Title, 'The Borris Broadcasts', nowadays, could put people off even looking.

20:33. The Waste Land

The disconnect is one of the best social commentary's of our time. Roisin did a fantastic job.

Richard Brooks was Angie's contemptuous playmate..

Richard Brooks was Angie's contemptuous playmate.

I became fascinated by Alexander Wilson after watching the BBCs dramatisation Mrs Wilson. I sought out as much information as is available (not that much). Reading Alisons heartbreaking biography and the excellent official biography by Tim Crook, and the few articles published over the years. To begin with I was believing the spy story a bit too much, that he was a wronged man who served his country. The truth that you can weedle out is a bit more mundane but still incredibly interesting and with some big unanswered questions. That Alexander Wilson served his country in WWI, was injured in the war, that he was a talented linguists fluent in at least five languages, had had a very respectable schooling, worked for MI6 monitoring communications and was a talented and prolific published author are all true and verifiable. He was by all accounts a gentleman, charming, charismatic and well liked by all who worked with him and met him. But the great unanswered question is why this wasn't good enough for him and he continuously exaggerated, lied and falsified his personal background inflating his already very respectable achievements to the realm of fantasy? Was he simply a serial fantasist a Walter Mitty type who found make believe more interesting than real life, was it the effects of the class ridden society he lived in where status meant everything, was his behaviour forced by the conditions he found himself in due to the unfair and vindictive scapegoating of the security services of which he was employed for a time that hampered his employment opportunities forever after, was he simply an adventurist -, willing to take risks and hurt the people who loved him for the sake of thrill seeking to avoid the mundane realities of normal life. My conclusion was it was a mix of all these and probably more. The issues I still find problematic are his work for MI6 is verifiable but was almost certainly solely his communications work putting his very impressive language skills to work. There is zero evidence he acted as an under cover agent, travelling the world on James Bond style covert missions - something the security services flat out denies. The conspiratorial minded would say, well they would say that - but the facts remain that although he was very good at deceiving those who got close to him, he was downright awful at deceiving the powers of law enforcement. The crimes he was imprisoned for were incredibly petty, he was no criminal master mind. His crimes also were never for his personal gain but almost certainly due to the demands of funding four families. The sentences do seem unduly harsh, but when you look closely most of his prison sentences resulted from his inability to pay the fines the judge set - often giving him a long period of time to come up with the money, but when failing to do so it resulted in imprisonment. His cover stories of secret service work to cover for his prison stays became outlandish and even Alison came to believe it was nonsense. His son actually saw him in his hospital porter role that he explained away as under cover operations and the stretch in Brixton prison to identify fascist groups in UK prisons was plainly ridiculous as was his revealing that he was doing under cover work to his family - not something real spies do, plus the official line is it was all nonesense. But it is also true files released by the government show the reason he was sacked by MI6 was because he faked a burglary at his house in order to pay for antibiotics for Alison (this was pre NHS). Claims against him at MI6 came from the staff under Anthony Blunt at MI5, (AFTER he had left MI6) - Blunt the known Soviet double agent and 'fourth man' in the Cambridge spy ring. It is also very conceivable that the claims of his made up transcripts were the work of counter espionage activity from the other side - a common tactic in the secret service world and Alexander was simply reporting exactly what he heard. Indeed the files that MI5 have released do reveal the important nature of his work and - more revealingly MI5 took an unusual step of writing to Tim Crook and informing him that no records exist of an investigation into his work that showed he was fabricating evidence - making the story even murkier. But MI5 wont release the files so until they do we will not know the true facts. At the time not only was a Soviet spy working in a senior role at MI5 - but a well known ongoing turf war between the MI5 and MI6 was going on. This battle between the two organisations continued into current times. Indeed a report by the outgoing head of MI6 David Spedding revealed the problems of each organisations reluctance and failure to share intelligence, work towards common goals he highlighted this was a cultural problem within the organisations needing to change and that "we doubt whether the process of changing attitudes at operational level is yet complete," this was in 2001. What is left unanswered and is very questionable is why the security service came down so hard on him, effectively making the lives of his children and spouses (MI6 knowing of Alison and the two boys) desperately and needlessly difficult. That they impeded and prevented his gainful employment for the rest of his life seems unreasonably spiteful and vindictive. This is made even more troubling when every single one of the infamous Cambridge spy ring, who supplied the Soviets with disastrous British secrets and resulted in the deaths and executions of very real British agents - were left untouched, were literally handed a free pass to avoid any action taken against them. Indeed Blunt, was offered immunity to prosecution and he confessed and it was a well known secret that he was the 'fourth man'. Indeed he continued a very comfortable career as an art historian until retirement, he was given the distinguished position of Surveyor of the King's Pictures - the guy even received a knighthood for gods sake, all while it was known he was a Soviet double agent! Kim Philby, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess were all able to defect and escape prosecution due to the lasaiz faire attitude and incompetence of the security services - all were suspected for years before being identified - class privilege ensuring their liberty. Despite a full confession - not once but three times - John Cairncross was never prosecuted for his espionage activities! He continued to work in roles for the United Nations and did very well out of his autobiography thank you very much. This despicable hypocrisy shown by the security services is shocking, that as long as you went to Eton and were 'in the club' of the wealthy established elite even the most serious treason against your own country is just fine - he's one of us don't you know. Not evidently the same for everyone else, oh no - even the slightest suspicion and they come down on you like a ton of bricks to destroy your entire life and the life of your familie(s). George Blake, who when exposed as a Soviet agent couldn't count on the luxuries of class privilege - Blake was sentenced to 42 years! He was not part of the Etonian Establishment, not a member of the club. One explanation could be that it was in fact Wilsons two bankruptcies that made gainful employment so difficult combined with his criminal record. But at the same time files released by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office released a substantial tranche of archives - including the case that Wilson supposedly faked, these show that he was condemned as ‘a public danger’ and there had been agreement that any future employer should be warned about his unreliability. This contradicts what MI5 have released, so we can only assume Wilson was made a scapegoat - unfairly judged, and the effect on his employment caused by the security services is downright disgusting. As for his bigamy this is the big question, why did he do it. Why did he carry on sending money and spending time with the separate families and not up and leave entirely? The impact on the women he married was tragic, particularly Alison who was to uncover his secrets on his death, not only losing her husband but finding out these facts - and the reason for their economic hardships. It is to her credit that she continued to bring up her two sons on her own, working to support all three of them and pay off debts that Wilson left on his death, whilst coping with the trauma of his betrayals and her own grief.

