Is my father in law James Bond?
Discussion
These days most people in the ‘intelligence community’ either spend their days in a central London office reading the Economist having spent years writing academic theses with ‘strategy’ and ‘geopolitics’ in the title. Or are ex squaddies stuck in a tent somewhere hot and dusty having had years of experience of calling in air strikes in 17 languages while disguised as a camel. Precious little in between though.
SeeFive said:
Heh heh... Yonks ago as a civvy working on CWID in a one eyes C-ISTAR lab, we had a big scenario room with a massive screen showing the complete EW picture.
TBF, CWID is just an exercise, but is taken fairly seriously by the rest of NATO when the UK arm goes AWOL
You don’t say. TBF, CWID is just an exercise, but is taken fairly seriously by the rest of NATO when the UK arm goes AWOL
CWID in a one-eyes C-ISTAR EW picture.
Fascinating.
My father used to travel to the USSR on business regularly in the sixties and early seventies. No, he wasn't a spy, but an engineer who designed paper making machinery systems.
In 1972 he was randomly called to a 'government office' in London ostensibly to do with a visa application. I can't recall details of the location now, but basically it was a large office block in the city, which appeared totally empty. He was ushered into an interview room by two men who produced no credentials or ID of any kind and quizzed him about his visits to Moscow and other cities. He maintained that he was being 'sussed out' to see if he was prepared to spy on behalf of the UK.
The scary part of the story is that these men had a manila file in front of them on the desk containing photos of me leaving my school premises
- They didn't show these to my father but sort of made sure he saw them. At the end of the interview they basically said "thanks for coming" and that was the last he heard from them.
In 1972 he was randomly called to a 'government office' in London ostensibly to do with a visa application. I can't recall details of the location now, but basically it was a large office block in the city, which appeared totally empty. He was ushered into an interview room by two men who produced no credentials or ID of any kind and quizzed him about his visits to Moscow and other cities. He maintained that he was being 'sussed out' to see if he was prepared to spy on behalf of the UK.
The scary part of the story is that these men had a manila file in front of them on the desk containing photos of me leaving my school premises
- They didn't show these to my father but sort of made sure he saw them. At the end of the interview they basically said "thanks for coming" and that was the last he heard from them.Dr Jekyll said:
These days most people in the ‘intelligence community’ either spend their days in a central London office reading the Economist having spent years writing academic theses with ‘strategy’ and ‘geopolitics’ in the title. Or are ex squaddies stuck in a tent somewhere hot and dusty having had years of experience of calling in air strikes in 17 languages while disguised as a camel. Precious little in between though.
That's pretty spot-on for the two people we know, although the first one is more technically focused.Sheepshanks said:
Dr Jekyll said:
These days most people in the ‘intelligence community’ either spend their days in a central London office reading the Economist having spent years writing academic theses with ‘strategy’ and ‘geopolitics’ in the title. Or are ex squaddies stuck in a tent somewhere hot and dusty having had years of experience of calling in air strikes in 17 languages while disguised as a camel. Precious little in between though.
That's pretty spot-on for the two people we know, although the first one is more technically focused.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYY7gECCm2k
(some NSFW audio)
StanleyT said:
My Uncles father was brought "out of retirement" to help finish building Dungeness Nuclear Reactor.
He'd retired from the design team before the construction started in 1969, and was there still in 1985 aged 86 in, you guessed it "quality control".
Used to get picked up by a chauffeur car from South London to take him to Dungeness and brought back every night.
I worked in the nuclear industry in the late 1980s and Dungeness was well known as a strange place, first new reactor to be built of that design, last to generate electricity. I asked my Uncles father one family funeral what really went on and jokingly said "were you building a nuclear torpedo in there for the Falkland wars".
He replied "Four pieces of advice for you laddie, 1) never throw bodies in lakes, always a fast moving river, takes them away from the crime scene, 2) if you need to bury a body, dig a vertical hole, not a horizontal grave, leaves a smaller footprint on the ground, 3) I'm colourblind, so don't ask about the boathouse doors, 4) If we want to use a nuclear reactor to do anything other than just electricity we can do that easily. I'm just not going to tell you how".
