The Information Research Department, founded in 1948 by Christopher Mayhew MP, was a department of the British Foreign Office set up to counter Soviet propaganda and infiltration, particularly amongst the western labour movement.
The Soviet Union was fully aware of its existence as Guy Burgess had been posted to IRD for a period of two months in 1948 before being sacked by Mayhew for being "dirty, drunk and idle."
Read more about Information Research Department: Origins, Staff, Propaganda, Controversy, Orwell's List, Closure
Famous quotes containing the words information, research and/or department:
“I believe it has been said that one copy of The Times contains more useful information than the whole of the historical works of Thucydides.”
—Richard Cobden (1804–1865)
“The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is “What does a woman want?””
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“In the great department store of life, baseball is the toy department.”
—Los Angeles Sportscaster. quoted in Independent Magazine (London, Sept. 28, 1991)