If you are into all things espionage the English transcript of the former MI6/CIA secret agent Bill Fairclough’s first ever interview on radio is a must read via this link. Alternatively you can listen to it in Spanish on the Código Crystal website. The interview was conducted on 22 March 2025 by Sasi Alami on the international espionage cognoscenti’s radio program of choice, Código Crystal on Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), Spain’s equivalent of the BBC.

Having previewed the interview prior to its broadcast, one seasoned podcaster wrote:

“This interview is nothing short of electrifying at times. Not only does it unveil real-world espionage tactics about covert infiltration, high-stakes bugging and other clandestine tradecraft but it also spills long-buried secrets about Bill Fairclough. Why did MI6 recruit him? How much was he paid? Was he the frontrunner for an aborted coup in Haiti? What drove him to dance with death time and time again throughout his perilous career?

 

As for the sentiments of MI6’s Pemberton’s People on Ian Fleming, Fleming’s 007 doesn’t just take a hit. Fleming’s James Bond creation is ruthlessly castigated for deceiving the world about how genuine secret agents operate.”

Covertly Bill Fairclough was one of Pemberton’s People who were legends unto themselves in MI6. In 1978 he created FaireSansDire, a niche intelligence agency and later authored the fact based spy thriller Beyond Enkription, the first of a series of six biographical novels called TheBurlingtonFiles.  Overtly he worked for Coopers & Lybrand (PwC), Citicorp, Barclays and Reuters. His biography is accessible via this link on TheBurlingtonFiles website.

This article was first published on 22 March 2025.

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