No doubt your grandfather would have disapproved of the sharp contrasts in present-day Russia, he said. The Philby talent for putting on an act has been inherited by Charlotte, in a sense: she worked in theatre as a child, training with Anna Scher, whose radical Islington theatre group has spotted such talent as Kathy Burke and Phil Daniels. Feeling a strong dissatisfaction with British policy in the Middle East, Kims father resigned from the Foreign Service in 1930, converting to Islam and taking the name Hajj Abdullah. Kim Philby, the most successful of the Cambridge spies, tried to drink himself to death in Moscow because he was disillusioned with communism and tortured by his own failings, his last wife has said in an interview. Bennett concludes: Charlotte Philby thinks her grandfather was more honest, but its a saloon-bar honesty. Image: Beech Beech. They're at it again! She emphasised the strength and goodness of their fathers moral and political beliefs as a committed communist who wanted peaceful co-existence between East and West. But though his love affair with the cause never wavered, his love affair with Melinda did. that Philby, with his Communist views in Vienna and his Austrian Communist wife, had been recruited for SIS and had sailed through its vetting procedures?. According to a recent piece in the Daily Telegraph: For years Philby had sabotaged Allied missions behind the Iron Curtain and had calculatedly sent dozens of agents to their deaths. Most famously, he was almost certainly responsible for the tip-off which led to the deaths of the first British-sponsored Albanians who parachuted in to remove Enver Hoxhas Communist regime. As the icy breeze hits our cheeks, he points towards a raised tomb set forward slightly from the rest: Yeltsins mama, he explains. She has been described as "tall and slim, sweet-natured, and restless". Inside he wrote: Herewith a few extracts from our bible. He was 65. When Bennett was pulled up on the matter, he wrote my father a note explaining that he stood by what hed said as the information had come from a reliable source a BBC journalist. What are you currently reading?Im trying to reconnect with what made me fall in love with books and the process of writing so Im going back to reread some of the books that feel seminal for me: The Beach, The Child in Time, White Teeth, Disgrace, The Poisonwood Bible and The Peoples Act of Love. 1955Government white paper on Burgess-Maclean affair. And he kept his word to the end." 1946Moves to Turkey, working as head of SIS there. As I step in from the balcony, my eyes settle on a single point. Like your own Holy Writ, it is open to many different (and often conflicting) interpretations, according to the tastes and prejudices of the reader., In the accompanying letter, he adds: The difficulty is that [Lenin] was always writing at white-heat on burning questions of the day (or even hour); and naturally his strategy and tactics changed to meet changing circumstances My Russian edition has 55 large volumes, so there is ample room for selective quotation and even spurious interpolation. Yesterday, in our serialisation of an electrifying biography based on newly released papers, we heard how he fled to Moscow just as he was about to be arrested leaving behind his supposedly innocent wife. JOHN Philby, the eldest son of Soviet spy Kim Philby, who was a double agent and the notorious Third Man in the Cambridge spy ring of the 1930s, has died in England. Harold Adrian Russell " Kim " Philby ORB, OL ODN (1 January 1912 - 11 May 1988) [1] was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. Kim Philbys granddaughter describes memories of her grandfather. Donald refused to become part of the twilight brigade community of defectors, down-at-heel, disillusioned and wondering how they had got there. In contrast to Blake, Philby and Burgess and to a less extent Maclean suffered from nostalgia for Britain. Given all that Melinda had gone through, the pity she had had to accept and the dissembling she had had to practise, that first meeting overseen by Soviet officials was a strained affair. For one thing, Kims life behind the Iron Curtain wasnt bad. Grandpas flat is almost exactly as he left it: After Kim left, I didnt want to change anything, Rufa says. No doubt your grandfather would have disapproved of the sharp contrasts in present-day Russia, he said. He got drunk and roamed Kuybyshev looking for action, on one occasion having his teeth knocked out in a brawl. She is also the granddaughter of, MI5missed early chance to expose Soviet agent Kim Philby, files reveal, Love and Deception: Philby in Beirut by James Hanning review the spy who loved, maybe, ASplinter of Ice review Graham Greene and Kim Philby clink glasses, Graham Greenes showdown with Soviet spy Kim Philby: A Splinter of Ice review, KimPhilby: new revelations about spy emerge in secret files, George Blake exemplified the desolation, waste and treachery of the cold war, Moscow names square after British double agent Kim Philby, Athriller of spies and