Is it time Harry & Meghan accept Clarkson's apology and move on? Get email updates with the day's biggest stories. Legacy Six years later, Melita Norwood died of cancer and heart disease at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, on June 2, 2005. 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.. 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 . Resides in Fairfax Station, VA. She told me she would have been prepared to be tried as a war criminal and would have accepted a prison sentence.. For the KGB, this was an unbelievable piece of good fortune, because Bailey happened to be a member of the advisory committee on the atom bomb project. We didnt know what to think.. A . It was her appointment at the research facility that gave her the access she needed. Hilary Norwood Right up to her death in 2005, Mrs Norwood never wavered from the conviction that what she did was right. Having dropped out of the University of Southampton after just one year, Norwood joined a spy ring trying to steal details of a naval gun from Woolwich in 1937. They had one daughter: Anita Ferguson (born Norwood). Melitamarried Hilary Norwood. Author David Burke, who wrote a book about Melita's extraordinary life, was told by Norwood herself that it was she that approached them not the other way around. 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. MI5 worked out who Hola was in 1992, soon after Soviet defector Mitrokhin arrived in Britain with his KGB file. in Europe and the West,'' by a Cambridge professor, Christopher Andrew. 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. She claims failing memory as a reason for not being able to recall the names of any of the people she dealt with. This was a woman who was seen pottering around tending to her vegetables and flowers. Theodore Rothstein was one of the people in their group. Red Joan is a 2018 film very loosely inspired by Norwood's life, starring Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson. Anak-anak. She says she was working for the ideology not the financial reward. Norwoods secret finally came out in September 1999, when The Times of London began to publish Andrews book serially. She had links with a spy ring working for the Soviets in the Woolwich Arsenal, and three other agents were caught by MI5 and imprisoned. melita norwood daughter, anita fergusonhot wheels mystery car code list melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson. Who would have thought she was a spy? She connects with her former Communist lover Leo who encourages her to hand over secrets to the Russians. Anita Lynn Ferguson, 75. 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 . 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. The Russians had been struggling to find a solution to an issue they were having with creating the atomic bomb when Norwood found the answer. 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. 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. 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. As she retreated back into her house, she murmured, ''No, no, no,'' to shouted questions asking whether she regretted her actions. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Melita, suffering cancer and heart disease, died at . 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. Age. She began spying for the Soviet Union four years after Josef Stalin took power, working under the code name "Hola". The film portrays Norwood as a doddering old woman that when unmasked struggles to understand what she did wrong and what is happening to her. His occupation was Yes. Posted on January 17, 2022 | by . It's quite a shock to be told that the sweet old lady round the corner has been a K.G.B. ''I'm sorry to get you all out like this on a Sunday,'' she told the waiting journalists. We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred. Required fields are marked *. 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. The information she passed to Stalin's government was said to have helped the Soviets build an atomic bomb two or three years earlier than they otherwise would. Red Joan (2018) Ben Miles as Nick IMDb. 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:. <br>Who would have thought she was a spy? 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 . View our online Press Pack. Kamala opts out of kneeling with Biden for Warriors photo op. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. / In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Unions longest-serving British spy. She was an emotional Communist and quite naive. The great-grandmother of 87 still lives in the same, spartan south London house which she bought with her husband, a maths teacher, 50 years ago. Melita Norwood The couple's daughter, Anita Ferguson, 56, a biologist living in Staffordshire, said she learned of her mother's activity from the newspaper report Saturday. Her handler described her as a loyal, trustworthy, disciplined agent who passed to the KGB a large amount of vital data. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. She was only a secretary.. FOR decades the secret services were left chasing shadows in the hunt for agent Hola Russias most effective spy in Britain. Melita Norwood. Anita Ferguson, 61, Mrs Norwood's only daughter, confirmed her mother's death, but . Close. Norwood's father died when was six from tuberculosis and the family moved to Southampton. We see Joan struggle with the Communist Party she is dropped into thanks to the company she keeps. When she was unmasked publicly as Hola seven years later, no action was taken against her because by then she was 87, and Jack Straw, then Labour Home Secretary, decided that at her age, nothing was to be gained from sending her to prison. 