Scamfluencers - Listen Now: The Spy Who

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

These are stories you were never meant to hear. The invisible but vital work of the world’s intelligence services: secret operatives playing to very different rules. The Spy Who, hosted by Indira Varma and Raza Jaffrey, takes you deep inside that shadow world to meet spies who risked everything in the national interest – or, sometimes, their own.Search and follow The Spy Who wherever you listen to podcasts, or binge entire seasons early and ad-free on Wondery+ on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Beneath the veneer of the everyday lurks the realm of the spy. It's a dank, murky world full of dark corners, sinister motives, and corroded morals. From Wundery comes a new podcast, The Spy Who, revealing the invisible work of the world's intelligence services, unearthing daring missions packed with danger, deceit, and double crosses. Each season, hosts in Deer of Armor and Raza Jaffrey introduce shadowy figures who risk everything to achieve their mission. Like Oleg Lyolin, The Spy Who Sabotaged the KGB, or Nur Anayat Khan, The Spy Who Was a Princess. We're about to play you a clip from the first season, exploring the life of The Spy Who Inspired 007. If you'd like to hear more, follow the Spy Who wherever you listen to podcasts.

Or you can binge full seasons early and add free with Wondery Plus on Apple podcasts or the Wondery app. Dushko Popov wakes from his alcohol-drenched slumber. Gestapo, open up. It's 1937, and Popov's studying law in Freiburg, Nazi Germany. Open up. Popov drags himself out of bed. He's in his mid-20s with short black hair.

Yawning, he unlocks the door. Four Gestapo officers barge past. One confronts Popov as the others ransack his flat. Dusko Popov, you are under arrest. On what charge? The Gestapo officer punches Popov in the stomach. Popov crumples under the blow. Before he can recover, two officers grab him. They drag him outside to a waiting car, throw him into the vehicle's boot and slam the door shut.

Popov snaps awake as cold water hits his face. He's tied to a chair in a Gestapo interrogation room and he's been there for days. Popov's interrogator tosses the metal bucket aside and leans in close. Admit it. You're a communist. That's ridiculous. You can't think... Listen, my father, he owns coal mines and factories. Why would I support communism? But I'm a Yugoslav citizen and I want a lawyer. The interrogator takes a step back. If you're not a communist, why are you dating one? Communism! But I'm a Yugoslav citizen and I want a lawyer.

The interrogator takes a step back. If you're not a communist, why are you dating one? Popov smirks. Because she's pretty. The interrogator's face flashes with anger. A split second later, Popov sees his fist, hurtling towards his face. A train blasts its whistle as it thunders through the Swiss Alps. On the road running alongside the tracks, a Mercedes burns rubber.

The man at the wheel checks he's keeping up with the train. He's Johnny Yebsen, Popov's best friend. He's a wealthy German with a pencil moustache, and he's on a rescue mission. Yebsen screeches to a halt outside Basel train station, just as Popov exits the station. Duško! Popov exits the station. Dushko! Popov runs over.

Johnny, what are you doing here? We can't have you taking a taxi after all you've been through. But how did you know I'd be here? The ebbs and smiles. Who do you think got you out? I got wind that you'd been arrested and called your father. He got the Yugoslav government to step in. Popov climbs into the passenger seat. They were going to ship me out to a concentration camp.

Well, you're here now. No, seriously. I thought I was done. Don't be silly. I owe you. Good. You can pay for dinner. I'm being serious. I owe you. Good. You can pay for dinner. I'm being serious. I owe you.

Yebsen smiles. He won't forget that promise. And when he calls it in, Popov will be transformed into one of the greatest secret agents of World War II. ["The Spider-Man"] From Wondery, I'm Indra Vama, and this is The Spy Who. Beneath the veneer of the everyday lurks the realm of the spy. It's a dark, dangerous world full of shadowy corners, sinister motives, and corrupted morals. A place of paranoia and infiltration, sabotage, and manipulation. Every week, the spy who will take you inside that twilight realm.

You'll hear true stories about the work of the world's intelligence services and follow spies on daring missions packed with danger, deceit and double crosses. And we begin by retrieving the files on Dusko Popov. He's a Serbian playboy who outfoxed Nazi Germany while living a life full of cocktails, women, and casinos. And he also helped inspire the most famous fictional spy of all time, James Bond. What you're about to hear are dramatised reconstructions

based on real events and the information that's been made public. But remember, in the shadow realm of the Spy, the full story is rarely clear. This is the Spy Who Inspired 007. Episode 1 – A Friend Among Foes