A former MI6 intelligence officer has revealed how his job was so secretive, he couldn’t even tell his family about it.

Matthew Dunn was recruited to the Secret Intelligence Service in 1996 by a talent spotter whilst studying politics and economics at the University of East Anglia.

During his career with MI6, Mr Dunn operated alone in hostile locations around the world, targeting some of the highest-ranking figures in rogue states.

For a while, he even had to keep his loved ones in the dark about his high-risk profession and couldn’t even tell them what he was doing.

Mr Dunn said: ‘In the vetting process what they ask you to do is give them a list of people you’ve known in past and present – family, employers, anyone.

‘I do remember having to tell my parents that I was a diplomat until I was given them authority to say otherwise.

‘I bumped into my mother one day and I had to improvise. She quite naturally would say let’s meet for lunch near Whitehall and I had to bluff the whole thing!’

At the peak of his career, he had 14 aliases.

‘It means you need to be that person – or as much that person as possible to withstand a degree of scrutiny.

‘For example at entry and exit of ports – where one can naturally be questioned.’

The former MI6 spy said he didn’t only use a fake name but had to reinvent his entire identity – from his education to even type of beer he said he drank at his local pub.

To make things even more confusing, he used many of his alter egos at the same time.

‘In operations – it’s not like you see in the movies, your aliases overlap, not just one at a time,’ he said.

‘I might be juggling and moving between operations and identities.’

Mr Dunn said many people join the service after being picked up by talent spotters.

He said: ‘I think deep down, the ability to do it is within the individual.

‘MI6 are recruiting spies before they are spies,’ adding: ‘MI6 approached you, not the other way round.’

Before joining the secret service he discussed his love of spy fiction – including John Le Carré novels – with his university professor.

‘He asked me what I envisaged doing after graduation and as a youngster I was very interested in books and I encountered spy fiction.

‘Later on, he finally said there was some people in London he’d like me to meet and I said, “Of course.”

‘I met the aforementioned people and their opening question was, “Do you know who you’re talking to?” and I said, “Yes, you’re MI6.”

‘Afterwards I went through rigorous testing and interviews.

‘If at any point I didn’t pass, that was it.’

Reflecting on his job, he said: ‘Espionage by nature is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world – it always carries that threat.

‘That was a given – it’s illegal in most countries around the world, including ours, yet here we are all playing the game.

‘My personal experience of operating was that I was always aware of that threat, but on occasion it was thrust in my face and I can’t go into anymore detail on that.’

Whilst Matthew naturally cannot discuss details of operations – protected under the official secrets act – he revealed that he rarely felt fear, even when he ‘should have.’

Mr Dunn’s work saw him commended by the then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for an operation that significantly enhanced the security of Great Britain and its allies.

Now a bestselling author and security expert, the former MI6 operative is launching a stage production aimed at thrusting audiences into life at an SIS command centre in a high-stakes operation.

The upcoming show will soon begin a run of 70 dates at venues across the country.

‘Audiences, whether theatre or movies, have this sense of the way of life of MI6 but we knew to a large extent that is a heavily fictionalised version’, Mr Dunn said.

‘We want to make it rooted in reality and what’s going on now – to show how it would actually be conducted.

‘We thought it would be great on a stage – right up close and personal, to make the audience part of the experience.’

You can buy tickets to Matthew’s show here.

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