Dr. Helen Fry - Women in Intelligence

Dr. Helen Fry has authored and edited over 25 books covering the social history of the Second World War and British Intelligence, espionage and spies.

Two years ago she told us about her ground-breaking research that shed light on one of the greatest intelligence deceptions of the war: the bugging of Hitler’s generals at Trent Park in North London.

Her new book reveals women's pivotal role across the first half of the 20th century and their extraordinary range of roles in intelligence, defying the conventions of their time. In both world wars they ran spy networks and escape lines, parachuted behind enemy lines and interrogated prisoners. Back in Bletchley and Whitehall, women’s vital administrative work in Military Intelligence offices kept the British war engine running.