THE SOE and British Culture
@covertcultures.bsky.social
The SOE, Covert Action, and the British Cultural Imaginary: @LeverhulmeTrust funded project based at @READEnglish, Durham University: https://soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/
Pinned
CFP - THE SOE, COVERT ACTION, AND THE BRITISH CULTURAL IMAGINARY
Call for papers: The Hidden Second World War: Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action British covert operations of the Second World War have provided source material for a string of...
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk
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/
Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action'.
Abstracts by 1 February 2026
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/cfp/
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
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/
Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action'.
Abstracts by 1 February 2026
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/cfp/
CFP - THE SOE, COVERT ACTION, AND THE BRITISH CULTURAL IMAGINARY
Call for papers: The Hidden Second World War: Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action British covert operations of the Second World War have provided source material for a string of...
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 AM
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/
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?
December 5, 2025 at 8:47 AM
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...
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...
November 19, 2025 at 10:56 AM
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...
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/
Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action'.
Abstracts by 1 February 2026
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/cfp/
CFP - THE SOE, COVERT ACTION, AND THE BRITISH CULTURAL IMAGINARY
Call for papers: The Hidden Second World War: Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action British covert operations of the Second World War have provided source material for a string of...
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk
November 19, 2025 at 10:49 AM
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/
Cultural Depictions of Irregular Warfare and Covert Action'.
Abstracts by 1 February 2026
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/cfp/
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
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/.
Abstracts by February 2:
www.shawnaross.com/cfp/.
CFP for A Field Guide to Lost Modernisms
www.shawnaross.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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/.
Abstracts by February 2:
www.shawnaross.com/cfp/.
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
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
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
Tradecraft: The Exhibition
Join us at the Weston Library or online for a talk from the curators of the Weston Library’s latest exhibition, John Le Carré: Tradecraft
visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
October 2, 2025 at 4:56 PM
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
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...
October 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM
NEW on the blog: Russell Shanks's top 5 clunkiest SOE videogames: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2025/10/09/5...
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
📚 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
📖 Read more here🔗 tinyurl.com/3cdbynaa
ℹ️ Find out more about Rory and his research 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/rory.cormac
October 9, 2025 at 11:40 AM
📚 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
📖 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...
'Amateur, dangerous and bogus': SIS-SOE relations - THE SOE, COVERT ACTION, AND THE BRITISH CULTURAL IMAGINARY
Guy Woodward explores social media posts by the outgoing head of SIS and considers the fractious wartime relations between the agency and SOE Posting on X in July this year Sir Richard Moore, head of ...
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk
September 30, 2025 at 7:52 AM
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...
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
Anything missing?
September 12, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Anything missing?
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
Move over, Miss Marple.
September 12, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Move over, Miss Marple.
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
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”
My own personal conclusion is “covert action” is dumb and when talking about wider practice beyond US legal codes we should use “unacknowledged interference”
September 11, 2025 at 2:01 PM
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”
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...
Top 5 SOE Videogames - THE SOE, COVERT ACTION, AND THE BRITISH CULTURAL IMAGINARY
Russell Shanks chooses the best SOE-related games from the past 25 years Among the pantheon of Second World War videogames, special operations and covert action form a prominent subgenre. My research ...
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk
September 8, 2025 at 6:19 PM
NEW on the SOE and British Culture blog: Russell Shanks's Top 5 SOE Videogames: soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk/2025/09/08/t...
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
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 ⬇️
Find out more below ⬇️
Sign-up now open for the conference on 'Britain, Conflict & the Sea' that I am running with RMG this September: www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/nat...
Britain, Conflict, and the Sea conference
This conference seeks to explore the ways in which modern Britain has been shaped by ideas and practices of maritime war.
www.rmg.co.uk
August 12, 2025 at 4:31 PM
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 ⬇️
Find out more below ⬇️
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
🚨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...
Post-Doctoral Researcher, Specified Purpose, Department of History and the Arts and Humanities Institute | University Vacancies Ireland
universityvacancies.com
September 4, 2025 at 9:29 AM
🚨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...
John le Carré and the ghostly legacy of the SOE - THE SOE, COVERT ACTION, AND THE BRITISH CULTURAL IMAGINARY
James Smith on the impact of the SOE on post-war spy fiction As Guy Woodward’s last post suggested, a mooted collaboration between Stanley Kubrick and John le Carré on a film addressing treachery and ...
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk
August 28, 2025 at 8:16 AM
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...
26 Sept 2025 Games Studies Symposium - Durham University
www.durham.ac.uk
August 22, 2025 at 3:08 PM
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...
Stanley Kubrick and the SOE - THE SOE, COVERT ACTION, AND THE BRITISH CULTURAL IMAGINARY
Guy Woodward investigates an unrealised SOE film project Stanley Kubrick was one of the most influential film directors of the twentieth century, responsible for a string of films addressing modern wa...
soeandbritishculture.webspace.durham.ac.uk
August 22, 2025 at 2:17 PM
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...
BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Peace
In the week of VE Day, Matthew Sweet discusses what peace has meant since 1945.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 22, 2025 at 11:32 AM
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...
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
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
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
August 8, 2025 at 12:49 AM
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
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
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
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...
August 4, 2025 at 11:49 AM
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...
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
‘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...
👏 Best WW2 novel IMHO.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/u...
Usha Vance’s New Life in Trump’s Washington
www.nytimes.com
June 25, 2025 at 8:39 PM
‘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...
👏 Best WW2 novel IMHO.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/u...
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
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.
Special operations: a hidden chapter in the histories of facial surgery and human enhancement
During the Second World War, Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret service established to encourage resistance and carry out sabotage, employed various techniques of enhancing the abi...
mh.bmj.com
July 25, 2025 at 7:33 PM
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.
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
#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.
July 25, 2025 at 4:12 PM
#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.
Reposted by THE SOE and British Culture
🚨🚨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
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
Training as a WW2 Secret Agent | Chalke Valley History Festival
YouTube video by Catherine Warr
youtu.be
July 18, 2025 at 6:00 PM
🚨🚨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
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