'S' turns the corner, 'B' takes the lead. 'A' watches 'B' till its safe to proceed. From a Second World War MI5 manual for 'Watchers'. Source: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1...

It’s the last week to see Emergency Exits at the Imperial War Museum, which explores decolonisation in Kenya, Cyprus and Malaya and which I was lucky enough to consult on as a part of a team of imperial historians. Go and see it if you can — it’s really great!

NEW on the project blog: Ash Percival-Borley visits the crypt at Saints Cyril and Methodius, Prague, an important site in SOE history: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2026/03/09/t...

NEW on the blog - @ashpercival-borley.bsky.social on the pioneering wartime intelligence officer Vera Atkins and the hidden role of secretaries in the secret war: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2026/02/25/v...

Hey! Scholars! If you're using someone's work in your class, sometimes it's nice to email them and tell them, because then they might feel good about their research instead of entirely crushed by the academic humanities' ongoing descent into the grave

spotted in Stockwell, London - plaque commemorating SOE's Violette Szabo

🎬 SSEES Film Festival! Vol 1: "Resistance" will bring a powerful lineup of films that explore courage, resilience and the fight for change. Screenings are free and open to all. 🗓️ 25 Feb - 25 March 📍 UCL Main campus ➡️ Register for free: www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...

join @modernistudies.bsky.social! 3 PGR Rep roles are available, see below for a blog post from @lilyvmartin.bsky.social & yours truly about our time as reps so far.

NEW book by Guy Woodward: Imagining Yugoslavia in Mid-Century British and Irish Writing features chapter on special forces memoirs including accounts by Fitzroy Maclean and Jasper Rootham of their time in occupied Yugoslavia. Published today by OUP: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

How have History Workshop Journal articles been used to teach history over the past 50 years? From the French Revolution, to policing in early modern England, to LGBTQ+ histories, these reflections highlight the HWJ archive as a valuable resource within many different classrooms.

theconversation.com/doubts-about... I wrote a little something!

From the Archives of the Political Warfare Executive, June 1943. Outline of Resistance Methods to be Encouraged amongst Belgian Workers in Germany: psywarorg.substack.com/p/outline-of...

Me entering class like ...

👑 The King's Dinner 🍰 will be out this June. It's our attempt at a truly digital history monograph. Our goal is to tell history. Our approach was to apply digital humanities methods to our historical questions. I think we've done a good job, and I hope you like it. uclpress.co.uk/book/the-kin...

Academics outside the UK: If your undergrads are considering an MA degree, tell them about these int'l scholarships that Durham University offers! As co-Director of our 1-year program in English, I'm happy to answer questions. Deadline for scholarship: 16 January. 📚✨ www.durham.ac.uk/study/schola...

“Without @chekistmonitor.bsky.social's research, the literary works of Soviet intelligence and counterintelligence officers, and the tenacious anti-Western propaganda purpose behind them, would remain a shadow outside Russia.” Kevin Riehle, Brunel University London Learn more: bit.ly/3LALXBG #KGB

CFP - please share! 'The Hidden Second World War: Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action'. Abstracts by 1 February 2026 soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/cfp/

Hanna Szenes park (and cafe), Budapest. How many other locations or buildings are named after SOE figures?

NEW publication from Guy Woodward: Imagining Yugoslavia in Mid-Century British and Irish Writing features chapter on special forces memoirs including accounts by Fitzroy Maclean and Jasper Rootham of their time in occupied Yugoslavia. Coming January 2026 from OUP: global.oup.com/academic/pro...

CFP - please share! 'The Hidden Second World War: Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action'. Abstracts by 1 February 2026 soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/cfp/

CFP (please share!): Our digital literary heritage is rapidly being lost, from 1990s hypertext sites to 2010s digital humanities projects. _A Field Guide to Modernisms_ seeks to spread awareness, document at-risk projects, and brainstorm solutions. Abstracts by February 2: www.shawnaross.com/cfp/.