For obvious reasons there’s multiple geographically diverse locations in the country where weapons grade fissile materials are/were manufactured, and again for obvious reasons it’s not common knowledge as to where they all are. The key requirement though is that there needs to be a large nuclear reactor on hand, so it’s not all that hard to figure out the possible locations.He'd retired from the design team before the construction started in 1969, and was there still in 1985 aged 86 in, you guessed it "quality control".
Used to get picked up by a chauffeur car from South London to take him to Dungeness and brought back every night.
I worked in the nuclear industry in the late 1980s and Dungeness was well known as a strange place, first new reactor to be built of that design, last to generate electricity. I asked my Uncles father one family funeral what really went on and jokingly said "were you building a nuclear torpedo in there for the Falkland wars".
He replied "Four pieces of advice for you laddie, 1) never throw bodies in lakes, always a fast moving river, takes them away from the crime scene, 2) if you need to bury a body, dig a vertical hole, not a horizontal grave, leaves a smaller footprint on the ground, 3) I'm colourblind, so don't ask about the boathouse doors, 4) If we want to use a nuclear reactor to do anything other than just electricity we can do that easily. I'm just not going to tell you how".
WelshChris said:
My father used to travel to the USSR on business regularly in the sixties and early seventies. No, he wasn't a spy, but an engineer who designed paper making machinery systems.
In 1972 he was randomly called to a 'government office' in London ostensibly to do with a visa application. I can't recall details of the location now, but basically it was a large office block in the city, which appeared totally empty. He was ushered into an interview room by two men who produced no credentials or ID of any kind and quizzed him about his visits to Moscow and other cities. He maintained that he was being 'sussed out' to see if he was prepared to spy on behalf of the UK.
The scary part of the story is that these men had a manila file in front of them on the desk containing photos of me leaving my school premises - They didn't show these to my father but sort of made sure he saw them. At the end of the interview they basically said "thanks for coming" and that was the last he heard from them.
Either that or quietly tested about whether he could be spying for the Russians.In 1972 he was randomly called to a 'government office' in London ostensibly to do with a visa application. I can't recall details of the location now, but basically it was a large office block in the city, which appeared totally empty. He was ushered into an interview room by two men who produced no credentials or ID of any kind and quizzed him about his visits to Moscow and other cities. He maintained that he was being 'sussed out' to see if he was prepared to spy on behalf of the UK.
The scary part of the story is that these men had a manila file in front of them on the desk containing photos of me leaving my school premises
- They didn't show these to my father but sort of made sure he saw them. At the end of the interview they basically said "thanks for coming" and that was the last he heard from them.SpeckledJim said:
WelshChris said:
My father used to travel to the USSR on business regularly in the sixties and early seventies. No, he wasn't a spy, but an engineer who designed paper making machinery systems.
In 1972 he was randomly called to a 'government office' in London ostensibly to do with a visa application. I can't recall details of the location now, but basically it was a large office block in the city, which appeared totally empty. He was ushered into an interview room by two men who produced no credentials or ID of any kind and quizzed him about his visits to Moscow and other cities. He maintained that he was being 'sussed out' to see if he was prepared to spy on behalf of the UK.
The scary part of the story is that these men had a manila file in front of them on the desk containing photos of me leaving my school premises - They didn't show these to my father but sort of made sure he saw them. At the end of the interview they basically said "thanks for coming" and that was the last he heard from them.
Either that or quietly tested about whether he could be spying for the Russians.In 1972 he was randomly called to a 'government office' in London ostensibly to do with a visa application. I can't recall details of the location now, but basically it was a large office block in the city, which appeared totally empty. He was ushered into an interview room by two men who produced no credentials or ID of any kind and quizzed him about his visits to Moscow and other cities. He maintained that he was being 'sussed out' to see if he was prepared to spy on behalf of the UK.
