Lambasted by the Soviets as 'a spy school', the Joint Services School for Linguists - JSSL - was a major Cold War initiative, which pushed 5,000 young National Servicemen through intensive training as Russian translators and interpreters, primarily to meet the needs of Britain's intelligence operations.
Over its nine-year life the JSSL operated from military camps in Surrey, Cornwall and Scotland, and special enclaves created at Cambridge and London Universities. As an observer commented, 'no school before or since has been so exacting on its pupils'.
In 'Secret Classrooms', Geoffrey Elliot and Harold Shukman reveal the School's fascinating story for the first time. Both former JSSL students, they have drawn on many personal recollections and interviews with contemporaries, as well as once highly classified documents in the Public Record Office and the archive of one of the scheme's main architects.