In person & online! A talk about our newly opened exhibition 'John Le Carré: Tradecraft': visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oct25/... Co-curators Jessica Douthwaite & Federico Varese & the Bodleian's Head of Public Engagement will discuss JLC's archive & the development of this exciting exhibition

NEW on the blog: Russell Shanks's top 5 clunkiest SOE videogames: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2025/10/09/5...

📚 Congratulations to @rorycormac.bsky.social on the publication of his new co-edited book 'Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention' 📖 Read more here🔗 tinyurl.com/3cdbynaa ℹ️ Find out more about Rory and his research 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/rory.cormac

NEW on the blog: as MI6 chief Richard Moore retires, Guy Woodward on the troubled relations between MI6 and SOE: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2025/09/30/a...

Anything missing?

Move over, Miss Marple.

Hooray, my copy finally arrived! It’s the first attempt to compare states’ approaches to what our US friends call covert action My own personal conclusion is “covert action” is dumb and when talking about wider practice beyond US legal codes we should use “unacknowledged interference”

NEW on the SOE and British Culture blog: Russell Shanks's Top 5 SOE Videogames: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2025/09/08/t...

Join Dr David Morgan-Owen, British Academy Mid-Career Fellow, for Britain, Conflict & the Sea – a two-day conference at the National Maritime Museum (12–13 Sept), exploring how the practice, imagery, and idea of maritime conflict have shaped British history. Find out more below ⬇️

🚨JOB Alert🚨 We are looking for another postdoctoral researcher to cover the history of veterans in the British colonies of Southern and/or East Africa in the interwar period. 24 month contract, deadline October 03. Please share widely. universityvacancies.com/maynooth-uni...

NEW on the SOE and British Culture blog - James Smith on ghostly legacies of the SOE in John le Carré's fiction: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2025/08/28/j...

Our PhD candidate Russell Shanks is giving a lightning talk at 'Games Studies: Now, Next, Northeast', showcasing new scholarship on SOE and gaming culture. 26 September - register here: www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

NEW blog post from Guy Woodward on Stanley Kubrick's attempts to collaborate with John le Carré on a film about treachery and deception in the Special Operations Executive: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2025/08/22/s...

congratulations to our project PhD candidate @ashpercival-borley.bsky.social - BBC New Generation Thinker 2025. Here's Ash on BBC Radio 4 discussing the changing contours of war and peace in the 80 years since the end of the Second World War: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Interested in #WWII? How about #SOE & Intelligence history? Tickets are now available for historian Kate Reid-Smith’s free talk on Op Cleeves, an SOE operation in Southern Thailand in 1941. www.awm.gov.au/author-talk-... #WeHaveWays

From Army to academia - PhD student and army veteran @ashpercival-borley.bsky.social is one of this year's BBC New Generation Thinkers. Find out more how research has opened a whole new career path after the military 👉 www.durham.ac.uk/research/cur...

‘Ms. Vance has just made her way through “Sword of Honor,” the trilogy of novels by Evelyn Waugh based on his experiences as an army officer in World War II, according to her account on the Goodreads website.’ 👏 Best WW2 novel IMHO. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/u...

I just learned that the UK's Special Operations Executive used dental and plastic surgery to disguise some agents during World War II. Really cool article.

#histbookchat "The Special Operations Executive in Malaya" by Rebecca Kenneison just arrived from @bloomsburyhist.bsky.social‬. The myth busting and tie-in with my #SOE Operation Oblivion work & SOE Burma book by @drrichardduckett.bsky.social ‬ should appeal to @ww2tv.bsky.social for a #WW2TV show.

🚨🚨NEW VIDEO!🚨🚨 I got my hands on some radios, weapons and high explosives to learn what it took to become a secret agent during WWII - the Special Operations Executive Training Camp. youtu.be/6C-KDTYkZlg

SOE project work in progress seminar - tomorrow 26 February at 1pm for anyone in Durham