I read Stella Rimmington’s book a couple of weeks ago, and must say that I’m a little disappointed by it. I don’t think it’s the best written book that I’ve ever read, and somehow it doesn’t really deliver. I know we were never going to get lots of operational detail, but something a little more would have been nice.
The one thing I did learn was that MI5 used to have buildings all over the West End. This lead to me and some of the guys at work scanning rooftops and trying to establish what a nearby building which seems empty might be. Having pretty much convinced ourselves that it was an operational building for the security services, it turns out that Trenchard House was a police section house until it was closed down a year or so ago. (This would explain the “This Section House is Now Closed” notice on the door). And it would also explain the large antenna on the roof, that our station engineer said was definitely not a mobile mast.