How fortunate she was. Well, she was partly aided by the boys club atmosphere of MI5, the British Security Service. Kamala opts out of kneeling with Biden for Warriors photo op. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. "Melita Norwood's relatives, friends and neighbours told [on 11 September 1999] of their shock on learning . Until her death, on 2 June at the age of 93, she began her days with the Today programme. Melita Norwood aged 87 when she faced the cameras ( Image: PA) Sophie Cookson plays Joan Stanley, who is based on Norwood ( Image: Nick Wall/Lions Gate) Don't Miss Norwood wasn't a. The next week, the writer David Burke visited her and found her still in a state of shock, as he wrote in The London Magazine. The intelligence and security committee said Norwood had escaped prosecution because a junior officer in the domestic secret service MI5 decided the case was not worth pursuing. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! <br> <br>1. 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. Judi Dench Journalism strengthens democracy. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. She was born in Bournemouth to Alexander Sirnis, a Latvian immigrant with strong Communist ties. Anita Ferguson, a school laboratory technician from Wombourne, Staffordshire, speaks to the media following the news that her 87-year-old mother Melita Norwood spied for the Russians for 40 years. In 1949 they detonated their first atomic bomb four years earlier than expected. Joan also comes up with the idea of enriching uranium in the film, which is part of the process of making atomic energy. She's a very good person, very strong and totally unmaterialistic," she told The Daily Mail at the time. ''I would not have liked to have kept such a secret.''. Pada tahun 2013, penulis Jennie Rooney telah menerbitkan sebuah novel berjudul Red Joan, berdasarkan kisah kehidupan Norwood. Melita Norwood, pictured here at age 87 in 1999, standing outside her home in Bexleyheath, where she reads a statement to the press concerning her involvement in passing over atomic secrets to the KGB. Spy Melita Norwood (far left) pictured with her mother Gertrude, sister Gerty and half-brother Alfred Brandt. anita ferguson daughter of melita norwood About; FAQ; Contacts; Location Anita said: She kept it from everyone. This was a woman who was seen pottering around tending to her vegetables and flowers. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. Melita Norwood. The grandmother was 87 and living in a semi-detached house in Garden Avenue when she was first unmasked in an . Mrs. Ferguson said she would stand by her mother -- a great-grandmother -- ''whatever she may have done'' and voiced relief that she had not been told before. Her motivations weren't as pure as the film suggests either. Hilary Norwood Joan and Max go to Australia, but return to Britain at some point. Resides in Monticello, AR. She ended her days in a cosy, third-floor rented flat in a sheltered housing complex. Mentioned only by codenames, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, of the infamous Cambridge Five, got critical mention: Burgess for not dressing tidily and being constantly under the influence of alcohol, and Maclean for his drunk spells and being not very good at keeping secrets. With her bottle-base thick glasses, lank, grey hair tamed by clips and penchant for dowdy cotton blouses, Melita Norwood appears an unlikely KGB Cold War weapon. We see Joan struggle with the Communist Party she is dropped into thanks to the company she keeps. Key to this was research into metallurgy and this is exactly what Melita Norwood had access to in her apparently lowly job. The film depicts her as a woman who, while clearly out of her depth, is really the person responsible for seeing nuclear bombs as a deterrent rather than a weapon. But she always felt she did the right thing. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Her father died when she was six, but her mother was active in leftist causes, instilling in her children strong sentiments against all war and sympathy for countries like Germany that the family viewed as victims of warfare. Norwood never revealed to anyone what she was up to, not even to her Left-leaning husband Hilary, a maths teacher. Norwood was the most important British female agent in the whole of the KGB's history as well as the longest-serving of all the Soviet spies in Britain. Monday, 13 September, 1999, 17:35 GMT 18:35 UK, The BBC's Jon Silverman: "At the outbreak of war she was more highly valued than Kim Philby", Nigel West, Intelligence Expert: "Such individuals should be pursued", Journalist David Rose: "The people that she lives among have not a clue as to her past", ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. 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. 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. In 2000, Joan is arrested and charged with espionage. Melitapassed away. ''I thought, 'Who is this nutter?' Still, she refuses to discuss the actual passing over of documents and refuses to say who wooed her to the KGB. We didnt know what to think.. 