Bristol Radical History Group and Bookhaus are delighted to present Professor Rory Cormac speaking about his new book Fakers, a history of Britain’s little known governmental disinformation and propaganda unit, the Information Research Department.

Published in May 2026, Fakers: a top-secret tale of phantoms and forgeries on the disinformation front line is based on 8,000 recently declassified documents and covers the Information Research Department’s covert work countering communism from the 1950s to its demise in 1977. It offers important insight into current questions of countering disinformation and in conceptualising Black Propaganda more widely.

Professor Cormac’s international archival research provides insight into how the IRD’s targets and recipients perceived British propaganda and the process by which propaganda was developed, highlighting the role of local and regional actors in places like Sub-Saharan Africa. He highlights reveals the importance of individuals in propaganda, giving voice to the under-represented junior officials at the IRD, which included refugees and women.

The event is free, but please book your place in advance. Professor Cormac’s talk will be followed by a Q&A with the audience, chaired by BRHG’s Rosie Wild who has researched the IRD’s domestic connections with Britain’s secret SDS spycops unit. Presented by bookhaus.

Rory Cormac is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Nottingham and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He writes about covert operations and secret statecraft, and is the author or co-author of six books, including How to Stage a Coup (2022), Disrupt and Deny (2018), and The Secret Royals (2021). He has presented television documentaries aired in the UK, US, and Australia, his research and commentary writing have featured in media outlets worldwide including The Spectator, and he has testified before UK and Australian parliamentary inquiries on subversion, disinformation, and electoral interference.

Rosie Wild is Secretary of the Bristol Radical History Group and co-author of the ‘“Secret and delicate sources”: British Black Power, Counter-subversion and undercover policing’ in In Solidarity, Under Suspicion: the British far left from 1956 (Manchester University Press, 2025)