betrayal: by Kim Philbys granddaughter. He would say we and our when speaking of the Soviet Union and defended his adopted countrys brutal crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956 an event that disgusted many Left-wing supporters back in the UK. As I walk towards it, the title of the Anthony Trollope novel jumps out at me: He Knew He Was Right. The colourful characters of spymaster Gertrude Bell (the first female officer in the British Army), the legendary "Lawrence of Arabia," and the astute traitor St. John Philby (father of the notorious KGB double-spy Kim Philby) are all so dynamic that their heroics are hard to believe, but nevertheless true and soundly researched by a perceptive . Thanks Darryl.I live in Australia. The two men said very little and the interview lasted barely five minutes. In the capital, he became a magazine correspondent, then a teacher and analyst in a research institute for foreign and economic affairs. The last time I arrived at this flat, aged six, it was just a few days after Kims death, and my parents and I were met by a sea of swollen eyes. In the end despite having been what Allen Dulles (de facto head of the CIA from 1953 to 1961) once reluctantly described as the best spy Russia ever had Kim was watched over as much as looked after by his masters, and he was not used to his full potential. But I dont think my grandfather ever questioned a single decision he made. Youve written three previous novels about espionage and betrayal did you need to approach that world obliquely before tackling Kims story?I was adamant that I didnt want to write about Kim because ironically I didnt want to define myself through his life. Hardcover. The gang of British spies who ended up in Moscow in the 1950s and 1960s were employed in KGB training schools and international research institutes. In his lifetime, Kim married four times, and had five children by his second wife Aileen Furse. He feared that she would dump him because he was just a boring official in the British diplomatic service so to make myself look better and more important, I told her the reason why I led such a life. She put the two boys into the International School in Geneva and finally explained to them what had happened to their father, reporting to her sister that their worst fear seems to be that I might vanish too. Here, surrounded by an extensive library, he would sit for hours. Journalists look after their own and Philby masqueraded as a devil-may-care drunken newspaperman and so was treated more indulgently by those in his profession.. Kim went to great efforts upon his return to England to cover the traces of his Communist background joining the Anglo-German fellowship in 1934, and editing its pro-Hitler magazine; making repeated visits to Berlin for talks with the German propaganda ministry; even being personally presented with the Red Cross of Military Merit award by Franco in 1938. I think Ive spent so long having other people project their versions of my grandfather and my family on to me that writing about it is a way of trying to reclaim the story. Charlotte Philby was only five years old when Kim died, but says she vividly remembers her grandfathers small modest flat several floors above ground level, in central Moscow, as well as the epic games of chess [the double spy played with her] dad over several glasses of whiskey when the family would visit him in Russia. Just five years ago, my mum and I were refused service in a shop in Arizona on account of the name on our credit cards. She was a horsey product of the. And this was the line Melinda presented to MI5 after his defection with fellow mole Guy Burgess: she had been every bit as duped as theyd been. Did your father, John, talk about his father?We never had a family meeting where he said: Right, Im going to explain to you who your grandfather was. That was not at all the kind of person he was. Heavy blankets of snow have settled across the plains of Moscow, and either side of our track, the ground is a brilliant white. Then she drove off with the children. Over the years he did everything that was asked of him: he gave everything he had to the cause, and yet still Moscow was deeply suspicious of a man who has been described as their finest and most loyal servant. Today, Moscows main strip, Tverskaya Ryad which I remember from childhood holidays as a drab grey stretch clotted with queues of people who looked like they didnt know what they were waiting for (though it was usually oranges or ice cream) is barely recognisable: a knot of designer stores and mobile-phone shops, interspersed with garish billboards hanging between the buildings above the busy main road. A retired CIA agent was once asked what he would say to Kim Philby, an MI5 agent who spied for Joseph Stalin, if he encountered the defector in Moscow. The reporter adds that Kim demonstrated an iron head for drink during the course of their subsequent meetings, which took place over a series of long, boozy meals: I could detect no change in his alertness or joviality