But what, I hear you ask, is MI9?
At the end of A Darker Breath Ben’s uncle tells him about his real job, explaining how he works for MI9 and how MI9 is allied to MI5 and MI6. I’m sure you have all heard of MI5 and MI6, especially if you have watched the later James Bond films, they even get a mention in the US based Mission Impossible films which mostly focus on the CIA and agents related to it. The MI6 building on the banks of the Thames in London is pretty iconic in shape and colour and features a fair bit in Skyfall (where it gets blown up) and then again as a ruin in Spectre.
In A Darker Breath Simon explains to Ben how MI9 was part of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) during World War Two. Well that is all perfectly true! MI9 was a vital branch of SIS, which was concerned with supporting resistance in occupied countries and aiding allied prisoners to escape internment camps where possible. At the end of the war there was no longer a need for the department and it was scrapped.
MI9 has seen its fair share of famous members during WWII. Three of the most famous were: Christopher 'Clutty' Hutton (1893-1965). Hutton was almost the original Q character from the James Bond series. He was known for his skill in inventing devices that would aid evasion or help escape by allied soldiers.
Airey Neave (1916-1979). Neave was the first officer to escape incarceration in Colditz and arrive back in the UK. On arrival home he was quickly recruited into MI9. After the war he entered politics and was assassinated by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) by a car bomb in the grounds of the Palace of Westminster.
Michael Bentine (1922-1996). Bentine was an MI9 worker at the same time as Airey Neave. He is perhaps better known as an actor and writer. He co-founded the long running The Goon Show and the children's show Michael Bentine's Potty Time.
Top left: Christopher Hutton. Middle and bottom left: Airey Neave. Right: Michael Bentine.
The MI before the numbers stands for Military Intelligence and the departments ran from MI1 through to MI19, with the exceptions of MI13 (perhaps some top brass were superstitious) and MI18. Departments MI1-10 were initially set up in World War One and the departments were expanded to 19 in the Second World War.
Today only MI5 and MI6 remain, the other department’s having been either disbanded or merged into MI5 and 6.
For the purposes of the Ben Weir series I have resurrected MI9 as an extremely covert setup. In many ways MI5 and 6 are so well known now that they are almost the public face of spying, well…MI9 isn’t. Consequently, where MI5 and MI6 have to be seen to be behaving within the boundaries of international law…MI9 doesn’t. This should give me a lot of scope to send Ben off on adventures where there are very few limits to what he can get up to in order to make his mission succeed.
In deciding where to site MI9 I needed somewhere that was obscure, but had a lot of space if needed. It had to be central London based and not too far from MI5 and MI6 since there is a degree of liaison between them.
Hiding MI9 from view wasn’t too tough a call. I decided to put it underground; after all it’s an underground intelligence division, so it made sense to put it physically underground. What’s already in existence underneath London – the tube system! There are so many disused and derelict components to the tube system, from entire stations to abandoned tunnels, that it was an ideal site.
I settled on using the old British Museum station as the base. The tube station was permanently closed in 1933 after being superseded by Holborn station nearby. The station building above ground was demolished and replaced by commercial premises in 1989, but the underground part is still there. So with a bit of author’s ad lib I have redesigned the underground areas and ended up with MI9 HQ. Have a look at the photo below and imagine going into what first appears to be a bank/bulding society, but if you have the right credentials you know how to get below ground level, and a whole new world opens up before you once you are deep in MI9 HQ.
I did consider using Down Street tube station in London’s Mayfair district. Winston Churchill and the war cabinet used this as a shelter during World War Two before the Cabinet War Rooms had been completed. It would have been good to site MI9’s HQ in a place with that sort of history, but in the end I decided on the British Museum tube station. I think I can have a bit more fun with that part of London. Maybe an escape route that comes up in the middle of the British Museum!
However, you never know, I might be able to bring Down Street into play as well, I’m still thinking on that one as I create and add to Ben Weir’s MI9 London.
At the moment Ben fits a certain character type; privileged background, boarding school, good education, bright, lots of opportunities open to him, but I plan for that to gradually change as Ben learns what real life, and the world outside his comfortable sphere, is all about.
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