Art historian, professor, writer, spy – the extraordinary story of Anthony Blunt

In November 1979, Margaret Thatcher exposed the distinguished art historian Anthony Blunt as a former Soviet spy - part of the infamous Cambridge Spy Ring who traded secrets with Moscow during the Second World War. Blunt’s unmasking provoked a media outcry that turned him into a national hate figure. In this 10-Minute Talk, President of the British Academy David Cannadine discusses the background to this extraordinary story. And he reveals how the British Academy itself got caught up in the public furore, leading to a showdown at its Annual General Meeting forty years ago this month, on the question of whether Blunt should be expelled from its membership.

'A Question of Retribution? The British Academy and the Matter of Anthony Blunt', edited by David Cannadine: https://global.oup.com/academic/produ...

Speaker: Professor Sir David Cannadine PBA, President, British Academy; Dodge Professor of History, Princeton University

The world’s leading professors explain the latest thinking in the humanities and social sciences in just 10 minutes.

10-Minute Talks are a new series of pre-recorded talks from Fellows of the British Academy screened each Wednesday, 13:00-13:10, on YouTube. Our speakers will be available between 13:10 and 13:30 on the day of their talk to answer questions in the YouTube comments section (questions can be added to the YouTube comments section or sent via email: [email protected]).

Subtitles, also known as closed captions, are available on our YouTube videos. You can access them by clicking on the 'CC' button or gear icon on the video. The 'CC' button and gear icon are usually located at the bottom of videos.

For a transcript of this talk, visit our website:
https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/p...

Find out more about the British Academy: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/
For future events, visit our website: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/e...
Subscribe to our email newsletter: https://email.thebritishacademy.ac.uk...




Image: Anthony Blunt at a press conference, 20th November 1979 © Central Press / Stringer / Hulton Archive / Getty Images