and copies of their financial times under their arm.
1:48.0	They just all passed over their information, their paperwork, or whatever in plain sight for everybody.
2:03.0	Stephen Duffey is the night security manager at the St. Airman's Hotel Westminster, London.
2:09.0	Which, if you're unfamiliar with London, is right at the very heart of the British power structure,
2:14.0	with the houses of Parliament on one side and Buckingham Palace on the other.
2:19.0	And with MI5 and MI6, just a little further down the river terms.
2:23.0	Stephen is also the custodian of the history of this legendary Spy Hotel,
2:28.0	where the origin of the special operations executive was quite literally drawn up on the back of a menu card,
2:36.0	which is now deposited in the UK National Archives.
	...

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