Christopher Andrew: MI5 and British History, 1909 to 2011

Prof. Andrew outside MI5 HQ

The Stubbs Society joins with Christ Church's S.R. Gardiner Society to present, Christopher Andrew, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Cambridge. Professor Andrew was Official Historian of the Security Service (MI5) from 2003 to 2010. He is Honorary Air Commodore of 7006 Squadron (Intelligence), Royal Auxiliary Air Force, former Visiting Professor at the Universities of Harvard, Toronto and the Australian National University, Chair of the British Intelligence Study Group, Founding Co-Editor of the journal Intelligence and National Security and a frequent broadcaster. His eighteen books (translated into a number of languages) include a number on the use and abuse of secret intelligence: among them For The President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush; The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West (with Vasili Mitrokhin); and The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB and the World (with Vasili Mitrokhin). His latest book, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5, was last year’s best-seller in the Politics category.

In his talk, Prof. Andrew will argue that the history of MI5's role over the last century is central to an understanding of far more than intelligence and national security - for example, gender history, the end of empire and the role of the Prime Minister. This event has been eagerly anticipated for some time.

Christ Church / Blue Boar Lecture Theatre / 8.30 p.m.