87years (December 9, 1934) Reuters. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. She had evaded detection by playing the dutiful housewife and mother. She had been working for five years in the general office of the British Non Ferrous Metals Research Association in Euston, North London when her career in espionage first began. I just wanted Russia to be on equal footing with the West, she told the media crowding at her front door in 1999 after being publicly exposed, before politely closing it. All she was doing was trying to help people it wasnt selfish.. We see Joan struggle with the Communist Party she is dropped into thanks to the company she keeps. The elderly woman exposed as the longest-serving Soviet spy in Britain was a fresh-faced 25-year-old when her political idealism first drove her into spying for the Soviet Union. It seemed as if she'd got away with it all - and there was a lot to get away with. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Geoffrey Levy for MailOnline When her activities became publicly known in 1999, Norwood had said: "I did what I did not to make money, but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had, at great cost, given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, a good education and a health service. Melita was thirty-eight years of age and Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday. As early as 1938, she was nearly caught by the British. [10] [9] It premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. She told the newspaper that ''in the same circumstances, I know that I would do the same thing again.''. Over a period of 35 years, she had been a spy for the KGB, passing on Britains nuclear secrets that enabled the Soviet Union to catch up in building the atomic bomb. "'I Gave Bomb Secrets to Russia So It Could Stand Up to the West.'" . She took top-secret documents from the Tube Alloys project - the cover name for the nuclear weapons programme - copied them and passed them to her KGB handlers. The couple's daughter, Anita Ferguson, 56, a biologist living in Staffordshire, said she learned of her mother's activity from the newspaper report on Saturday. At first she's unsure, but then we see her give in because she wants an even playing field between Russian and the USA. The grandmother was 87 and living in a semi-detached house in Garden Avenue when she was first unmasked in an . Melita Norwood was a woman in her eighties who had been a dutiful wife and mother, but she was also Russia's most effective spy - going undetected for nearly 40 years. Shes a very good person, very strong and totally unmaterialistic.. From World War II through the Cold War, she stole nuclear secrets from the office where she worked as a secretary and. Her name has been changed and the story sexed up, but there is no doubt it is based on unlikely operative Norwood. She was only a secretary.. June 2, 2005 For her part, Lette Norwood didnt allow exposure of her treachery to ruin her Morning Star delivery routine, which continued uninterrupted. Sat 2 Jul 2005 21.01 EDT. Red Joan is a 2018 film very loosely inspired by Norwood's life, starring Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson. "When she became politically active in the 1930s, Russia was seen by many people as the only nation capable of defeating the Nazis. ''I thought, 'Who is this nutter?' Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. She began her spying career in the 1930s while working as a secretary for the Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association in London. I remember her talking to me once about Karl Marx. Agent Hola's time was up. I certainly didn't.". MI5 worked out who Hola was in 1992, soon after Soviet defector Mitrokhin arrived in Britain with his KGB file. She wasnt like the Cambridge Five, who courted disaster. The cause of death was not disclosed. She was, in many ways, the perfect spy, living during most of her long years of treason in a pebble-dash semi in Bexleyheath, South-East London, with her maths and chemistry teacher husband Hilary, growing fresh vegetables in her back garden allotment and bringing up their daughter Anita. Journalism strengthens democracy. "In general I do not agree with spying against one's country.". Melita Norwood, now called Joan Stanley, is played by two actors. It became clear later, when Pavel Sudoplatov of the Russian Ministry of State Security admitted it was 'sources' from Great Britain that helped with such problems, that it was Norwood who gave them the final puzzle piece. Home Secretary Jack Straw has asked Britain's internal Security Service, M.I.5, for a full report on the case, but a Home Office spokeswoman said today that the Government would have no comment on the other names emerging. Anita Ferguson, the daughter of Melita Norwood, "has spoken of her distress at discovering the double life led by her mother throughout her childhood." Rose, David. She didnt draw attention to herself. Melita Stedman Norwood (ne Sirnis; 25 March 1912 - 2 June 2005) was a British civil servant, Communist Party of Great Britain member and KGB spy. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. It was a terrible shock. One was in his office and the other at his London home. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. anita ferguson daughter of melita norwood About; FAQ; Contacts; Location Pada tahun 2013, penulis Jennie Rooney telah menerbitkan sebuah novel berjudul Red Joan, berdasarkan kisah kehidupan Norwood. The reality is that Norwood was devoted to her husband, who she nursed through liver cancer up to his death in 1986. It also offered her a pension of 20 a month. Behind this dull company name was an important firm involved in vital research. Burke, who later wrote The Spy Who Came In From the Co-op: Melita Norwood and the Ending of Cold War Espionage, noted that Norwood kept repeating I thought Id got away with it. Yet as Burke wrote, she actually did get away with it: even after her outing, the government still declined to prosecute her. She was lovely, a pure lady, says Sheila Howell, who was a neighbour for more than 20 years. Jennie Rooneys book Red Joan is inspired by the story she found but isnt based on the true story, there are quite a few differences between the two. Norwood's daughter, Anit Through all those years, her husband, a fellow Communist Party member who died in 1985, knew she was spying for the KGB. ''I would not have liked to have kept such a secret.''. Close. Date of death. Explaining her motive, Mrs. Norwood said, ''I thought perhaps what I had access to might be useful in helping Russia to keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany.'' Secrets of Bletchley Park: How codebreakers paved way for World War 2 victory, Ex-spy killing 'linked to unsolved murder of Brit family in the Alps', Novichok victim Charlie Rowley asks Putin's man 'did you kill my girlfriend? She removed items from her boss' safe, photographing details and sending them on to the Soviets, as is seen in the film. There were calls to prosecute the granny traitor, but the secret services did not want the details of their failure to come out at trial. what happened to melita norwood. Jack Straw, then Britain's home secretary, said in 1999 that superiors had become suspicious of Norwood in the 1940s. Her handler described her as a loyal, trustworthy, disciplined agent who passed to the KGB a large amount of vital data. Get email updates with the day's biggest stories. Then in 1932, Norwood, now 20, began work in the clerical department of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (BN-FMRA). You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won't be billed. Universitas Southampton. These documents revealed Norwoods espionage, but British officials kept it secret because they didnt think there was enough evidence to prosecute. Indeed, so trusted was Lette that she had access to Baileys two safes. 2023 Getty Images. Although her father died when she was six, the family still held Left-wing views which the bright child absorbed from an early age. Melita Norwood. Her bookbinder father was a Latvian immigrant and Left-wing activist whose slogan was Down with everything thats up, and up with everything thats down. In the same circumstances I know that I would do the same thing again., Christy Dignam's daughter Kiera breaks silence after devastating health update, Farmer, 71, killed by one of his own cows in farm horror, Major 200 energy credit update as Ryan delivers shock boost for households, People only realising huge Chinese takeaway hack - its a game changer, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. After that, although she wasnt arrested, she found she was no longer getting access to confidential material.. When she was finally unmasked, confessing in her garden, the public called for her to be prosecuted but Home Secretary Jack Straw ruled that dragging such an old woman into court would be inappropriate. A . In 1996, the government decided that the information in the Mitrokhin papers should be available to the public, and handed them over to the Cambridge professor Christopher Andrew so he could write a book about them. I thought perhaps what I had access to might be useful in helping Russia to keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany. She added that, in general, I do not agree with spying against one's country.. five years later, saying only, ''Somebody said that my work might be an interesting source of material.'' When the spy was eventually unmasked half a century later in 1999, the identity came as a huge shock. The girl who had become bored with university life at Southampton after only a year was soon being promoted from clerk to secretary. But a male superior dismissed her tip because he didnt think women could be good spies (in 1940, he fired Maund for accusing him of incompetence). 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. They had one daughter: Anita Ferguson (born Norwood). Asked if she had ever been frightened of being caught, she said, ''I suppose so, but I can't remember pondering it.''