";s:4:"text";s:23859:"All Rights Reserved. Mon 27 Jun 2005 20.03 EDT. Like many nonagenarians, Melita Norwood did her best to keep her mind active. The revelations came as a total surprise to Norwood's daughter, Anita Ferguson, who didnt find out her mother was a spy until she read about it in the paper. 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. Melita Norwood, now called Joan Stanley, is played by two actors. ''I would not have liked to have kept such a secret.''. They had one daughter: Anita Ferguson (born Norwood). Only in 1965 did MI5 get wise to the risk she posed. 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. Melita (everyone called her Lette) had joined the company as a clerk in 1937. pink house() 8226 Right to the end, Norwood maintained her belief in communism. The government decided against prosecuting her. Alma mater. It came as a massive shock to her daughter and to Dr Burke, who already knew Norwood. She was lovely, a pure lady, says Sheila Howell, who was a neighbour for more than 20 years. When everything she had done came out in the newspapers her neighbours were stunned. '', See the article in its original context from. Her handler described her as a loyal, trustworthy, disciplined agent who passed to the KGB a large amount of vital data. At the height of the war in 1943, she took time off to have a child, Anita. Your email address will not be published. Melita Norwood. 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). / She began her spying career in the 1930s while working as a secretary for the Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association in London. 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. 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. 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. 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. And how had the mole managed to infiltrate our system? Melita Norwood Judi Dench gives us the painful memories and rickety joints of the old Joan, tending a garden in the suburbs in 2000 when Special . Her name has been changed and the story sexed up, but there is no doubt it is based on unlikely operative Norwood. Sir Winston Churchills wife started sending packages to support the Russians. 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 . Tony Harris - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images. 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. Baru-baru ini filem Red Joan lakonan Judi Dench sebagai Joan Stanley telah dihasilkan dan ditayangkan. Newly released files from the Mitrokhin archive make clear how vital a KGB source Norwood . How fortunate she was. He founded the Southern Worker And Labour And Socialist Journal in Southampton. Pada tahun 2013, penulis Jennie Rooney telah menerbitkan sebuah novel berjudul Red Joan, berdasarkan kisah kehidupan Norwood. GRANNY Melita Norwood, the Soviet Union's top British spy, has died aged 93 - it was revealed last night. Born in 1912 she was brought up with Communists, Socialists and Leninists. As a member of the Independent Labour Party, and later the Communist Party, she had already been recruited as an agent at a meeting of the Friends of the Soviet Union. It is based on the six trunkloads of documents brought to the West by Vasily Mitrokhin, 77, the former chief archivist of the K.G.B. 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. In general, I do not agree with spying against ones country. Why Bother? This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Which substance has the highest temperature? She thought he was the best. 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. Her lofty motivations are a far cry from Norwood's deliberate choices. "And she had her gardening: flowers at the front, vegetables at the back. She added, ''In general, I do not agree with spying against one's country.''. 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. View our online Press Pack. She told the newspaper that ''in the same circumstances, I know that I would do the same thing again.''. 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.'' July 21, 2020 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review, Your email address will not be published. only confirmed she was a spy in the 1990s. 09:22 GMT 28 Jun 2005, Bungling helicopter pilot blows over stadium roof injuring eight, Coles worker fights a woman allegedly trying to steal groceries, BBC Breakfast celebrates forty years of hilarious bloopers, Royal Family will find it 'impossible' to compromise with Sussexes, Ken Bruce will be joining the Greatest Hits Radio family in April, As it happened: UK Government blocks Scotland's new gender law, Russian pro-war fanatic warns Britain could be 'wiped off the map', Motorists slowly drive down snowy hill in treacherous conditions, Harrowing moment woman begs father not to kill himself, Shamima Begum never considered turning back during journey to ISIS. Melita Stedman Norwood ( ne Sirnis; 25 Maret 1912 - 2 Juni 2005) adalah seorang pegawai negeri Inggris dan sumber intelijensi KGB. All she was doing was trying to help people it wasnt selfish.. The Russians knew how to build a bomb, but they didnt know how to build a nuclear reactor to extract the uranium. The newspaper will begin on Monday to serialize a book published in Britain as ''The Mitrokhin Archive: The K.G.B. 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. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. She says he disapproved of her spying, but "never tried to stop me". Klaus Fuchs, Physicist Who Gave Atom Secrets to Soviet, Dies at 76 The New York Times. If you want to learn more about this . <br>Who would have thought she was a spy? Who is Melitta Norwood? Members of her family didnt know what was going on at all. Daughter of Alex Sirnis and Private Wife of . 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. Red Joan (2018) Ben Miles as Nick IMDb. In 1979, she and her husbandwho knew about her spying and disapprovedvisited Moscow so the Soviet Union could award her the Order of the Red Banner (she accepted the honorary award, but turned down the financial reward). Despite her odd hobby no one really thought much of it but if they had perhaps her past wouldn't have come as so much of a shock as reporters clambered for a shot of her on her drive. Then in 1999 an extensive archive of KGB material was uncovered by a defector. I made the approach.". In 1967, she recruited a British civil servant 'Hunt' who passed on secrets about arms sales for nearly 15 years. Geoffrey Levy for MailOnline
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.. 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. 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. 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. "I thought perhaps what I had access to might be useful in helping Russia to keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany. '', Ray Simmons, 67, a retired chief technician at the University of Greenwich, who lives nearby, commented: ''I've known her for 20 years, and she never gave a hint of anything like that. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. Cu MIX za . 1999, 22 April Mr Straw is told that the Attorney General had advised against prosecution as it would be "inappropriate". We didnt know what to think.. . 09:21 GMT 28 Jun 2005 She says she was working for the ideology not the financial reward. During that time she had handed over the country's secrets - willingly - to Russia, among them crucial information about the atomic bomb and its development. Today brings a fresh reminder of a national disgrace, the failure to prosecute Melita Norwood for treason. The file arrived in Britain in 1992 when KGB Major Vasili Mitrokhin defected to Britain, bringing with him, in six trunks, an archive of 30 years of Soviet secrets. She declined it her spying was, after all, a matter of principle. In 2013, author Jennie Rooney published a novel, Red Joan, loosely based on Norwoods life. One resident, Robert Leck, 78, a former bomb disposal unit RAF corporal, recalls Lette doing the shopping at the Co-op for other elderly neighbours, visiting anyone she thought might be lonely or unwell. Melita would drop off her seven-year-old daughter, Anita, at the local primary school. 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. Melita Norwood was a die-hard communist and unapologetic about her spying. Whatever she may have done, I love her, said the mother of two. The cause of death was not disclosed. 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", ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Anita FergusonMelita Norwood / Daughter. 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. I certainly didnt.. 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. 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. 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. 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. , updated Get started FOR decades the secret services were left chasing shadows in the hunt for agent Hola Russias most effective spy in Britain. Everyone liked her. It was directed by Trevor Nunn, [10] and produced by David Parfitt, with a screenplay by Lindsay Shapero. ''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.''. Invest in the future today. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images) Embed Save PURCHASE A LICENSE Melita Norwood, on the other hand codenamed Hola was a model of reliability. Mrs. Norwood had been obliged to confront the press gathered at her gate by disclosures of her past in The Times of London. His occupation was Yes. I certainly didn't.". And the sleepy South Staffordshire . Agent Hola's time was up. It also offered her a pension of 20 a month. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. 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. Sat 2 Jul 2005 21.01 EDT. 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. The information helped the communist state catch up with Britain in the race to build the deadliest weapons ever seen. 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. 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 was to be her big chance, as the association played a key part in our nuclear project, codenamed Tube Alloys when it began four years later. Jennie Rooneys book Red Joan is inspired by the story she found but, When Leo is away, Joan begins to fall for co-worker. Also known as Anita L Goertz, A L Ferguson. 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. 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. Her espionage activities weren't publicly revealed until 1999, when former archivist Vasili Mitrokhin - who. She did say she spied, but what? This was a woman who was seen pottering around tending to her vegetables and flowers. 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. It was a terrible shock. Anita (l. 1943) Pekerjaan. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Who would have thought she was a spy? We see Joan struggle with the Communist Party she is dropped into thanks to the company she keeps. She thought he was the best. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. She's a very good person, very strong and totally unmaterialistic," she told The Daily Mail at the time. It was a complete shock at the time, says Anita, now 71. Posted on January 17, 2022 | by . Sitting in front of Max, her boss, she simply suggests using a centrifuge as causally as you would suggest having a cup of tea before turning back to her notes. In many other countries, the grey-haired great-grandmother would have ended her days in prison, or even been shot. Pendant prs de 35 ans, Mme Norwood a copi et transfr vers l'Union sovitique des centaines de documents secrets sur le programme nuclaire . I remember her talking to me once about Karl Marx. 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. / All of this is shown in Red Joan, but what's missing is the other work Norwood did - she was also a recruiter. 's foreign intelligence section, who defected to the British in 1992. Related To Kenneth Ferguson, Cameron Ferguson, Curtis Ferguson, Separate Ferguson, Monica Ferguson. But, her activities never made her rich, and she continued to live in the rather basic London house she bought with her husband in the 1950s. 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. Until her death in 2005 . Melita Norwood was the daughter of a Latvian father and English mother, and had a sister and half-brother. 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. Judi Dench By the time she agreed to work for the KGB, she had been promoted and was personal assistant to the director. 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 . Lettes work for the Soviets continued right up until her retirement from the company in 1972, when she was 60. Links to more UK stories are at the foot of the page. anita ferguson daughter of melita norwood About; FAQ; Contacts; Location Resides in Monticello, AR. Melita Norwood. So who was Hola? After all, Norwood had actually been investigated no less than seven times, she'd even been identified as a security risk in 1965. At the age of 20, in . In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Unions longest-serving British spy. A . She didnt draw attention to herself. 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? / Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. Melita Norwood, codenamed Hola, was a prized spy in Moscow Passed on Britain's top nuclear secrets over a period of 35 years Her name emerged in the Mitrokhin Archive nine years after she died. . From World War II through the Cold War, she stole nuclear secrets from the office where she worked as a secretary and. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Even after she was publicly exposed in 1999 as having worked for the KGB, neighbours found it very hard to condemn the nice old girl whod been such a good neighbour for decades. ''It's probably better I didn't know,'' she said. Melitapassed away. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. 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. Melita was thirty-eight years of age and Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday. Nunn swiftly takes us back in time to 1938, when Joan (a gracefully convincing Sophie Cookson) was a green but genius physics student at Cambridge, grabbing onto new inspirations and expanding her political horizon while growing into her sexuality. For 14 free days, you can have access to a world of in-depth analyses, investigative journalism, top opinions and a range of features. Working so close to highly classified research, Lette had to go through a security vetting. Norwood was coming clean because a Cambridge historian had discovered her espionage while writing a book, but she was unrepentant. Her memorable film roles included The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, alongside Elvis Presley in Roustabout, and on TV in series including Perry Mason and 77 Sunset Strip. 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. And she had her gardening: flowers at the front, vegetables at the back. Norwood wasn't a physicist she was a drop out from Southampton University, where she only studied Latin and Logic for a year. Right up to her death in 2005, Mrs Norwood never wavered from the conviction that what she did was right. Where in Bexleyheath did Melita Norwood live? Creative Editorial Spy/Daughter Anita Ferguson 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. But Cambridge Universitys Dr David Burke, who interviewed Norwood for a book about her life, The Spy Who Came In From The Co-Op, insisted last night: She was a crucial spy. The Soviet Union's bomb coincided with the onset of The Cold War, and threatened humankind with extinction. Widowed for 13 years, she was a keen gardener - surrounded by the fruits of her labour as she gave her statement - and was seen as bit of a dotty old woman by her neighbours. Find family history information in a whole new way. Still, she refuses to discuss the actual passing over of documents and refuses to say who wooed her to the KGB. She married chemistry teacher Hilary Norwood (formerly named Nussbaum), also a Communist, in 1935, and two years later they bought the house on Garden Avenue where she would live for the next 65 years. 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 . 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. Daughter. Norwood died in 2005, but people have remained fascinated with her story.
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. ";s:7:"keyword";s:39:"melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson";s:5:"links";s:346:"Rbwh Suburb Catchment Area,
Oatmeal Survival Bars,
Articles M
";s:7:"expired";i:-1;}