The scary part of the story is that these men had a manila file in front of them on the desk containing photos of me leaving my school premises
- They didn't show these to my father but sort of made sure he saw them. At the end of the interview they basically said "thanks for coming" and that was the last he heard from them.Greshamst said:
SeeFive said:
Heh heh... Yonks ago as a civvy working on CWID in a one eyes C-ISTAR lab, we had a big scenario room with a massive screen showing the complete EW picture.
TBF, CWID is just an exercise, but is taken fairly seriously by the rest of NATO when the UK arm goes AWOL
You don’t say. TBF, CWID is just an exercise, but is taken fairly seriously by the rest of NATO when the UK arm goes AWOL
CWID in a one-eyes C-ISTAR EW picture.
Fascinating.
It was fascinating actually. The first year I did it, I spent most of my time learning their acronyms, so I feel your pain. Briefings had to be translated by my friendly RN Lt Commander before I could actually start doing anything
CWID - Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstrator.
one-eyes - UK only level information, not shared with any other nation.
ISTAR - Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance. IIRC (sorry, if I remember correctly) the C was for computer, I honestly can’t remember now.
EW - Electronic Warfare.
Oakey said:
StanleyT said:
My Uncles father was brought "out of retirement" to help finish building Dungeness Nuclear Reactor.
He'd retired from the design team before the construction started in 1969, and was there still in 1985 aged 86 in, you guessed it "quality control".
Used to get picked up by a chauffeur car from South London to take him to Dungeness and brought back every night.
I worked in the nuclear industry in the late 1980s and Dungeness was well known as a strange place, first new reactor to be built of that design, last to generate electricity. I asked my Uncles father one family funeral what really went on and jokingly said "were you building a nuclear torpedo in there for the Falkland wars".
He replied "Four pieces of advice for you laddie, 1) never throw bodies in lakes, always a fast moving river, takes them away from the crime scene, 2) if you need to bury a body, dig a vertical hole, not a horizontal grave, leaves a smaller footprint on the ground, 3) I'm colourblind, so don't ask about the boathouse doors, 4) If we want to use a nuclear reactor to do anything other than just electricity we can do that easily. I'm just not going to tell you how".
Sounds like he's never dug a hole before. He'd retired from the design team before the construction started in 1969, and was there still in 1985 aged 86 in, you guessed it "quality control".
Used to get picked up by a chauffeur car from South London to take him to Dungeness and brought back every night.
I worked in the nuclear industry in the late 1980s and Dungeness was well known as a strange place, first new reactor to be built of that design, last to generate electricity. I asked my Uncles father one family funeral what really went on and jokingly said "were you building a nuclear torpedo in there for the Falkland wars".
He replied "Four pieces of advice for you laddie, 1) never throw bodies in lakes, always a fast moving river, takes them away from the crime scene, 2) if you need to bury a body, dig a vertical hole, not a horizontal grave, leaves a smaller footprint on the ground, 3) I'm colourblind, so don't ask about the boathouse doors, 4) If we want to use a nuclear reactor to do anything other than just electricity we can do that easily. I'm just not going to tell you how".
The family that my mother worked for when my father was stationed in Germany was "interesting " to say the least .
He was ostensibly a Group Captain but very very rarely wore a uniform , he had several passports in various names , he had a UK address in Cambridge that showed him to be a lecturing professor at one of the Universities .His wife was from an Irish family whose title went back many many years . I know he was deeply involved in the border coming down between East and West Germany. I have met him several times , he doesn't have the aura of a senior RAF officer , he is almost the grey man , I would find it truly difficult to pick him out of a crowd .
He was ostensibly a Group Captain but very very rarely wore a uniform , he had several passports in various names , he had a UK address in Cambridge that showed him to be a lecturing professor at one of the Universities .His wife was from an Irish family whose title went back many many years . I know he was deeply involved in the border coming down between East and West Germany. I have met him several times , he doesn't have the aura of a senior RAF officer , he is almost the grey man , I would find it truly difficult to pick him out of a crowd .
