For the first time in nearly 1,000 years, the Bayeux Tapestry has left France. The 11th-century embroidery reached London’s British Museum after a covert, high-security transfer, carried overnight by truck and train in a climate-controlled, vibration-dampening crate. Measuring 230 feet long and stitched in wool thread on linen, the tapestry tells the story of events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Although historians believe it was made in England, it was sent to Duke William of Normandy's half-brother in France, where it remained for centuries. British officials had sought a loan since the 1950s, but France had refused over concerns about the work’s fragility. French President Emmanuel Macron approved the loan in 2018 as a gesture of trust and friendship. The tapestry will be shown in London from Sept. 10, 2026, to July 11, 2027.
Berlin’s spy story begins long before the Cold War. In the 19th century, Wilhelm Stieber helped pioneer political intelligence gathering in Prussia, building files on radicals, using informants, and later sending journalists into Austria as part of a spy network backed by Otto von Bismarck.
After World War I, German military intelligence hired a young Adolf Hitler to monitor a fringe political group in Munich. The assignment became something else entirely, as Hitler joined the group, took control, and turned it into the Nazi Party. The city soon drew other players into its shadows. Martha Dodd, the daughter of America’s ambassador to Germany, arrived in 1933 with sympathy for Berlin’s social scene and some of its Nazi figures. Over time, she became an anti-Nazi and passed information to Soviet intelligence.
By the Cold War, Berlin had become a daily proving ground for spies. British liaison officers crossed into East Germany, watched Soviet forces, and risked capture behind the Iron Curtain. Join series producer Joe Foley in this week’s podcast selection, ‘Brief Histories: Spy Cities - Berlin,’ to unravel the espionage history of the German capital.
Take on immersive games and challenges at SPYGAMES! Test your team's skills and strategy, compete to climb the leaderboards, and recharge with food and drink in your own private space hosted by a dedicated staff member.
Book your next team social.
Take on immersive games and challenges at SPYGAMES! Test your team's skills and strategy, compete to climb the leaderboards, and recharge with food and drink in your own private space hosted by a dedicated staff member.
The Q Type is a personality type, like Myers-Briggs or the Enneagram, except yours comes from how you actually behave under pressure, not just how you answer questions about yourself. Developed with top spy trainers and leading psychologists, it maps your strengths, decision-making style, and hidden potential.
Are you the Agent Handler Q Type? Agent Handlers are employed by intelligence agencies to recruit and run agents — people willing to help the service, but not on the payroll. Running an agent means cultivating trust, recruiting carefully, and managing them through risk. Find out what type of spy you'd be at SPYSCAPE.
Number Six has noticed a network of surveillance mechanisms hidden throughout The Village, where he remains a prisoner. After months of covert observation, he has determined the angles and limits of these mechanisms... and discovered what he believes is a hidden entrance to a secret escape route which the mechanisms are intended to monitor!
But every move risks being caught. Follow the clues in this week's SPYSCAPE crossword.
Visit London Transport Museum this summer – Kids go free
Enjoy family activities exploring the electrical innovations that have powered London’s public transport for more than one hundred years. All family activities are free with Museum admission, which includes 12 months' entry from the date of purchase.
Visit London Transport Museum this summer – Kids go free
Enjoy family activities exploring the electrical innovations that have powered London’s public transport for more than one hundred years. All family activities are free with Museum admission, which includes 12 months' entry from the date of purchase.
Babies may recognize music months before they begin moving along to it. In a new study, published in the journal eLife, researchers measured infant brain activity and body movements simultaneously. Babies aged 3, 6, and 12 months were played children’s songs and then scrambled versions of the same tracks.
The melodic versions elicited stronger brain responses across all age groups, including babies as young as 3 months. That points to an early sensitivity to musical structure, even before the body joins in. By 12 months, the response had become more physical. Those babies moved more to the melodic songs, swaying, rocking, and clapping as they listened. Researchers say the shift may be linked to the maturation of the dorsal auditory stream, a brain pathway involved in speech and rhythm.
Try brain-teasing challenges at SPYSCAPE and pulse-racing fun in SPYGAMES.
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