The Pub Landlord star, 58, said his paternal grandfather, celebrated diplomat and journalist Ralph Murray, was involved in high-profile operations
Comedian Al Murray has confessed that his grandfather was ‘probably’ a James Bond-style spy and was ‘involved in all sorts of murky stuff’.
The Pub Landlord star, 58, said his paternal grandfather, celebrated diplomat and journalist Ralph Murray, was involved in high-profile operations involving international governments and dictators.
He said he ‘probably’ continued his secretive work while working under the guise of being a BBC journalist.
But Murray also admitted that he knew him as a ‘benign grandfather rather than this fellow in a trilby with a briefcase full of secrets’ while he was growing up.
He told the Rosebud podcast: “My grandfather was born in 1937. He was immediately recruited into the Foreign Office when the war began and went to work for SO1, which was adjacent to the Special Operations Executive.
“He then went to the Political Warfare Executive who did black radio, propaganda, message controlling to occupied Europe and Germany.”
He added sarcastically: “People working for the Secret Service and the BBC and the same time? That never happened.”
He continued: “No – I think he probably was. People at the Political Warfare Executive were working at BBC, and Fleet Street and this propaganda outfit at the same time.
“There was great cross-pollination. But then he was also involved in getting Tito on side in Alexandria and all that sort of stuff.
“He also went to Athens in 1944 with Churchill and Macmillan to install an anti-communist Greek government. He was involved in all sorts of murky stuff.
“He died when I was 13 or 14 so I knew him, but as this sort of benign grandfather rather than this fellow in a trilby with a briefcase full of secrets.”