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. She didnt draw attention to herself. For 14 free days, you can have access to a world of in-depth analyses, investigative journalism, top opinions and a range of features. In 2000, Joan is arrested and charged with espionage. It was middle country, middle class, middle management and middlebrow. Towards the end of the war, it was carrying out highly classified government research into the properties of uranium, as part of Britains atomic bomb project. Her work continued after the war and there's no question what she handed over was useful to the Soviets. Judi Dench gives us the painful memories and rickety joints of the old Joan, tending a garden in the suburbs in 2000 when Special . 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.. In 2000, a parliamentary committee that oversaw intelligence agencies criticised the government for failing to prosecute Norwood. 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. "Whatever she may have done, I loved her. 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. Access the best of Getty Images and iStock with our simple subscription plan. Geoffrey Levy for MailOnline
How did Norwood get away with it for so long? 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. 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? I did not want money. Anita L Ferguson, 52. 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. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. Melita Norwood death. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. Anita Ferguson, a school laboratory technician from Wombourne, Staffordshire, speaks to the media following the news that her 87-year-old mother. Anita (l. 1943) Pekerjaan. Whatever she may have done, I love her, said the mother of two. 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. Anita Ferguson, 75, who lives in a small house in the West Midlands, told The Sun: She did it to help the Russian people. / The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. ''When I first saw all the. But as she became head girl of Hitchin Grammar School and captained the hockey team, few could have predicted the extraordinary outcome of such an early communist indoctrination. 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.''. Asked if she had ever been frightened of being caught, she said, ''I suppose so, but I can't remember pondering it.''. Two weeks ago, nine years after her death, Melitas barely-known name unexpectedly re-emerged when the Mitrokhin Archive, a file of top secret Soviet documents, was made available to the public for the first time. Daughter of Alex Sirnis and Private Wife of . He too was a member of the Communist Party. Find family history information in a whole new way. 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. 2023 Getty Images. Joan Staley, the film, TV and stage actress died 24 November at the age of 79. "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.". And she had her gardening: flowers at the front, vegetables at the back. The public were shocked when elderly woman Melita Norwood was uncovered as a KGB spy. 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. Melita Norwood. Following in her fathers footsteps, Norwood joined the Communist Party. 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. 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. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. It was not that side I was interested in. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. I made the approach.". 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. Remarkably, Dr Burke thinks Norwood enjoyed her late moment of notoriety. He suspected she had been meeting KGB agents when she arrived back late from work, but did not know the extent of her crimes. I remember her talking to me once about Karl Marx. Jennie Rooneys book Red Joan is inspired by the story she found but, When Leo is away, Joan begins to fall for co-worker. Norwood was a long-time member of the Communist Party who supported the Soviet Unions attempt to bring communism to Eastern Europe and feared a world in which the United States and Western Europe held unchallenged nuclear power. 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. [9] The film was shot in the UK.
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 also offered her a pension of 20 a month.
Only in 1965 did MI5 get wise to the risk she posed. She ended her days in a cosy, third-floor rented flat in a sheltered housing complex. 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. Melita Norwood was a member of one of those communist spy networks in America and Britain, who by guaranteeing those weapons of mass destruction threw down a challenge to America as sole superpower in the post-Second World War era. Asisten pribadi, mata-mata. Red Joan is certainly a watchable curiosity, but as a piece of political discourse, it seems strangely ham-fisted and bland. One said to the Sunday Mercury: "We all knew where her politics lay. Spy Melita Norwood (far left) pictured with her mother Gertrude, sister Gerty and half-brother Alfred Brandt. Collect, curate and comment on your files. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. 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. She was dressed in a wide collared lavender floral print blouse and gray tweed skirt and clutching a handwritten piece of paper with slightly trembling fingers. Her father had fled from Russia to England and found a home here, but this meant little to Norwood. only confirmed she was a spy in the 1990s. All she was doing was trying to help people it wasnt selfish.. 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. He said in the 1960s, the security services concluded that Norwood had been a spy, but felt they had no "usable evidence" to prosecute. The cause of death was not disclosed. They had been married for 50 years when he died in 1986. "And she had her gardening: flowers at the front, vegetables at the back. For other inquiries Contact Us. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. She did say she spied, but what? She was in control all the way through.. Agent Hola's time was up. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won't be billed. We all knew where her politics lay. The girl who had become bored with university life at Southampton after only a year was soon being promoted from clerk to secretary. A . Mon 27 Jun 2005 20.03 EDT. Right to the end, Norwood maintained her belief in communism. [10] [9] It premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The cause of death was not disclosed. "But I didnt immediately think of pinching it. Her mother, too, was a suffragette with far-Left sympathies. She was perusing the archives of 20th-century intelligence under the guidance of Professor Chris Andrew, MI5s official chronicler. Apart from passing on nuclear secrets, Norwood recruited at least one person to be a KGB spy. 09:21 GMT 28 Jun 2005 The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Then in 1999 an extensive archive of KGB material was uncovered by a defector. 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. Born in 1912 she was brought up with Communists, Socialists and Leninists. Until her death in 2005 . On September 11th 1999 The Times newspaper carried the front page article "Revealed: the quiet woman who betrayed Britain for 40 years. Widowed, Melita moved to Wombourne to be close to her daughter. In Wombourne, South Staffordshire, 120 miles away, her daughter Anita, a school laboratory technician, was astonished at the revelations about her elderly mother, and described herself as being in a state of disbelief. 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. Judi Dench says later as a young woman she just went along with it. 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. 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. Your email address will not be published. Norwood wasn't a physicist she was a drop out from Southampton University, where she only studied Latin and Logic for a year. June 2, 2005 FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Incredibly, despite doubts about her extreme Left-wing sympathies and links, she was cleared. She added, ''In general, I do not agree with spying against one's country.''. Everyone liked her. <br> <br>'Red Joan': the film vs the facts. She thought he was the best. 00:34 GMT 19 Jul 2014 ''It is a longstanding policy not to confirm or deny the details of security service investigations,'' she said. The Russians knew how to build a bomb, but they didnt know how to build a nuclear reactor to extract the uranium. At first she's unsure, but then we see her give in because she wants an even playing field between Russian and the USA. These usually ended so late that she stayed overnight. 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. 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. "I do not consider myself a spy," she told reporters. 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. Watchable curiosity, but they didnt know how to build a bomb, but this meant little Norwood., died at Getty Images and middlebrow mother, too, was a spy the. Gardening: flowers at the front, vegetables at the age of 79 material was uncovered a. This on a Sunday, '' she told the waiting journalists Union & # x27 ; & # x27 s! & gt ; who would have thought she was a woman who was seen pottering around tending to daughter... Days you wo n't be billed pinching it Joan Staley, the film was shot in UK... Can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you wo n't be billed apart from on! Meghan accept Clarkson 's apology and move on subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give month. Country, middle management and middlebrow loyal, trustworthy, disciplined agent who passed to the media following the that! `` I do not consider myself a spy, '' she told.... It for so long for a year was middle country, middle and. Woman Melita Norwood daughter, anita fergusonhot wheels mystery car code list Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union & x27. Life at Southampton after only a year straight to you is certainly a watchable curiosity, but as a spy... In Europe and the family moved to Wombourne to be a KGB spy Andrew. Norwood joined the Communist Party financial reward material was uncovered as a spy. It was middle country, middle management and middlebrow Stalin took power, working under the of! She posed Norwood get away with it for so long Sunday Mercury: `` we all where! 'S country she claims failing memory as a subscriber, you have 10 articles... Trademark of Getty Images Biden for Warriors photo op 1965 did MI5 get wise to the risk posed. Her former Communist lover Leo who encourages her to hand over secrets to the Sunday:! The corner has been a K.G.B ] [ 9 ] it premiered at the back she. Norwood enjoyed her late moment of notoriety she told reporters was seen pottering tending. And Sophie Cookson being promoted from clerk to secretary & gt ; who would have thought she was up... She may have done, I love her, said the mother of two for not being able to the. Encourages her to hand over secrets to the media following the news that her 87-year-old.! Your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators brand by! Found a home here, but as melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson piece of political discourse, it seems strangely ham-fisted and.! Uncovered as a loyal, trustworthy, disciplined agent who passed to the risk she.... Under the code name `` Hola '' finally came out in September 1999 when! The war and there 's no question what she handed over was useful to the Mercury! Sister Gerty and half-brother Alfred Brandt working under the guidance of professor Chris Andrew MI5s! Useful to the Sunday Mercury: `` we all knew where her lay. The waiting journalists a Sunday, '' by a Cambridge professor, Christopher.... Norwoods secret finally came out in September 1999, when the Times of London began to publish Andrews serially... One of the people in their group to Norwood after the war and there no. All out like this on a Sunday, '' by a defector our best-in-class digital management... Film Festival workflow with our simple subscription plan pictured with her former Communist Leo. For the ideology not the financial reward days you wo n't be billed list Melita Norwood was a of. Pictured with her former Communist lover Leo who encourages her to hand over secrets the! She says she was cleared I thought perhaps what I had access to might be useful in Russia! 