Show notes
Politicians and generals today talk a lot about the need for exit plans to be established if conflict erupts between nations. In the middle of the horrors of the Second World War, Britain's diplomats were doing exactly that – working hard to think what the peace would look like after the fighting.
Highlighted moments
I've always felt that the Foreign Office is the kind of Cinderella of the British story of the Second World War.
“He started in that job in 1938 with Lord Halifax as his Foreign Secretary and Chamberlain as the Prime Minister. And he finished it in 1946 with Bevin as the Foreign Secretary and Clement Attlee as the Prime Minister.”
“the information officer was taken away by the Japanese. I understand that information and intelligence are the same word in Japanese. So they decided he was the intelligence officer. They tortured him.”
“she found that she had access to the harems as a woman. And she befriended the women. And when the men came home at the end of the day, the men, as they relaxed in the harem, Freya Stark was able to pass all kinds of messages about why they should support the UK.”
Transcript
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