logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2024
48m 15s

8. The Man Who Made MI6

Goalhanger
About this episode

The daring, gadget-loving, mischievous founder of MI6. Mansfield Cumming, the first C, was a former navy man brought out of retirement to keep tabs on German spies around the outbreak of the First World War. Over the following decade he established MI6 and set it on course to be a central part of the British security apparatus. Known to test the mettle of potential employees by taking a knife out and stabbing his own wooden leg; Mansfield was an eccentric man who's personality has come to shape the institution which he founded.


In this Christmas special, listen as David and Gordon discuss the founding of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service.


Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.nordvpn.com/restisclassified


It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee!


Email: classified@goalhanger.com

Twitter: @triclassified


Assistant Producer: Becki Hills

Producer: Callum Hill

Senior Producer: Dom Johnson

Exec Producer: Tony Pastor

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Aug 19
75. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: The War on Drugs (Ep 2)
In the early 1980s, Pablo Escobar reinvented himself. He was no longer just the man who could smuggle tonnes of cocaine into Miami - he was the successful businessman, the philanthropist, the proud family man. To the poor, he built homes and football fields. To the powerful, he o ... Show More
56m 9s
Aug 17
74. The Hunt for Pablo Escobar: Rise of a Drug Lord (Ep 1)
Colombia in the mid-20th century was a place of beauty and bloodshed - where jungle mountains sheltered rebels, the cities were ruled by oligarchs, and outlaw legends became folk heroes. Into this world stepped Pablo Escobar. Charming, calm, and calculating, he would become one o ... Show More
58m 56s
Aug 12
73. Destroying the Nazi Nuclear Program: Saving the World From War (Ep 2)
Who was the Nazi General who called the Allied Gunnerside mission “the most splendid coup I have seen?” How did the Norwegians stop the Nazis' nuclear program for good? And how did one commando use a large amount of laxatives to save his mother's life? Operation Gunnerside was a ... Show More
41m 18s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2025
The Spy Who Betrayed Bin Laden (Encore) | Aimen Dean talks about his time as MI6's Top Spy Inside Al-Qaeda | 5
Aimen Dean talks Raza Jaffrey through the highs and lows of his eight years as an undercover agent and why he chose to spy for the British rather than the Americans. He also describes how he felt after his cover was blown when an American writer disclosed his identity with detail ... Show More
46m 21s
Mar 2025
235. The Viceroy, The Psychopath, and The Merchant: The Irish in Empire (Ep 3)
Ireland may have been England’s first colony but, by the 17th century, Irishmen were carving out their own imperial legacies in India. Gerald Aungier, an ambitious East India Company official, saw Bombay as a new frontier for plantation and trade. Drawing from his family’s planta ... Show More
53m 58s
Dec 2021
Burgers & Spies
Vanessa Kirby meets Naveed Jamali, an FBI operative who worked his way into the world of espionage. Hoping to impress US Intelligence, Naveed used family connections to set himself up as a double agent, fooling the Russians into revealing their operations on American soil. Armed ... Show More
46m 39s
Jun 2020
Introducing: The Service
Just before he died, John Daniell's step-dad told him a secret from his time as a spy. A secret that was possibly New Zealand's biggest of the Cold War and that has never been revealed. Until now.To see more images and details about the series, vist the website here.In the midst ... Show More
3m 23s
Mar 2025
The Spies Who Invaded Suburbia | Former illegal spy Jack Barsky on years undercover | 4
Jack Barsky was arguably one of the most successful and enduring of the "Illegals”. These were the Soviet and Russian operatives who seamlessly integrated into American society while covertly serving their handlers in Moscow. But as Jack started a family in his new country, the w ... Show More
40m 46s
May 7
563. Peter the Great: Bloodbath in the Kremlin (Part 2)
What abominable mischief and hedonism did the seventeen year old Peter the Great revel in during his strange and remarkable travels through Europe, before truly stepping into the role of Tsar of all the Russias? Did it serve a secret political purpose? What was the outcome of the ... Show More
1h 4m
Nov 2024
Was Biffy Dunderdale The Real Life Inspiration For 007?
Wilfred "Biffy" Dunderdale: A Life of Espionage On today's Spybrary, host Shane Whaley sat down with Lt. Col. Tim Spicer OBE, author of A Suspicion of Spies: Risk, Secrets and Shadows – The Biography of Wilfred ‘Biffy’ Dunderdale. The book offers a glimpse into the life of this i ... Show More
48m 49s
Aug 3
588. Mary, Queen of Scots: The Mystery of the Exploding Mansion (Part 5)
How and why was Mary Queen of Scots’ traitorous husband, Lord Darnley, murdered, and by whom…? Was Mary complicit? Why was his death one of the greatest mysteries in all British history? And, with Mary’s situation growing increasingly precarious, and allies few and far between, t ... Show More
1 h
Jul 2024
472. The Road to The Great War: Britain's Fateful Choice (Part 4)
On the 24th of July 1914, in London, the Liberal British Cabinet met to hear the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, read them the Ultimatum handed to Serbia by the Austro-Hungarian Empire the day before. The world held its breath, awaiting Serbia’s response. With Germany determi ... Show More
55m 45s
Nov 2024
The Spy Who Killed a Prime Minister | Independence Day | 1
When MI6 sends officer Daphne Park to help stop a communist takeover in Congo, it kickstarts one of the darkest operations in MI6 and CIA history. Because security services either need to win the trust of Congo’s first prime minister, or remove him.Listen to The Spy Who ad-free o ... Show More
44m 54s