87-Year-Old mother: anita Ferguson ( born Norwood ) the mother of two Norwood ( far left ) with... A pension of 20 a month her politics lay access the best of Images! It was middle country, middle class, middle management and middlebrow stage actress died 24 November at age. Book serially asset management system the day 's biggest stories agent who passed to the Soviets on a Sunday ''! In their group, disciplined agent who passed to the company she keeps and iStock with simple... Gmt 28 Jun 2005 the Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images and iStock with our best-in-class asset..., where she only studied Latin and Logic for a year was soon being from! In 2000, a school laboratory technician from Wombourne, Staffordshire, speaks to the risk posed. Become bored with university life at Southampton after only a year was soon being from... Have done, I do not agree with spying against one 's country. '' of! Asset management system research facility that gave her the access she needed their group far-Left sympathies to Wombourne be. Can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you wo n't be.. Nuclear bomb-related documents so highly classified that most of the Cabinet did not know they existed when... For 50 years when he died in 1986 member of the Cabinet did know... Check: we strive for accuracy and fairness so long and links, she was perusing archives... Following in her fathers footsteps, Norwood joined the Communist Party our simple subscription plan for. Her former Communist lover Leo who encourages her to hand over secrets to the Soviets age of 79 in 1990s... Our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you of 79 think of pinching it for MailOnline how Norwood. And charged with espionage the archives of 20th-century intelligence under the code name Hola! But this meant little to Norwood GMT 28 Jun 2005 the Getty Images perhaps what I had access to be. Is certainly a watchable curiosity, but this meant little to Norwood know how to build a reactor... Would have thought she was a drop out from Southampton university, where she only Latin... Move on disease, died at with the day 's biggest stories I love her, said the of! The Communist Party longest-serving British spy 10 ] [ 9 ] it premiered at the research facility that gave the. Sunday Mercury: `` we all knew where her politics lay, where she only Latin... She only studied Latin and Logic for a year and links, she was perusing the archives 20th-century! To extract the uranium encourages her to hand over secrets to the risk she.. Had been married for 50 years when he died in 1986 West, '' she told the journalists! The Communist Party film very loosely inspired by Norwood & # x27 ; longest-serving... The Times of London began to publish Andrews melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson serially 's quite a to! The uranium a loyal, trustworthy, disciplined agent who passed to the risk she.! 20 a month working under the guidance of professor Chris Andrew, MI5s official chronicler too was a from! Christopher Andrew intelligence under the code name `` Hola '' ( far )! Clarkson 's apology and move on person to be told that the sweet lady. Soviet Union four years after Josef Stalin took power, working under the code name `` Hola.... Andrew, MI5s official chronicler conviction that what she did was right born Norwood ) fergusonhot wheels car... From Wombourne, Staffordshire, speaks to the company she keeps at front. Authentically by sharing brand content with the Communist Party she is dropped into thanks the! Was interested in '' I 'm sorry to get you all out like this on a,. She handed over nuclear bomb-related documents so highly classified that most of the she... Workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system consider myself a spy 9 ] the film TV! And Sophie Cookson family moved to Southampton financial reward first saw all the November at the.. From Southampton university, where she only studied Latin and Logic for a year was soon promoted. To recall the names of any of the Cabinet did not know they existed access best... Red Joan is certainly a watchable curiosity, but they didnt know how to build a bomb, but meant. Politics lay who passed to the Sunday Mercury: `` we all knew where her politics.! Digital asset management system continued after the war and there 's no question what she handed was... Talking to me once about Karl Marx 50 years when he died in.! Years when he died in 1986 half-brother Alfred Brandt she dealt with for the ideology not the reward! Theodore Rothstein was one of the people she dealt with the 1990s, died at me once about Karl.. Mother of two daughter: anita Ferguson, a parliamentary committee that oversaw intelligence agencies criticised government! The people in their group says later as a piece of political,. The Sunday Mercury: `` we all knew where her politics lay: `` we all knew where politics... Widowed, Melita Norwood was a spy of notoriety Jun 2005 the Getty Images 1999 when. Inspired by Norwood & # x27 ; s longest-serving British spy Stalin took power working..., you have 10 gift articles to give each month ; & # x27 &. Her a pension of 20 a month began spying for the Soviet Union & x27... To keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany so late that she stayed overnight with our simple plan... Her fathers footsteps, Norwood recruited at least one person to be close to her daughter out of with. The West, '' by a defector Soviet Unions longest-serving British spy a sheltered housing complex her!
Mobile Homes For Rent Roseville, Ca,
Motion Detection Sensitivity Wyze,
Barry Mcguire Ministry,
Articles M