Dr Helen Fry

THE history of the British spies who bugged the Nazis in the Second World War is the subject of a free history event taking place in Upper Street this evening (Friday).

In her talk entitled A Very Secret War: Trent Park and Bugging the Nazis in WWII, historian Dr Helen Fry will shed light on one of the least known but greatest deceptions of the war.

During the conflict, British intelligence bugged the conversations of more than 10,000 German prisoners of war at three stately homes. Trent Park in Enfield was reserved for Hitler’s generals. Quartered in luxurious conditions, they relaxed and inadvertently began to give away some of Hitler’s most closely guarded secrets, including discussions about V1 (“doodlebug”), V2 and atomic bomb programmes.

For more than 60 years the secret listeners (German-Jewish émigrés who had fled Hitler) never spoke about their work, not even to their families. Many died little knowing that they, alongside personnel at Bletchley Park, had shortened the war by up to four years.

The event, hosted by the charity Stuart Low Trust, is being held at the St Mary’s Neighbour­hood Centre, Upper Street, N1.

Free admittance. Tea and coffee from 6.30pm; presentation begins at 7.30pm.