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Masters of disinformation: how British spies played dirty in the Cold War

Rory Cormac tells the story of the mavericks charged with running a black propaganda campaign to disrupt and discredit Britain's Cold War adversaries

• Spencer Mizen

Published: June 12, 2026 at 11:41 AM

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They 'haunted' an Indonesian general with a talking ghost and planted fake hippies in a Bulgarian youth festival. But did they change the course of the Cold War? Rory Cormac introduces Spencer Mizen to the comically absurd – and dangerously controversial – tactics deployed by a group of misfits and mavericks charged with raining down confusion on Britain's adversaries in the 1950s and 60s.

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Hear more from Rory Cormac on the HistoryExtra podcast, listen to him discussing Queen Victoria's spy network here

Authors

Spencer MizenSenior production editor

Spencer is senior production editor of HistoryExtra magazine

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