as the waiter arrived with relays of 300 grams of vodka or 600 grams of Armenian brandy. Like my father, Kim had amazing stamina for drink; the pair of them would knock it back over games of chess at the flat in Moscow (while I ran around wreaking havoc in the living room) and on the long trips to Siberia and Bulgaria they took together. birth date: 1912-01-01. birth place: Ambala. And it is to these that my mind turns as I make my way from my hotel, across Red Square, the following day towards Kims flat, following the route marked out in pencil on a rather vague map drawn up from the combined memories of various family members, none of whom has been here in more than 20 years. When Burgess and Maclean fled to Moscow, avoiding capture, Kim was the chief suspect for having given them the heads-up. We searched every corner until Kim suddenly struck himself on the head with his hand, went to a cupboard and brought back the boot. Whatever you believe, Kim felt history would prove him right: Ill be remembered as a good man, he told my mum just two years before his death, Discussing the reasons for this in the introduction to Boroviks book, The Philby Files, the journalist and biographer Phillip Knightley who interviewed my grandfather at length during his final years in Moscow writes: Could the British intelligence service really be run by such fools that no one had noticed that precious information was leaking to Moscow? In his diary for the London Review of Books, Bennett wrote: Philby does seem to have been responsible for the betrayal and presumed torture and death of a network of agents in a way thats never been proved of Blunt. Hed been worried about leaving her and their children to carry on without him, but shed given him the all-clear to go. Kim was won over by the Communist cause while a student at Cambridge University, and upon graduation in 1933, travelled to Vienna to serve the international Communist organisation Comintern which was illegal in Austria with 100 in his pocket given to him by his father, St John, who was also a Cambridge graduate. But as the author Graham Greene my grandfathers close friend and a fellow British intelligence officer, who worked under him at MI6 wrote in the introduction to Kims autobiography, My Silent War: The end, of course, in his eyes is held to justify the means, but this is a view taken, perhaps less openly, by most men involved in politics, if we are to judge them by their actions, whether the politician be a Disraeli or a Wilson. After all, they won the war.'". Bungling helicopter pilot blows over stadium roof injuring eight, BBC Breakfast celebrates forty years of hilarious bloopers, Ken Bruce will be joining the Greatest Hits Radio family in April, As it happened: UK Government blocks Scotland's new gender law, Royal Family will find it 'impossible' to compromise with Sussexes, Extinction Rebellion douse the Home Office building in black paint, Harrowing moment woman begs father not to kill himself, Motorists slowly drive down snowy hill in treacherous conditions, Shamima Begum never considered turning back during journey to ISIS, Kamala opts out of kneeling with Biden for Warriors photo op. Back in England, begins to cover up his past, joining the Anglo-German Fellowship, editing its pro-Hitler magazine. Halfway there, they switched cars and drove to a small airport in the Soviet zone of Austria. History / World. Meets Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross. 1929Enters Trinity College, Cambridge. This is not the first time Charlotte Philby has written in defense of her grandfathers actions. If we were really lucky, sometimes and this was still the 1980s thered be a distant ringing, and from a compartment near the gear stick, our escort would pull out a telephone attached to a spiral cord, which hed talk into in a low voice, repeating the same two words, horosho and da, again and again before hanging up. Inside, the atrium leading to the main sorting office and collection point is now dotted with stalls selling electronic goods, pricey mobile-phone accessories and flowers at 3 a stem. In her article, published yesterday in British daily The Independent, she describes Kim Philby as "a proud man, and one who chose to publicly stand by his actions". "I said something to the escort and he just stayed silent, sitting, leafing through his magazine. . kims flat is several floors up, in an apartment block not far from Pushkin Square, marked out from the rest by a tiny balcony. Primary Sources. 