Stephen Jolly

Stephen Jolly (born 1960) is a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge;^[1] a Fellow of the Cambridge Judge Business School;^[2] and between 2005–13, served as Director of External Affairs & Communications for the University of Cambridge.^[3]

Career

A linguistic scientist, Jolly was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge where he took First Class Honours in English, was a Bachelor Scholar and College Prizeman, the University of Sussex and the University of British Columbia, Canada, where he held both a Commonwealth Scholarship and a Killam Fellowship^[4] in the late 1980s.

Jolly has a research interest in black propaganda and has published extensively on the topic, with particular reference to the work of British propagandist Sefton Delmer. His research was cited as evidence by the House of Commons Defence Select Committee in its Third Report on Information Operations in 2003-4.^[5] Jolly is also a member of the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar and as such, an associate of official MI5 historian, Professor Christopher Andrew.

A former instructor at the British Defence Intelligence & Security Centre, Chicksands, Jolly was a Visiting Fellow in Psychological Warfare at the International Centre for Security Analysis, Department of War Studies, King's College, London (1999–2002).^[6] Web sources link Jolly to Shadow, a precursor organisation to today's 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group. Until 2014, 15 (UK) Psyops Group sat within the British Army's Intelligence Corps but now forms part of 77 Brigade^[7][8][9] within HQ Force Troops Command.^[10][11] A certified psyops planner, Jolly is believed to be a leading member of the Black and White Club of British psychological warfare veterans as well as the holder of a 15 (UK) Psyops Group service award marking his contribution to the work of the Group.

Jolly is Honorary Captain of the Light Blue Volunteers, the Cambridge University Officers' Training Corps.^[12] He has been a Freeman of the City of London since 2000.

Recent developments

In 2013, Jolly became the UK's Director of Defence Communications (DDC), a 2* appointment at the Ministry of Defence.^[13] Jolly has made waves in military circles by driving forward a "full spectrum" approach to Defence communications, encompassing public relations, media operations, information operations and psyops.^[14] Defence commentators have dubbed this "post-Afghan reset" of communications the "Rainbow in the Dark" doctrine. It is an approach that has entailed the most radical shake-up in British Defence communications in more than thirty years.^[15]

In 2014, Jolly became Founder Chairman of the Cambridge alumni group, Clare in Whitehall^[16]

History

While Jolly's family history spans England, Canada and colonial East Africa, a recent study identifies his great-grandfather as an associate of Mansfield Cumming during the period when the foreign section of the Secret Service Bureau was being transformed into the Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 6 (MI6), thereby laying the foundations for today's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). During WW1, Sub-Lieutenant Jolly, a RNVR officer, is said to have enlivened his MI6 duties by writing for Tatler, the society magazine. Jolly was one of only five intelligence analysts employed by MI6 during those early years.^[17]

Articles

Articles published include:

• Who's Afraid of Viktor Shklovsky? On The Nature of Persuasion and the Work of an Unjustly Neglected Russian Formalist, Impact: The Magazine of the Association of Commonwealth Universities PR, Marketing and Communications Network, 6-7: No 11 (August 2011)

• We are all Marketeers Now, CAM: Cambridge University Alumni Magazine, 39: Issue 63 (Easter 2011)

• Crimes of Coercive Persuasion: Rectification under the Khmer Rouge, Falling Leaf: The Journal of the Psywar Society, 173, 52-55 (2001)

• Ungentlemanly Warfare: A Reassessment of British Black Propaganda Operations 1941-1945, Falling Leaf: The Journal of the Psywar Society, 171, 148-156; 172, 23-37 (2001)

• From SOB to I/OPs: The Unwritten History of British Black Propaganda 1947-97, Falling Leaf: The Journal of the Psywar Society, 171, 130-134 (2001)

• The Mardin Essay: Psychological Warfare and Public Relations, Frontline: The Global Public Relations Quarterly, 22 (4), 22-30 (2000)

• Wearing the Stag's Head Badge: British Combat Propaganda since 1945, Falling Leaf: The Journal of the Psywar Society, 170, 86-89 (2000)

• Morale Operations: The Cinderella of Covert Propaganda Operations?, Falling Leaf: The Journal of the Psywar Society, 170, 114-116 (2000)

• Understanding Body Language: Birdwhistell's Theory of Kinesics, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 5 (3), 133-139 (2000)

• Delmer's Maxims of Subversion: British Black Propaganda Techniques in WW2, Falling Leaf: The Journal of the Psywar Society, 169, 64-70 (2000)

• Text or Context: Östman's Theory of Persuasion, The Journal of Communication Management, 4 (2), 159-163 (1999)

• Corporate Advocacy in Public Affairs: Winning a Voice in the Marketplace of Ideas, International Public Relations Review, 21 (3), 10-13 (1999)

References