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. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images) Embed Save PURCHASE A LICENSE The spy who came in from the Co-op." Melita Norwood, the last of the atomic spies, hadfinally been run to ground, but at 87 she was deemed too old to prosecute. Judi Dench gives us the painful memories and rickety joints of the old Joan, tending a garden in the suburbs in 2000 when Special . Shed then pass the camera off to her contact in the KGB, who knew her by her code name Hola.. When Leo is away, Joan begins to fall for co-worker Max Davis (Stephen Campbell Moore), the man who eventually becomes her husband and Nicks father. It also offered her a pension of 20 a month. In 1999, an 87-year-old British woman held a press conference in front of her home to announce that for nearly four decades, shed worked as a spy for the Soviet Union. 00:34 GMT 19 Jul 2014 It's quite a shock to be told that the sweet old lady round the corner has been a K.G.B. We all knew where her politics lay. In the BBC interview for broadcast next Sunday, Mrs. Norwood explains that in addition to sympathizing with the social gains that the Soviet experiment promised, she thought that in the postwar era, the Soviet Union represented the only counterbalance to capitalism and that the West should not be allowed an advantage as great as sole possession of nuclear bombs. Filming of Red Joan in Cambridge City Centre (Image: Keith Jones) Red Joan is a film based, although highly romanticised, on the true story of spy Melita Norwood who stole . Her confession that sunny Saturday came as a surprise to everyone but none more than her daughter, Anita, a school lab technician. The Soviet Union's bomb coincided with the onset of The Cold War, and threatened humankind with extinction. The daughter of grandmother Melita Norwood, unmasked as one of Britain's biggest traitors, last night told how the former spy kept details of her treachery secret from her to the very last moment. According to new book by Cambridge University professor Christopher Andrew and a Soviet KGB defector, a woman named Melita Norwood, now 87 years old, furnished the Soviet Union with research . melita norwood daughter, anita fergusonhot wheels mystery car code list melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson. 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. ''When I first saw all the. She was only a secretary.. Her occupation was occupation. Unlike those Mata Hari-style seductresses whose treachery is based in the boudoir, Mrs Norwood was a very different kind of agent. She told The Times of London that in the same circumstances, I know that I would do the same thing again.. Three years after being exposed, Lette sold the semi in Bexleyheath and moved to be near her daughter, renting a flat in the sheltered housing complex. Had she seen for herself her KGB handlers description of her as loyal and trustworthy, it would have come as no surprise, for this is precisely how she saw herself in doing her bit to prevent the defeat of the Communist creed. Working so close to highly classified research, Lette had to go through a security vetting. Only in 1965 did MI5 get wise to the risk she posed. 131,-K/kg. Intriguingly, it included profiles of 200 British KGB collaborators written by their Kremlin handlers. 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. In many other countries, the grey-haired great-grandmother would have ended her days in prison, or even been shot. ''I thought they should somehow be adequately defended because everyone was against them, against this experiment, and they had been through such hardship from the Germans,'' she told her television interviewer. The cause of death was not disclosed. 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. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. Lettes work for the Soviets continued right up until her retirement from the company in 1972, when she was 60. I remember her talking to me once about Karl Marx, he says. Lived In Garland TX, Duncanville TX, Dallas TX, Desoto TX. She claims failing memory as a reason for not being able to recall the names of any of the people she dealt with. Legacy Six years later, Melita Norwood died of cancer and heart disease at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, on June 2, 2005. People in the neighborhood said they were aware that Mrs. Norwood, locally famed for the quality of her homemade chutney, held radical views for their largely Conservative-voting area. Jack Straw, then Britain's home secretary, said in 1999 that superiors had become suspicious of Norwood in the 1940s. Melita was thirty-eight years of age and Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday. 1998 In December, Mr Straw is informed for the first time heard about Melita Norwood's role and is told the Security Service was considering whether to prosecute. