Tony Insall in conversation with Professor Sir David Omand
Event description:
Gilbert Insall holds a unique record: a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, he was the only person to have both won a Victoria Cross and also to have successfully escaped from a German prison camp during the First World War. He achieved that at the third attempt. The Madness of Courage describes the extent of the extraordinary determination, ingenuity, imagination and guile which he required to do so. In the course of helping to provide him with the escape materials he needed, his family were in touch with three different intelligence organisations, both British and French, which were just starting to assist Allied prisoners of war. Through their work, hitherto almost entirely unknown, we can trace the beginnings of MI9, which operated on a much larger scale during the Second World War.
The Madness of Courage | Biteback Publishing
Speaker's bio:
Tony Insall, Gilbert’s great nephew, spent more than thirty years in the British diplomatic service, serving in Nigeria, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Norway. He is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s.