The extraordinary true story of the Jewish sailor from Cheetham Hill whose smuggling innovation gave rise to the modern drug trade.

Join historian and author David Tuch, in conversation with BBC travel writer Dan Stables, as they uncover the astonishing true story of Tuch’s cousin, Harold Derber, a debonair Jewish sailor from Cheetham Hill who helped shape the modern narcotics trade.

The story traces Derber’s journey from growing up in wartime Manchester to the Battle of the Atlantic, the Arab–Israeli War, the Cuban refugee crisis, and the dawn of Latin American drug trafficking. Drawing on newly uncovered archives, declassified intelligence files, firsthand interviews and MJMs own archive Tuch reveals how this unlikely figure pioneered the “mothership” smuggling model, triggering an explosion of marijuana imports into America and secretly sparking America’s War on Drugs.

Signed copies of Dr. Tuch’s book, The Wireless Operator, will be available for purchase, with all proceeds from book sales and tickets being donated to Manchester Jewish Museum.

About the Speaker
David Tuch, PhD, explores the hidden histories of organized crime and espionage. The Wireless Operator (Icon Books, 2025) is his nonfiction debut. Originally from New York, he has lived in England and France, and now makes his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife and four children.

The age guidance for this talk is 18+.