Podcasts · History · True Crime

Spy Cities

Chatterbox Audio

16 episodes

Membership is informal. Discretion is not.

More about the show

In this on-location series, Angus Blair and David Ludlow take you inside the real rooms where espionage history was made — the corner tables, hotel suites, smoky clubs and quiet side streets where spies exchanged envelopes and empires quietly shifted.

These are not fictional thrillers. These are the real stories of charming traitors, elegant double agents and the cities that made them.

New city. New spy. Same bad behaviour.

Meet us in the lobby.

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Episodes

  1. Spy Cities: Geneva

    · 48 min · S2 E1

    Geneva: The Early Days of Spy Fiction. Somerset Maugham, the 20th century British writer, drew on his First World War experiences as a British agent in Geneva when he created one of the early heroes of espionage…

  2. Spy Cities: Season Two Trailer

    · 2:56 · Trailer

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Spy Cities: Season Mid-break Q&A

    · 11 min · S1 E13 · Bonus

    We caught up with hosts Angus and Hove after they'd visited a dead drop location during the season break. They produced a sheet of questions from our listeners and here we gain some fascinating insights into their…

  4. Spy Cities: Prague

    · 1 h 08 min · S1 E12

    PRAGUE: CARLOS THE JACKAL AND THE COLD WAR SECRET POLICE In Cold War Prague, capital of communist Czechoslovakia, sanctuary was offered to Carlos the Jackal and a group of unstable Palestinian militants. The…

  5. Spy Cities: Shanghai

    · 1 h 00 min · S1 E11

    SHANGHAI: SPIES, SORGE AND THE PRE-REVOLUTIONARY UNDERWORLD Step back into the espionage underworld of 1920s and 30s Shanghai, one of the most dangerous and lawless cities on earth. Our guide is Mark Logan, former…

  6. Spy Cities: The Hague and Haarlem

    · 47 min · S1 E10

    NETHERLANDS: THE DUTCH RESISTANCE FIGHTS BACK AGAINST THE NAZIS Stand on the beach where a real James Bond-style landing took place — dinner jacket worn under a wetsuit. Take breakfast at the Konditorei whose Jewish…

  7. Spy Cities: The Hague and Venlo

    · 1 h 04 min · S1 E9

    THE HAGUE & VENLO: BRITAIN’S GREATEST INTELLIGENCE DISASTER? The 1939 Venlo Incident - the Gestapo’s kidnapping of two British MI6 officers on the Dutch–German border - remains one of the Allies’ greatest intelligence…

  8. Spy Cities: Tangier

    · 1 h 01 min · S1 E8

    TANGIER: SHADY PEOPLE IN A SUNNY PLACE Gibraltar’s southern twin among WWII espionage hubs, this ancient Moroccan port city has seen it all. One OSS officer branded it a “nest of vipers,” and Ian Fleming stayed at the…

  9. Spy Cities: Gibraltar

    · 1 h 02 min · S1 E7 · Explicit

    GIBRALTAR: SPIES ON THE ROCK Guarding the Strait of Gibraltar — the all-important sea lane linking the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean — this tiny relic of the British Empire hides a labyrinth of wartime secrets…

  10. Spy Cities: London Part Two

    · 49 min · S1 E6

    LONDON: THE DOWNFALL OF THE CAMBRIDGE FIVE 75 years on from the flight of Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess to the Soviet Union, we follow their alcohol fuelled final days in London. From upmarket hotels to station bars;…

  11. Spy Cities: Berlin

    · 51 min · S1 E5

    BERLIN: COLD WAR TECHNICAL ESPIONAGE HUB Our first – but certainly not last – visit to Berlin takes us underground, to the telecom taps betrayed by double agent George Blake; underwater, as British divers wrestle to…

  12. Spy Cities: Washington

    · 52 min · S1 E4

    WASHINGTON DC: INTO THE WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS Former CIA case officer turned intelligence historian Professor David Gioe joins us to uncover the secret side of Washington DC. Bringing an insider's perspective, he…

  13. Spy Cities: Istanbul

    · 39 min · S1 E3

    ISTANBUL: SPIES AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD Byzantium. Constantinople. Stamboul. Istanbul. A city with many names to match its long history. Straddling Europe and Asia, spies have competed in the city over…

  14. Spy Cities: Lisbon

    · 49 min · S1 E2

    LISBON 1940: THE WINDSORS - A DEADLY FARCE Intelligence historian, and well known local guide, Marisa Filipe joins us to explore the story of a top secret tug of war between Hitler and Churchill in neutral Portugal.…

  15. Spy Cities: London

    · 37 min · S1 E1

    The Spying Starts Here Where the modern game was invented and professionalised. Our first visit to London focuses on the origins of the British intelligence agencies - MI5, MI6 and GCHQ - in the early 20th century.…

  16. Spy Cities: Trailer

    · 1:54 · Trailer

    We’re Angus Blair and David Ludlow. We met at Cambridge at a time when a discreet chat over a sherry with a well connected tutor or an intriguing letter in your pigeon hole were still key entry points to the secret…

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