SPIES' & SPYCATCHERS' LONDON
Adrian - London
May 2010
This is a superb walk - full of insight, intrigue and amusing trivia. The guide was excellent - suitably austere, but brilliantly informative.

Where this walk succeeds (and, say, the West End murder walk by the same guide fails) is that there's a narrative - it's not just a random trail of unconnected events. This one is concentrated in an otherwise "hidden" part of town and it follows a distinct period in our history; some of the complacency in the intelligence services in the 50s and 60s was an eye-opener.

Very absorbing two hours, one of the best walks, even if you're not an espionage nut.
Snapperjack - London
November 2009
I must say that this tour will hold you totally spellbound, Alan's knowledge on this subject of spies is outstanding. The walk is pleasant and the stops are frequent, Alan then produces his talk with a strong and clear voice that can be heard by everyone, I thought I knew a lot about the spies in our great city, Alan is truly a master on this subject. This is a walk well worth taking.
David Lane - freckenham suffolk
November 2008
James Bond????? Who is he? This is the real deal. True life espionage brought to life by the flamboyant very well informed guide Alan. The two hours just flew by with us listening intently to every word , every snippet of information, and of course viewing the real locations where the real life spies operated. The innocuous building where history defining wartime plans were hatched, the dead letter box, the list is endless. Totally fascinating, a "must do" for any visitor. But be careful..... you could be followed. !!!!
MJJ - Lathrup Village, MI
March 2008
Great tour, but like a previous poster, I would recommend reading up on Burgess, Mclean and the others before going on the tour. The relatively recent "spying" involving Litvinenko is tangentially mentioned, but it would be more current to have more info on him and to include stops from that situation.
 
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Hi MJJ,
 
David here. Good point. Good suggestion. I'll have a word with Alan, see if he can tweak matters a bit. Apropos that episode generally, did you know that Litvinenko is entombed up in Highgate cemetery - not so far from Karl Marx? And apparently he's so aglow with radioactivity that the tomb has had to be heavily lead-lined. I've learned same from John, who's written the chapter on Highgate village for the London Walks book. John's by far the most distinguished "journo" on the team - Michael Nicholson, the "Dan Rather of British television news", in his book described John as "the finest foreign editor he had ever worked with" - and so it came as no surprise to me that Johnners had managed to, er, unearth that tidbit (also he lives up there, so he's got amazing local contacts), but I'm awfully glad that he did.
 
 
Many thanks.
 
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H Evans - Vancouver
March 2007
This walk is fun - it definitely helps if you know some of the history first, though (otherwise it might be a bit meaningless) - familiarize yourself with the stories of Klaus Fuchs, Kim Philby, Georgi Markov, etc., and you'll get much more out of it.
And you'll love seeing where the office of the real-life 'C' was!
I definitely recommend this one. (and you might want to make notes along the way so that you remember where you went - it all went by so fast that I'd be hard pressed to retrace my steps)