Helen Fry
Secret Agent: Unsung Hero
Summary
Join Helen Fry in conversation with Peter Dowding, former Premier of Western Australia. During their discussion, they will take a look at the incredible story of Peter’s uncle, Bruce Dowding, who displayed great heroism behind enemy lines. Bruce, along with American rescuer Varian Fry, saved Jewish intellectuals, including Marc Chagall, by smuggling them over the Pyrenees to safety and freedom.
Helen Fry
Helen Fry has authored and edited over 25 books covering the social history of the Second World War, including British Intelligence and the secret war, espionage, and spies, as well as MI9 escape and evasion. She is the foremost authority on the “secret listeners” who worked at special eavesdropping sites operated by British Intelligence during WWII. Helen is the official biographer of MI6 spymaster, Colonel Thomas Joseph Kendrick. She has also extensively written about the 10,000 Germans who fought for Britain during WWII. Helen has appeared in a number of documentaries and has provided advisory services for TV and drama. She also appears regularly in media interviews and podcasts. Helen is an ambassador for the National Centre for Military Intelligence (NCMI) and serves as a trustee of both the Friends of the Intelligence Corps Museum and the Medmenham Collection. She works in London.
Peter Dowding
Peter Dowding SC is a leading Australian lawyer and former politician. After graduating from the University of Western Australia, Peter was admitted to the Bar in 1966 and quickly became prominent representing conscientious objectors to conscription during the Vietnam War, and as an advocate of Aboriginal land and civil rights. First elected to Western Australia’s Parliament in 1980, he served in both legislative chambers and held numerous government portfolios, serving as the State’s 24th Premier. Awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003, Peter lives in Fremantle, Australia.
Well, there are two reasons. There are three reasons for doing it. One is that the atmosphere of these places can be terribly instructive when you’re trying to write a history. And secondly, it does give you a feel for the reality that people lived through. And then the third reason is because you meet people who were participants or whose family were participants, and you understand what enormous pressures many of them were under for the period that you’re writing about. And I think that’s been one of the most wonderful aspects particularly of this trip we did just recently through Europe where we met you in London. It’s so important to humanise these stories. They’re not just academic exercises. And that’s been, I think, shown to be of immense value when you’re writing it.
Look, I think the answer is firstly, to remind us how hideous war is. How absolutely, how it disrupts and creates horrifying circumstances. A pretty apt sort of time to be thinking about that. And the second reason for writing the book, I guess, is that even when people disappear or die, they have left a legacy and I think we should celebrate that legacy. And in the book, it’s certainly Bruce’s legacy, but he was just an ordinary guy. You know, he wasn’t a hero. He didn’t start off as a hero. He was just a really decent fellow, much beloved in my family. I never knew him because I was born the year he was executed, 80 years ago. But he was much beloved by my father and by his other brother, by his parents, by the people he knew and the school he went to, Wesley. We’re so honoured that the school has kept alive the record of where he went as a student and where he was a teacher. So, I’m thrilled, if you like, to be able to recognise that legacy and also point out to people how ordinary people really matter in the world.