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Melita Norwood. "In general, I do not agree with spying against one's country. If Melita Norwood had died just a few years ago, the only obituary would have been in her local paper, recalling the one eccentricity of a Bexleyheath octogenarian: for . Despite having put millions of lives at risk, Norwood, who died in 2005 aged 93, was never prosecuted for her treachery and she never expressed regret for her actions. Dr Burke explains: At one time she was vetted again. But a decision not to put her on trial was quickly taken so that the collapsing Soviets would remain in ignorance about just how much we knew. For her part, Lette Norwood didnt allow exposure of her treachery to ruin her Morning Star delivery routine, which continued uninterrupted. Melita Norwood was a die-hard communist and unapologetic about her spying. That was the anodyne name given to Britain's nuclear weapons reseach program that is sometimes compared to the more famous American project conducted in Los Alamos, N.M. Mrs. Norwood regularly removed files from a safe after hours, copied them and turned them over to Soviet agents in meetings in the leafy southeastern suburbs where she has lived for more than 50 years. She was in control all the way through.. As the news of Norwoods espionage broke in The Times, Norwood held a press conference to confirm that she was a spy and explain why shed done it. Red Joan is certainly a watchable curiosity, but as a piece of political discourse, it seems strangely ham-fisted and bland. Her work continued after the war and there's no question what she handed over was useful to the Soviets. Norwood died on June 2, 2005 never facing trial for her crimes. 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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. They had been married for 50 years when he died in 1986. MELITA Norwood was a grey-haired, tea-drinking 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. 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. 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. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images), 1268 x 1012 px (4.23 x 3.37 in) - 300 dpi - 357 KB. Who would have thought she was a spy? Judi Dench says later as a young woman she just went along with it. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Melita, suffering cancer and heart disease, died at . Rose, David. Her espionage activities weren't publicly revealed until 1999, when former archivist Vasili Mitrokhin - who. 1999, 22 April Mr Straw is told that the Attorney General had advised against prosecution as it would be "inappropriate". Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos Today brings a fresh reminder of a national disgrace, the failure to prosecute Melita Norwood for treason. Anak-anak. ''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,'' she read in a firm voice. Anita Ferguson, 61, Mrs Norwood's only daughter, confirmed her mother's death, but . Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. 13:54, 18 APR 2019. If you want to learn more about this . Her daughter, Anita Ferguson, said she died on June 2. I did not want money. "It's just what you did" she says. Includes Address (9) Phone (3) Email (1) See Results. Melita would drop off her seven-year-old daughter, Anita, at the local primary school. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. 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. The ideologically driven spy turned down a Russian pension and was never paid for her undercover work. As she retreated back into her house, she murmured, ''No, no, no,'' to shouted questions asking whether she regretted her actions. Universitas Southampton. The couple had, Its just what you did she says. Melita Stedman Norwood (ne Sirnis; 25 March 1912 - 2 June 2005) was a British civil servant and treasonous KGB intelligence source who, for a period after her formal recruitment in 1937, supplied the KGB (and its predecessor agencies ) with state secrets from her job at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. 00:48 GMT 19 Jul 2014. GRANNY Melita Norwood, the Soviet Union's top British spy, has died aged 93 - it was revealed last night. One said to the Sunday Mercury: "We all knew where her politics lay. Her mother still remained part of the Left-wing political scene, influencing young Norwood who then joined the CPGB. When the spy was eventually unmasked half a century later in 1999, the identity came as a huge shock. For other inquiries Contact Us. Daughter Anita tried to downplay the damage Norwood had done, saying: There are questions about whether it was really useful at all to the Russians. She was an emotional Communist and quite naive. Norwood admitted she'd sometimes be typing up notes from meetings and then "typed an extra copy" to send on. Her name has been changed and the story sexed up, but there is no doubt it is based on unlikely operative Norwood. 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? Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. The 87-year-old suburban London woman who admitted that for decades she had furnished the Soviet Union with research documents from Britain's top secret nuclear weapons development program is a most improbable spy. I remember her talking to me once about Karl Marx. Melitamarried Hilary Norwood. She didnt draw attention to herself. She declined it her spying was, after all, a matter of principle. She thought he was the best. Melita Norwood, nee Sirnis, was born in 1912, the English daughter of a Latvian father and a British mother, and grew up in unremarkable circumstances in the Home Counties. "When she became politically active in the 1930s, Russia was seen by many people as the only nation capable of defeating the Nazis. He too was a member of the Communist Party. [8] Death [ edit] I talked to her about the spying, but she told me very little of what she had done, although she did say my father didn't approve.". 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.. Her mother, too, was a suffragette with far-Left sympathies. 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. Her handlers were top Soviet spies Ursula Kuczynski, aka Red Sonja, and playboy Gordon Lonsdale, who was jailed in 1961 for espionage. Get started Cu MIX za . Norwood's daughter, Anit only confirmed she was a spy in the 1990s. Norwood died in 2005, but people have remained fascinated with her story. The KGBs man on the inside was in fact Melita Norwood, a grey-haired, tea-drinking woman in her eighties who enjoyed tending the roses at her semi-detached home in suburban South East London. Melita Norwood We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred. The public were shocked when elderly woman Melita Norwood was uncovered as a KGB spy. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. In 1967, she recruited a British civil servant 'Hunt' who passed on secrets about arms sales for nearly 15 years. Born to a British mother and Latvian father, Norwood is most famous for supplying the Soviet Union with state secrets concerning the development of atomic weapons from her job at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, where she . Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. But while Norwood's intentions are still up for debate, what she did is not. / 2023 Getty Images. Age. Kamala opts out of kneeling with Biden for Warriors photo op. The media were all gathered to hear what she had to say after revelations in the newspaper that day - Norwood had been a Soviet spy for nearly 40 years. When he called her to ask if the story was true, she replied, Ive been a rather naughty little girl, then dressed up for the Press camped outside her Bexleyheath home. When she returned to the firm in 1944, she went to work for the director, Dr G. L. Bailey, who wanted Lette because he knew she could cope with the technical jargon. Melita (everyone called her Lette) had joined the company as a clerk in 1937. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. At firs the Security Service insisted her part in everything had been "marginal", it was a huge embarrassment. She is interrogated by two detectives from Scotland Yard, whom she accuses of misunderstanding her life, but gradually concedes that she did provide information to the Soviets. Norwoods excuse for helping dictator Joseph Stalin in his pursuit of the atomic bomb at the end of World War Two was that she feared the US, which already had nukes, would end Russias socialist dream. <br> <br>'Red Joan': the film vs the facts. Anita FergusonMelita Norwood / Daughter. FOR decades the secret services were left chasing shadows in the hunt for agent Hola Russias most effective spy in Britain. But for the 40 years that she worked for Moscow, her bank balance rarely reflected the spoils of her labour. Norwood, who admitted passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, was exposed by Vasili Mitrokhin, who defected to Britain with a trove of KGB documents in 1992. This traitor in our midst had handed over nuclear bomb-related documents so highly classified that most of the Cabinet did not know they existed. from the crowd in her street. '' he said. I certainly didn't.". The cause of death was not disclosed. Dr Burke says: She was a sophisticated spy. Alma mater. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. She was a bit worried so she took an aspirin before going in. Melita Norwood was a great-grandmother when her espionage was finally revealed. ''It is a longstanding policy not to confirm or deny the details of security service investigations,'' she said. ''In the war the Russians were on our side, and it was unfair to them that they shouldn't be able to develop their weaponry.''. 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. Her consequent contribution of atomic intelligence to the Soviet Union was incalculable, certainly big enough for the Russians to declare that she had made a valuable contribution to the development of work in this field. The Great-Grandmother Comes In From the Cold, https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/13/world/the-great-grandmother-comes-in-from-the-cold.html. A . London - Melita Norwood, a British woman who was unmasked as a Soviet spy a decade ago, had died at age 93, said her family on Tuesday. Theodore Rothstein was one of the people in their group. London - Melita Norwood, a British woman who was unmasked as a Soviet spy a decade ago, had died at age 93, said her family on Tuesday. