The Special Operations Executive and the British Cultural Imaginary: A Work in Progress Seminar

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was created to ‘set Europe ablaze’ during the Second World War. Pioneering techniques of sabotage and subversion, it left a legacy of fame and controversy in equal measure, which endured long after the SOE’s official disbandment at the war’s end.

In the machinery of government, former SOE officials served as MPs and ministers, took up careers in the civil service and intelligence agencies, and continued operations in colonial theatres. The SOE’s alumni occupied key roles in other areas of British professional life, ranging from academia, to journalism, to the film industry. The wartime exploits of the SOE meanwhile found new expression in the cultural sphere, with the SOE providing inspiration for the key developments in post-war espionage fiction, film, and computer games.

In this seminar, members of Durham’s 'The SOE, Covert Action, and the British Cultural Imaginary’ project will discuss the research they have been conducting towards understanding these post-war legacies of the SOE. Speakers and topics will include:

• Guy Woodward, ‘Leo Marks: Traces of the SOE in Post-War British Cinema'.
• Ashleigh Percival-Borley, ‘Tinker, Tailor, Saboteur, Spy: How the SOE Became “Spies” in British Cultural Memory'.
• Russell Shanks, ‘Set Xbox Ablaze: SOE and Digital Wargames’.
• Matthew Johnson, ‘SOE and British Parliament’.

The seminar is open to all (staff and students) and is free to attend, and there will be a chance for Q&A and discussion.

The project gratefully acknowledges the funding of the Leverhulme Trust.