Sue Elliot to Talk About Female Agents in World War Two
Giving lecture at next meeting of the local Historical Association
Elaine Madden
April 29, 2025
The next meeting of the Ealing Branch of the Historical Association will feature a talk by Sue Elliot on Elaine Madden and other women who went into enemy territory in World War Two.
It is taking place on Tuesday 13 May at 7:30pm-9pm, at Ealing Green Church (W5 5QT).
The writer will talk about the enduring fascination of the women recruited to the wartime Special Operations Executive to operate behind German lines, with particular reference to one little-known agent courier, the subject of Sue’s dramatised biography ‘I Heard My Country Calling: Elaine Madden Unsung Heroine of the SOE’.
After a career in television programme policy and regulation, Sue has over two decades, collaborated with film-maker Steve Humphries on many TV and book projects on 20th century oral history. She has written, among other subjects, about both World Wars, adoption, the Aberfan disaster and the experience of gay men in the struggle for homosexual equality. She has just completed ‘Trent Park: House of Secrets’, a book on the North London country estate with a unique 20th century history. Sue lives on Ealing’s Brentham Garden Estate where she is a former Chair of the Brentham Society.
All are welcome to attend . Members pay £15 per annum and for visitors a donation of £5 per talk is suggested with no payment expected from students.
Meetings are usually held on the second Tuesday of each month at Ealing Green Church at 7.30pm, with the exception of the November meeting which takes place at Twyford School at 6.30pm. Talks are live events but with the speaker’s permission the association aims to make a recording available afterwards to those registering on Eventbrite (the booking link will be available on the society's website one month in advance of each talk).
Programme to June 2025
10 June - Dr Ismini Pells, Oxford Department for Continuing Education, ‘Maimed Soldiers, War Widows and the Human Cost of the English Civil Wars: stories from the Civil War Petitions project’
For more details of the association’s programme of talks for the coming season visit its web site.
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