Talk: The Allied Bombing of Venice

BTS Club × Revellers’ Club

A City in the Crosshairs – Discover “Operation Bowler”

Monday, 22nd September 2025

The Bridge Room (upstairs), 85 Albert Bridge, Battersea, SW11

We’re delighted to extend an exclusive invitation to BTSC guests, in collaboration with Revellers’ Club, for a truly fascinating evening… In the final months of WWII, the Allied forces faced an unthinkable dilemma: bomb Venice, or risk losing the war.

Would the Allies dare destroy one of the most beautiful cities in the world? What followed was Operation Bowler — a near-mythical RAF mission to strike German infrastructure with surgical precision, without laying a single bomb on Venice’s historic heart.

Join us for a captivating evening exploring this extraordinary operation, where strategy met restraint, and war came face to face with beauty. This is not your typical military history talk. It’s a story about what we choose to protect — and what it says about us.

Expect:

✦ A gripping, cinematic retelling of the mission that saved Venice

✦ The moral and political tensions at play in the final chapter of WWII

✦ A fun, relaxed, intelligent crowd to meet and enjoy a Monday evening with and add something different to your week!

Expect to hear:

• How Biffy smuggled the ENIGMA machine into Britain, changing the course of WWII

• Why he may have been one of Ian Fleming’s key inspirations for James Bond

• His connections to Polish Intelligence, OSS (the CIA’s forerunner), and the origins of the Special Relationship

• And tales of espionage in 1920s Paris, brothels, cabaret clubs, and codebreakers

Spicer will also speak about how intelligence work was shaped not only by strategy, but by charm, luck, and audacity — qualities Dunderdale had in spades.

This promises to be an unmissable evening of insight and company — a chance to learn, connect, and enjoy a different kind of Monday night.

📍Venue

The Bridge Room (upstairs), 85 Albert Bridge, Battersea, SW11

🕖 Schedule

Arrive from 7.00pm — Drinks at the bar

Talk begins at 7.30pm

Optional group dinner from 8.30pm (not included in ticket)

Book Tickets:

Apply to join us for this special one-off event BTSC × Revellers’ Club – Talk: The Allied Bombing of Venice on Monday, 22nd of September 2025

Early bird tickets until 7th September!