. Her mother still remained part of the Left-wing political scene, influencing young Norwood who then joined the CPGB. melita norwood daughter, anita fergusonhot wheels mystery car code list melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson. It was her refusal to get drawn into the glamorous side of being a mole, unlike Philby from the Cambridge University set, that allowed Norwood to evade detection. In the interview with The Times of London, she said that her husband, Hilary, a mathematics teacher who died in 1986, shared her Communist ideology but disapproved of her actively aiding the Russians. '', At Dillons Newsagents, Peter Dodd, the assistant manager, said he had been surprised years ago when he first saw her orders for Communist publications. But the unremarkable but highly intelligent office worker would pass those secrets to Moscow via clandestine meetings with Russian agents. Her KGB file gave her a glowing review calling her "committed, reliable and disciplined agent, striving to be of the utmost assistance. When everything she had done came out in the newspapers her neighbours were stunned. All Rights Reserved. If you want to learn more about this . 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By This afternoon she strolled in her garden at the request of photographers but refused to answer any questions. Melita Stedman Norwood (ne Sirnis) (25 March 1912 - 2 June 2005) was a British civil servant and KGB intelligence source who, for a period of about 40 years following her recruitment in 1937, supplied the KGB (and its predecessor agencies) with state secrets from her job at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association . Melita Norwood: The Soviet Union's Longest-Serving British Spy 220,739 views Mar 20, 2020 7K Dislike Share Save Biographics 2.08M subscribers Check out Business Blaze:. He said: "Melita was not a hard-line Stalinist. BN-FRMA linked up with a to-secret project to develop a nuclear weapon called Tube Alloys. The Russians knew how to build a bomb, but they didnt know how to build a nuclear reactor to extract the uranium. He founded the Southern Worker And Labour And Socialist Journal in Southampton. Some believe, however, the real reason she was not put on trial was to avoid embarrassing details emerging about MI5s mistake in allowing her to work as a personal secretary at the very heart of Britains secret atomic research, even though she was known to have Communist sympathies. / British intelligence only confirmed she was a spy in the 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, when the former KGB officer Vasili Mitrokhin defected to the United Kingdom and turned over six trunks of archive information about Soviet spying. It came as a massive shock to her daughter and to Dr Burke, who already knew Norwood. It was a complete shock at the time, says Anita, now 71. In the film, the young Red Joan, played by Kingsman actress Sophie Cookson, is seduced by a handler and has an affair with her boss. Anita Ferguson, the daughter of Melita Norwood, "has spoken of her distress at discovering the double life led by her mother throughout her childhood." His occupation was Yes. A . By the time she agreed to work for the KGB, she had been promoted and was personal assistant to the director. On nights when she was delayed getting home by her appointments with her K.G.B. Baru-baru ini filem Red Joan lakonan Judi Dench sebagai Joan Stanley telah dihasilkan dan ditayangkan. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. Norwood would make copies then deliver them to her KGB handlers. It seemed that Britain was headed into another of the spy expose frenzies that have occurred periodically with the unmaskings of men like Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross who followed their Communist sympathies into espionage. Experts still debate how much she actually ended up helping the Soviet nuclear program. In 1958 she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, which is given for heroism in combat or long service in the armed forces. Melita Stedman Norwood ( ne Sirnis; 25 Maret 1912 - 2 Juni 2005) adalah seorang pegawai negeri Inggris dan sumber intelijensi KGB. Melita Stedman Norwood (ne Sirnis) (25 March 1912 - 2 June 2005) was a British civil servant and KGB intelligence source who, for a period of about 40 years following her recruitment in 1937, supplied the KGB (and its predecessor agencies) with state secrets from her job at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. Selama sekitar 40 tahun sejak ia direkrut pada 1937, ia memberikan rahasia- rahasia negara kepada KGB (dan . 13:54, 18 APR 2019. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images) Embed Save PURCHASE A LICENSE HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Joan Staley, the film, TV and stage actress died 24 November at the age of 79. To might be useful in helping Russia to keep abreast of Britain America... 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