The Minutes of Sir Richard Dearlove on fiction https://minutesof.com/richard-dearlove/on/fiction/ Everything Sir Richard Dearlove has said on fiction: 2 verbatim quotes from July 2022, each with a timestamp and a link to the recording it came from. en Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:12:13 +0000 Dearlove says MI6 was formally established in 1909 because of scaremongering from fictional spy thrillers. https://minutesof.com/q/7791ba7d-96a6-4307-92a5-25178e1bf602/ https://minutesof.com/q/7791ba7d-96a6-4307-92a5-25178e1bf602/ “And actually, it's because of that scaremongering, if you look at the historical record, that MI6 was started in 1900 It had been a section of specifically naval intelligence before that, and then it was formalized into a separate organization.” — Hoover Institution Wed, 06 Jul 2022 20:21:01 +0000 fiction Dearlove states MI6 was founded in 1909 partly due to scaremongering from fictional spy novels. https://minutesof.com/q/543c65f6-02a6-4cb4-9b49-e20274c7ab15/ https://minutesof.com/q/543c65f6-02a6-4cb4-9b49-e20274c7ab15/ “it's because of that scaremongering, if you look at the historical record, that MI6 was started in 1900 It had been a section of specifically naval intelligence before that, and then it was formalized into a separate organization. So its origins are tied up, strangely, with a certain amount of fiction.” — Hoover Institution Wed, 06 Jul 2022 20:21:01 +0000 fiction