Blaise Metreweli (PA Images / Alamy) 10 min read1 hr For the first time in the history of the Secret Intelligence Service, a woman has been ordained at its altar of power, signifying a major cultural shift in Britain’s foreign intelligence service. Historian Claire Hubbard-Hall explores why it took so long for life to imitate art Back in 1995, the Bond film franchise was shaken and stirred when Dame Judi Dench made her debut as the bourbon-drinking spymaster M in GoldenEye. In a tense first exchange with Pierce Brosnan’s 007, the Bond matriarch declared: “I think you are a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War.” This statement obliterated the popular perception of the female spy. The image of the scantily clad honeypot was blown away, and the professional female intelligence officer took centre stage. Eon Productions’ refreshing decision to address the sexism in this bastion of on-screen British intelligence was inspired by the appointment of the first woman to head a UK intelligence agency, and it wasn’t SIS. In 1992, …