If I was you, I'd be getting hold of a N64 and a copy of Goldeneye. I'd then arrange an "impromptu" night of retro gaming round his house. Set him up as Bond, you as Odd-job (he was always the hardest to kill). Start a multiplayer game on Facility with proximity mines. If he beats you, its conclusive proof he is Bond. James Bond.
grumpy52 said:
The family that my mother worked for when my father was stationed in Germany was "interesting " to say the least .
He was ostensibly a Group Captain but very very rarely wore a uniform , he had several passports in various names , he had a UK address in Cambridge that showed him to be a lecturing professor at one of the Universities .His wife was from an Irish family whose title went back many many years . I know he was deeply involved in the border coming down between East and West Germany. I have met him several times , he doesn't have the aura of a senior RAF officer , he is almost the grey man , I would find it truly difficult to pick him out of a crowd .
That's something James Bond never seemed to get the hang of.He was ostensibly a Group Captain but very very rarely wore a uniform , he had several passports in various names , he had a UK address in Cambridge that showed him to be a lecturing professor at one of the Universities .His wife was from an Irish family whose title went back many many years . I know he was deeply involved in the border coming down between East and West Germany. I have met him several times , he doesn't have the aura of a senior RAF officer , he is almost the grey man , I would find it truly difficult to pick him out of a crowd .
98elise said:
The RN advertise intelligence roles on their website, but you wouldn't know it from the job title.
Um..... how do you know what you're applying for then? Or do they get loads of totally unsuitable applications because what is being advertised for is nothing like the job title makes it seem? Lindun said:
Oakey said:
StanleyT said:
My Uncles father was brought "out of retirement" to help finish building Dungeness Nuclear Reactor.
He'd retired from the design team before the construction started in 1969, and was there still in 1985 aged 86 in, you guessed it "quality control".
Used to get picked up by a chauffeur car from South London to take him to Dungeness and brought back every night.
I worked in the nuclear industry in the late 1980s and Dungeness was well known as a strange place, first new reactor to be built of that design, last to generate electricity. I asked my Uncles father one family funeral what really went on and jokingly said "were you building a nuclear torpedo in there for the Falkland wars".
He replied "Four pieces of advice for you laddie, 1) never throw bodies in lakes, always a fast moving river, takes them away from the crime scene, 2) if you need to bury a body, dig a vertical hole, not a horizontal grave, leaves a smaller footprint on the ground, 3) I'm colourblind, so don't ask about the boathouse doors, 4) If we want to use a nuclear reactor to do anything other than just electricity we can do that easily. I'm just not going to tell you how".
Sounds like he's never dug a hole before. He'd retired from the design team before the construction started in 1969, and was there still in 1985 aged 86 in, you guessed it "quality control".
Used to get picked up by a chauffeur car from South London to take him to Dungeness and brought back every night.
I worked in the nuclear industry in the late 1980s and Dungeness was well known as a strange place, first new reactor to be built of that design, last to generate electricity. I asked my Uncles father one family funeral what really went on and jokingly said "were you building a nuclear torpedo in there for the Falkland wars".
He replied "Four pieces of advice for you laddie, 1) never throw bodies in lakes, always a fast moving river, takes them away from the crime scene, 2) if you need to bury a body, dig a vertical hole, not a horizontal grave, leaves a smaller footprint on the ground, 3) I'm colourblind, so don't ask about the boathouse doors, 4) If we want to use a nuclear reactor to do anything other than just electricity we can do that easily. I'm just not going to tell you how".
So said:
Audi A3.
As far as I can tell it hasn't got an ejector seat, bullet-proof pop-up screen or blades that extend from axles to slash the tyres of adjacent vehicles.
So, just the poverty spec thenAs far as I can tell it hasn't got an ejector seat, bullet-proof pop-up screen or blades that extend from axles to slash the tyres of adjacent vehicles.
Did he used to like wearing velvet jackets with lace cuffs? Did he ever own a swedish pump device?
rxtx said:
There's a simple answer to this. Strap him to a table with a megawatt laser about to cut him in half, and see what happens.
This?https://youtu.be/P_SlAzsXa7E
Fancy.
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