Spies like us: The secret life of Ernest Oldham

The security service files held at The National Archives in
series KV 2 reveal that many people involved in espionage, like
Foreign Office clerk Ernest Oldham, were ordinary folk who
entered an extraordinary world by chance - often with tragic
consequences. His story, told through phone intercepts,
surveillance notes and secret service reports, reveals the human
cost of spying in the 1920s and 1930s.


Dr Nick Barratt works in the Advice and Records Knowledge
department. Previously he ran was involved in researching and
presenting a number of television series. He has published
several books, most recently Greater London: The Story of the
Suburbs, and he lectures regularly about history and the media.