Education, Intelligence and Cultural Diplomacy at the British Council in Madrid, 1940–1941 Part 2: Shock Troops in the War of Ideas

Abstract

In 1940, the British Council founded its first Spanish branch by launching a new school for children as well as a rich cultural programme to counter Nazi and Fascist propaganda in Madrid. Secretly, it also supported the British Intelligence Services’ wartime effort. Based on new sources, the current article (the second in a two-part series) examines these activities in the early 1940s. It also brings to light the crucial contribution of the Council’s first representative in Spain, Walter Starkie. No other British Hispanist has played the role of cultural diplomat in Spain with such great practical significance.