1934Marries Communist Jew Litzi Friedman. Of course, he made bold and hugely controversial decisions, some of which had fatal consequences, but he didnt do so lightly. His eldest son was my father, John - who was himself a 19-year-old art student in 1963 when he first learnt of Kim's espionage; stepping off a ferry on the Isle of Wight, he was met by a billboard stating that Kim was a wanted man. 1942Marries Aileen Furse, with whom he has two daughters and three sons. Her mood changed, though, with Stalins death in March 1953 and the prospect that the Soviet Union might now become a more open place. His ashes were brought back to England, as he had requested, and buried in his parents grave after dark and by torchlight so that the press would not get wind of it. When you look at the way Edith is referred to in the [security services] files as that foreign woman, I wonder whether theres a sense of embarrassment too. That was my dad leaving to go to Kims funeral [in 1988] and we were hounded by paparazzi. "Kim said to me, 'I came here totally fully of information, I wanted to give everything I had but no one was interested," explained Pukhova. References. The spy novelist, whose latest book tells the story of her grandfather Kim Philby and the Soviet agent Edith Tudor-Hart, talks about the perils of writing about family, and why female spies get overlooked. But the place where Kims presence looms largest from every corner is in his study. Were you always aware that your family had this extraordinary history? To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. But they were quasi-spy novels so I ended up talking about them in relation to his story anyway. On one occasion, when dropping us off at the airport, Kim and my dad were so sloshed they were shoved into a cupboard under the stairs with a bottle of vodka by staff to keep them quiet, while the British ambassador ambled around the main terminal building waiting for the same flight to London. As Kim told my mother when she asked him if he felt any remorse, he believed he was a soldier, fighting a bloody war in the bloodiest century in history. I think part of the appeal of writing this book was trying to reconcile the ways in which Ive come to understand him: as a grandfather; a father; a friend; a traitor; an idealist. In the middle of the bookcase behind his desk, above his empty chair, just where Kims head would have rested, a single book looms out, cover first. She flew to New York to see her daughter Annie, and it was there that several letters arrived from Philby. Macleans outward calm in the face of exile was greatly bolstered by his wifes support. He liked the fact that you could only buy seasonal goods in Moscow, but asked family members to bring out the non-perishables he loved and couldnt get there marmalade, Marmite and Worcestershire sauce. Published: 00:50 GMT, 17 April 2018 | Updated: 14:46 GMT, 17 April 2018, For 15 years, British diplomat Donald Maclean was passing state secrets to his KGB masters. Rather than angrily confront Philby, the American stated he would ask with considerable satisfaction, "How do . Personal life. In those days, correspondence had to be sent to a PO Box; and in his reply, Kim would sign off under a special code name, Panina (a combination of Pa and Nina, the alias used for Kims wife). At the sight of our car, the men leap from their posts, saluting and buzzing the electric gates; one jumps into the front seat and calls out instructions as we roll off again. This is the first time Ive ever stood at the foot of my grandfathers grave, but I know it instantly. Kim Philby In Moscow: Not What He Wished For. There are things I know for certain about my grandfather. Later she became a journalist at the Independent. How much more so when its your own family?My relationship to my grandfather is complex and constantly evolving. She was incredibly brave, incredibly loyal; she was completely faithful to the things she loved and believed in, and she had a firm belief that she had to do the right thing. Everything has seen better days. It seemed a fitting finale for such a notable spy. Although she would be left pitied, even censured, and alone in a country in which she had spent barely one-tenth of her life, it might be better that he should be free to live a new life in Moscow than spend a decade behind bars. Edith and Kim: The brilliant new historical spy novel based on the true story of the woman behind the Cambridge spies in Cold War espionage. In any case, even if an address had been known for grandpa, it may not have been much use in 2010. The Soviet authorities buried him with honors when he died in 1988. It was seeing those photos as a six-year-old child which helped first alert me to the fact that there was something a bit different about grandpa Kimsky. [1] Philby began his work for the Soviet Union as a spy in 1934. He said, 'Why do old people live so badly here? He was 76. Looking around Kims study now, past the proud photo of him with the local ice-hockey team, below one of his father and another of various key Soviet politicians shaking hands, my eye is drawn to a large black-and-white print of Che Guevara, which looks out from above one of the bookshelves in the far right-hand corner, like an all-seeing eye. He never promised to give up, but once, completely unexpectedly, he suddenly said, 'I'm afraid I'm going to lose you, I'm not going to drink any more.' It's Mr (coffee) Bean! 1944Appointed head of Section IX, newly formed to operate against Communism and the Soviet Union. 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