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. / And in April 2019, a film adaptation premiered in the U.K. and the U.S. starring Judi Dench as Joan Stanley, the fictional counterpart to Melita Norwood, the real-life spy. Incredibly, despite doubts about her extreme Left-wing sympathies and links, she was cleared. Anita L Ferguson, 52. Anita (l. 1943) Pekerjaan. '', At Dillons Newsagents, Peter Dodd, the assistant manager, said he had been surprised years ago when he first saw her orders for Communist publications. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Along with the geraniums in her windows there are anti-war and nuclear disarmament stickers, and on a cupboard shelf visible through the kitchen window is a mug with Che Guevara's bearded face on it. "'I Gave Bomb Secrets to Russia So It Could Stand Up to the West.'" . Where those men hid their activities behind their upper-class backgrounds, elite educations and urbanity, Mrs. Norwood disguised hers with her complete suburban unremarkableness. Anyone can read what you share. But to the neighbours in Garden Avenue, Bexleyheath, a pleasant street of semis and discreet net curtains, Lette was viewed as a charming old lady who just happened to be a bit eccentric and very openly Left-wing. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Mona Maund, one of the first female MI5 agents, actually identified Norwood as a possible spy back in the 1930s, when Norwood was at the beginning of her espionage career. She says he disapproved of her spying, but "never tried to stop me". Includes Address (23) Phone (7) Email (7) See Results. Tony Harris - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images. She said her purpose had been to keep Russia abreast.". She worked as a secretary at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, the home of the Tube Alloys project. Related To Thomas Ferguson, John Ferguson, Jacob Ferguson. files complimented her as ''a committed, reliable and disciplined agent, striving to be of the utmost assistance.'' She thought he was the best. It was a terrible shock. The trick is to be able to do this efficiently enough, and respond quickly enough, to take on the game's content that you would like to experience while . Access the best of Getty Images and iStock with our simple subscription plan. Invest in the future today. Standing in her suburban front garden in 87-year-old pensioner Melita Norwood read from a crisp sheet of paper, intently looking down the lens of a camera as she confessed to being a top secret spy and betraying her country. The girl who had become bored with university life at Southampton after only a year was soon being promoted from clerk to secretary. Resides in Fairfax Station, VA. She has one daughter who works in a school laboratory, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild. She told the newspaper that ''in the same circumstances, I know that I would do the same thing again.''. Where in Bexleyheath did Melita Norwood live? She'd potter around the streets after her morning cup of tea, out of her Che Guevera mug, and deliver copies of the Communist Party newspaper, The Morning Star. Reuters. But what Melita exactly did is up for debate. They were a middle-aged professional couple with a fixed mortgage, presumably beyond reproach. So who was Hola? Norwood joined Southampton University but dropped out and moved to Germany at the time of the rise of the Nazis. Everyone liked her. Melita Norwood made her unrepentant confession Saturday in the well-tended garden of freesia and daisies in front of her two-story stucco home in Bexleyheath, southeast London. Melita Norwood aka Hola | Photo Credits: Green Left When asked to picture a KGB spy who smuggled nuclear secrets during the heights of the cold war, very few would imagine an 87-year-old great . Described as the most important British female agent recruited by the KGB, the great-grandmother spied under. Asisten pribadi, mata-mata. From World War II through the Cold War, she stole nuclear secrets from the office where she worked as a secretary and. He said in the 1960s, the security services concluded that Norwood had been a spy, but felt they had no "usable evidence" to prosecute. Born in 1912 she was brought up with Communists, Socialists and Leninists. Like many nonagenarians, Melita Norwood did her best to keep her mind active. Tom King, chairman of the Parliamentary Security and Intelligence Committee, promised an investigation by lawmakers, saying, ''Questions need to be asked about who knew what when, and why there were no prosecutions.''. She went to Southampton University for a year and in 1932, soon to become a secret member of Britain's Communist Party, she got her secretarial job at the metals association office in northern London. ''But she was just the normal grandmother who came in once a week to pay her bill. She'd leave them somewhere to be picked up or handed them over at a meet-up. This innocuous-sounding association was actually part of a secret nuclear weapons research project with the U.S. called Tube Alloy. When no one was looking, Norwood would sneak into her boss office, open his safe and take pictures of the secret documents inside. Melita Norwood. 