At the end of my last blog post I mentioned that I hadn’t seen one of our treasures – the confession of Guy Fawkes, until I was asked to produce it for a film crew.
This document was broadcast last night on National Geographic Channel in episode one of ’Bloody Tales of the Tower’.
As before, this document (SP 14/216) is available to view at Kew to anyone with a valid reader’s ticket.
So, how does filming work?
‘So, what is the human heart? Simply, it is a pump. And I thought, God Almighty, as long as this pump is working a human being feels, thinks, speaks, writes, loves his family, smiles, weeps, enjoys life, gets angry, gives friendship, wins friendship, prays, dreams, remembers, forgets, forgives, influences other people, is influenced by other people – lives. But when this pump stops – no more! What a wonder in the Cosmos is this frailty of the human body, without which the mind, too, becomes still, helpless or hapless.’
Menachem Begin, 4th August, 1980.
Files released by the Security Service (better known to you and me as MI5) are among the most popular records in our collection, especially with journalists. The arrival of new material at Kew gives the press office and our colleagues in the records knowledge team the chance to delve into the secret history of our nation; a world of double agents, Bond-style gadgets and wartime intrigue.