John Boormans book, Conclusions is fantastic.

That was such a satisfying interview! Thanks.

That was an interesting conversation between two very different men, both of whom I admire, and wish there were more like them in politics; but sadly men like them get squeezed out for having a moral backbone. This too shall pass eh!

Great conversation.

My mother did the night classes. I grew hearing about the wonderful cooking in Ballymaloe. ❤

Inspiring story with an insight into life in Ireland in the 70s and 80s.

Bob its a long shot but do you have any influence or business in the Gambia ?

Thanks for these. Before this I watched Rory Stewart and Bob Geldof. I'll save Patrick Radden Keefe and Oliver Bullough for tomorrow. Great chats!

Rory. I truly love listening to you but despite everything you have done I still don't think you realise how much you have. A milti millionaire, you can afford to do whatever you like. You seem to have a lovely family, your are an intellect but you will never be poor and despite where you have been you do not truly know what poverty and struggle is in the true sense. That said I have the utmost respect for everything you do and Bob Geldof

Thanks, nice to see Boorman talk about this great movie.

"Hey dear, I've analyzed your KZbin channel and see potential for improvement. Let's connect and discuss how to reach your goals."

Nobody wants to watch a 40 second intro.

Love to be able to send a Christmas card to John Boorman, what an exciting life he's led, & interesting listening to such a knowledgeable fella, I only make videos of Churches in Essex as a hobby, & survey the Ancient Yew Trees all of em in Essex, it's a world that so reminds me of King Arthur & Medival knights

A very interesting discussion.Many thanks.

Thank you both so much for this wonderful interview. What a great story with so much more to come hopefully? I wonder if Mr Wilson was a 'Sigma' male? There is much study into this currently.

Portrait of a Lady (@9:27); The Wasteland (@19:53)

"For Ezra Poundil miglior fabbro." ("the better craftsman").

This is a really great addition to film history. Well done!

Jeremy Iron's recitation of Elliot is Sublime..Search recitation by Jeremy Irons of some other Poems of Eliot and you will be rewarded.

Excellent! Thank you.

It's the way yeh say it. Wonderful!

Wonderful, as music! THANKS!

Very nice, but for goodness' sake, someone needs to teach Jeremy how to pronounce German.

Together, these superb artists have set the poem free to live in the air. Thrilling.

What a treat.

* Normal People

Absolute Joy!

Is Ed on cocaine? He looks a bit jittery

Was this them this week?? Or is this an older recording? 🦋 Edit: I’ve been listening to this for last 2 weeks and I’m in love, with them both and the reading.

Neato

I didn't realise that ye had a KZbin channel as well! Excellent, thanks for all this great content.

saw Dire Straits back in 1992 in Albany NY -- fantastic concert

Fantastic interview, thank you so much for the insights from a long way back! 👏🏻🎸💝

Wonderful interview! Thank you

were you able to get your Pellegrino during covid?

This is so cool

ah yes the lenny abrahamson, the director of ordinary people 💀

49:23 - 49:45 :O

very interesting discussion, joy to watch ;)

Ruth Wilson is sooooo underrated. love her

Cheers for this, out of interest does anyone know when this was recorded?

Thank you for this!!!

Thank you ,this was a very enjoyable and informative conversation.I hope we can hear these two very talented,articulate and eloquent men speak again soon.Thank you all at Borris House.