24 June at 2.30 Evacuees and Espionage - World War II at Blenheim Palace - Barchester Westlake House Care Home

Date: Thursday 24 Jun 2021

Organiser: Barchester Westlake House Care Home

24 June at 2.30
Evacuees and Espionage - World War II at Blenheim Palace
Join us as Antonia Keaney revisits the history at Blenheim Palace. The Marlborough family, Estate staff and the Palace itself played a full and energetic part in the war effort. This talk and tour tells the story of how the Palace prepared for the worst, survived the onslaught of 400 boys evacuated to Blenheim and kept the secrets of MI5.

After the prison was bombed during the London Blitz in September 1940, most staff transferred to Blenheim Palace at Woodstock, near Oxford. The Director (as the DG was then known), some other senior officers and counter-espionage operations officers stayed in London at a former MGM building in St James’s Street whose identity was camouflaged by a large ‘To Let’ sign outside.