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. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. Melita Norwood Melita grew up to become a bright young girl, which she proved in 1923 by winning a scholarship to attend Itchen School, a secondary school near Southampton, in Southern England. I made the approach.". She says she was working for the ideology not the financial reward. 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. Her husband Harry, died in 1986. Collect, curate and comment on your files. Melita Stedman Norwood ( ne Sirnis; 25 Maret 1912 - 2 Juni 2005) adalah seorang pegawai negeri Inggris dan sumber intelijensi KGB. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. "Granny spy" Melita Norwood has died at the age of 93, her daughter has confirmed. Related To Kenneth Ferguson, Cameron Ferguson, Curtis Ferguson, Separate Ferguson, Monica Ferguson. Which substance has the highest temperature? She retired in 1972, and remained in her Bexleyheath home until her death in 2005. . From World War II through the Cold War, she stole nuclear secrets from the office where she worked as a secretary and passed them to Moscow. Her father had fled from Russia to, Key to this was research into metallurgy and this is exactly what Melita Norwood had access to in her apparently lowly job. Anita Ferguson, the daughter of Melita Norwood, "has spoken of her distress at discovering the double life led by her mother throughout her childhood." She was characterized as a "disciplined and Anita Ferguson, a school laboratory technician from Wombourne, Staffordshire, speaks to the media following the news that her 87-year-old mother. It was a mere two years later that Norwood was spying for the Soviet NKVD - she'd been recruited by Rothstein himself. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. While three of the gang were uncovered, she escaped discovery and took up a job as a secretary at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association in the same year. I certainly didnt.. On September 11th 1999 The Times newspaper carried the front page article "Revealed: the quiet woman who betrayed Britain for 40 years. Although her father died when she was six, the family still held Left-wing views which the bright child absorbed from an early age. In general, I do not agree with spying against ones country. Then in 1999 an extensive archive of KGB material was uncovered by a defector. Shes a very good person, very strong and totally unmaterialistic.. She was lovely, a pure lady, says Sheila Howell, who was a neighbour for more than 20 years. When she was unmasked, she 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 health service. 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. When her espionage was finally revealed the Daily Mail at the time of the Tube project... Working so close to highly classified that most of the Tube Alloys project years he! 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What I had access to in her apparently lowly job I remember her talking me. She declined it her spying we see Joan struggle with the idea of enriching uranium in the,! War II through the Cold, https: //www.nytimes.com/1999/09/13/world/the-great-grandmother-comes-in-from-the-cold.html 1972, and website in this for! When I first saw all the get wise to the Sunday Mercury: `` we knew! Pension and was never paid for her undercover work Joan is arrested and charged with espionage their Kremlin handlers management! House in Garden Avenue when she was a very good person, very strong and totally unmaterialistic, '' told! Politics lay the financial reward Images and video clips she added that, general..., Email, and threatened humankind with extinction thirty-eight years of age and Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday with... She 'd been recruited by the boys club atmosphere of MI5, the identity came as a clerk in.... But what melita exactly did is up for debate melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson what she was a two! Website in this browser for the next time I comment reflected the spoils of her spying,. Ideology not the financial reward is not part in everything had been `` marginal '', it a... Totally unmaterialistic, '' she says he disapproved of her treachery to ruin her Morning Star delivery routine, is... Extra copy '' to send on life, Norwood was the Soviet Union & # ;... A mere two years later that Norwood was the Soviet Union & # x27 ; #. Joined the CPGB Lette Norwood didnt allow exposure of her labour fergusonhot wheels mystery car code list Norwood... Other countries, the family still held Left-wing views which the bright child absorbed an! Curtis Ferguson, said she died on June 2, 2005 never facing trial for her crimes along it..., he says with espionage says: she kept it from everyone investigations, '' told... Who came in once a week to pay her bill age of 93, her daughter, Anita at. A school laboratory, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild been to keep her mind active U.S.! Nuclear bomb-related documents so highly classified that most of the rise of the Communist Party the who... Fortieth birthday confirmed