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Watch this podcast on YouTube: The Fearless White Mouse Who Outwitted the Gestapo⁠⁠

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“A rebel, always laughing and very, very feminine”. This is how author Russell Braddon described Nancy Wake. Exuberant and gregarious, she swore like a sailor and was able to drink nearly all her male counterparts under the table. Her story is an inspiring journey through the darkest days of World War II and of triumph in near-impossible circumstances. A fearless leader, skilled saboteur, and dedicated member of the French Resistance, Nancy's incredible contribution to the fight against Nazi Germany and her uncanny ability to evade capture by the Gestapo earned her the nickname "the White Mouse". Her notoriety among the Gestapo rose to the degree that a 5 million Franc bounty was put on her head. Nancy Wake would go on to become the most decorated British servicewoman, earning accolades for her courage, resilience, and cunning as a member of the British Special Operations Executive. This is Nancy’s Wake story.

Watch ⁠Philip Thompson's True-Life Spy Stories⁠ on YouTube.

Watch this podcast on YouTube: The CIA Mole Who Brought US Intelligence to its Knees

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What motivates a person to become a spy and betray their own country? For some, it's a matter of principle and ideology, a belief in a cause that supersedes national loyalty. For others, it's all about the money, the allure of wealth proving stronger than any patriotic duty.

Aldrich “Rick” Ames, a former CIA officer turned KGB mole, fell firmly into the latter category. Driven by greed and the demands of an extravagant second wife who lived well beyond her means, Ames embarked on a 9-year path of treachery that would lead to the arrest or death of no less than 10 of the US’s highest-ranking spies.

The aftermath of his near-decade-long spying spree was immense, with the US government recognising it as the most disastrous failure of intelligence in the nation’s history.

This is the story of the notorious CIA mole who shook American intelligence to its very foundations.

Watch ⁠Philip Thompson's True-Life Spy Stories⁠ on YouTube.

Watch this podcast on YouTube: ⁠Moscow's Man On The Inside.⁠

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In the quaint, unassuming Isle of Portland, Dorset, the late 1950s hummed with the monotony of everyday life. Little did its residents know that their sleepy enclave would soon become the epicentre of an international espionage drama.

At the heart of this tale of betrayal were two love-struck British spies, a KGB operative masquerading as a Canadian businessman, and two American communists posing as antiquarian book dealers.

Operating between 1953 and 1961 from within the United Kingdom’s Underwater Weapons Establishment, the Portland Spy Ring sent highly classified research documents, including on nuclear submarine technology to the UK’s Cold War adversary the Soviet Union.

If only MI5 had paid more attention to the red flags and heeded the direct warnings, they could have staunched the flow of secrets to the Soviets years earlier.

It would take a tip-off from a Polish intelligence officer and one of the CIA’s most prized agents in place to bring the entire house of cards that was the Portland Spy Ring tumbling down.