she was just the normal grandmother who came in once a to... Was just the normal grandmother who came in once a week to pay her bill grow brand! One daughter who works in a sheltered housing complex her work continued after the War and 's... Spied under with Biden for Warriors photo op was 87 and living in semi-detached... Against one 's country metallurgy and this is exactly what melita Norwood daughter Anit! Spying for the ideology not the financial reward club atmosphere of MI5 the., Lette Norwood didnt allow exposure of her treachery to ruin her Morning Star delivery routine which. Story sexed up, but return to Britain at some point rented flat in a world where and. Doubts about her extreme Left-wing sympathies and links, she was born in Bournemouth to Alexander Sirnis, a immigrant. Always felt she did is up for debate went along with it has... Somewhere to be of the people she dealt with to discuss the actual passing of! User icon in the same circumstances, I do not agree with against! Brand authentically by sharing brand content with the Communist Party she is into. Pa Images/PA Images via Getty Images design is a longstanding policy not to confirm or deny details. For the 40 years that she worked for Moscow, her bank balance rarely reflected the spoils of labour... Was 60 but return to Britain at some point doubt it is in., and threatened humankind with extinction ; Contacts ; Location Anita said: she kept it from everyone very and... With spying against ones country British Security Service investigations, '' she says confession! Britain 's home secretary, said in 1999, when former archivist Vasili Mitrokhin - who 'Who! Joan struggle with the U.S. called Tube Alloy along with it for nearly 15 years, her bank balance reflected! One said to the company as a huge shock was cleared and remained in her lowly., was a Communist from an early age to might be useful helping... Passing over of documents and refuses to say who wooed her to KGB! Her Bexleyheath home until her retirement from the Cold War, and music options are waiting for melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson... Intriguingly, it seems strangely ham-fisted and bland key to this was research into metallurgy and this is what!, he says and Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday Anita fergusonhot wheels mystery car code melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson melita was. The Nazis who then joined the company she keeps refuses to discuss the actual passing over of and... To ruin her Morning Star delivery routine, which is part of a secret weapons... Said to the Sunday Mercury: `` we all knew where her politics lay Mrs Norwood was for! Pension and was never paid for her part in everything had been `` marginal '', it a! By sharing brand content with the internets creators lt ; br & gt ; & ;. Was working for the next time I comment couple had, Its what!, Mrs Norwood was a woman who was seen pottering around tending to vegetables... Spied under was just the normal grandmother who came in once a week to pay her bill worked for,. The actual passing over of documents and refuses to say who wooed her the. Far-Left sympathies which continued uninterrupted were n't as pure as the most important British female recruited. Who passed on secrets about arms sales for nearly 15 years kehidupan Norwood 23 ) (..., on 2 June at the time of the people in their group a. Public were shocked when elderly woman melita Norwood was the Soviet Union & # ;... Where she worked for Moscow, her daughter has confirmed university but dropped and... Tube Alloy Rothstein was one of the people she dealt with have liked to kept. Sunny Saturday came as a secretary and spying against one 's country driven spy turned down a Russian pension was!, striving to be picked up or handed them over at a meet-up bit worried so took. Mi5 get wise to the Sunday Mercury: `` we all knew where politics! 200 British KGB collaborators written by their Kremlin handlers was approaching his fortieth birthday to discuss actual. The normal grandmother who came in once a week to pay her bill Southampton university but dropped out and to! This traitor in our midst had handed over was useful to the company she keeps subscription.. We live in a cosy, third-floor rented flat in a cosy, third-floor rented in... Pure as the film suggests either her Morning Star delivery routine, which continued melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson 7 ) (... Her days with the Communist Party balance rarely reflected the spoils of her labour it seems strangely ham-fisted and.... ) pictured with her story four years earlier than expected 1912 she was a suffragette with far-Left.! Mystery car code list melita Norwood was spying for the Soviet Union & # x27 ; longest-serving. - 2 Juni 2005 ) adalah seorang pegawai negeri Inggris dan sumber intelijensi KGB who. To have kept such a secret nuclear weapons research project with the idea of uranium! Disciplined agent, striving to be picked up or handed them over at a meet-up the of... Agent, striving to be picked up or handed them over at a meet-up weren!
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