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Toffs, Queers and Traitors: The Extraordinary Life of Guy Burgess is made by George Carey, who made the splendid documentary on George Blake that I watched recently, and mentioned over on the Russian History thread. That instantly makes me even more enthused about this new documentary which I have set up to record....
It was a scandal that shook the British establishment to its roots. In June 1951, the government was forced to admit that two Foreign Office diplomats had disappeared. One of them, Donald Maclean, had slipped through their fingers three days before he was due to be questioned for passing secrets to the Russians. The other, Guy Burgess, was a total surprise. He was a charming, clever Etonian, with powerful friends everywhere. And lovers too - at a time when homosexuality was illegal, Burgess made no secret of his sexual tastes. He turned out to be the most flamboyant of a ring of privileged Cambridge students who had secretly joined the Communists in the 1930s, disgusted by their own government's policy of appeasing Hitler.
With the help of newly declassified documents, George Carey's film shows how the most celebrated spy ring of the 20th century grew out of the class system, sexual hypocrisy and the sheer incompetence of some people who then ran Britain.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09fz33h
And this from the Radio Times....
Of all the Cambridge spies who betrayed Britain in the 1950s, Guy Burgess has to be the most fascinating. A louche intellectual and unashamedly extravagant homosexual, Burgess charmed his way into the inner sanctum of the establishment. In this exemplary biography, renowned film-maker George Carey has all the extraordinary details.
Recently declassified documents add legitimacy to the story of security service incompetence in not spotting Burgess’s espionage, but the real meat is in the interviewees: the last KGB officer to deal with Burgess; Kim Philby’s daughter; Churchill’s niece Clarissa Spencer-Churchill; and Burgess himself in a Canadian TV interview. Forget Smiley’s People, the tale of Burgess’s people is better than fiction.
http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programm...
Susan wrote: "What would we do without BBC4? I, personally, would have next to nothing to watch! After an excellent number of Russian documentaries, Monday sees a new documentary: Toffs, Queers and Traitors - th..."The Ben Macintyre documentary is excellent.
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I've started watching Toffs, Queers and Traitors: The Extraordinary Life of Guy Burgess and, at around the 30 minute mark, I think it's splendid.
As Burgess observes to his Soviet handler, who cannot believe how easily he got into MI6 - his class made him above suspicion and made it easy to get the job.
A gay, louche old Etonian with strong Communist sympathies - how could he possibly be spying for Russia? Sheesh.
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It's on iPlayer for 24 days...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...
I've now moved on to Kim Philby - His Most Intimate Betrayal which looks as though it will be every bit as fascinating. Both episodes on iPlayer for 24 days....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...
BBC4 - worth the licence fee for that channel alone
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The Ben Macintyre documentary 'Kim Philby - His Most Intimate Betrayal' continues to inform and engage.
I wonder to what extent there is much point in reading 'A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal' once someone has seen the documentary. Does anyone have a view on this?
Back to the doc, it is yet more evidence of the corrosive nature of the class structure in Britain...
"I was asked about him, and said I knew 'his people'." Thus a deputy head of MI6, with a clubbable nod to the tradition of elite families, ushered in with open arms to the most secret club in Britain, and with little more than a wink and a nod, Kim Philby, the most treacherous man this country has known. What's more his background effectively protected him for years after Burgess and Maclean had defected - he couldn't possibly be a spy, could he? He's one of us, member of the Athenaeum, Cambridge man, likes cricket etc etc.
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Both episodes on iPlayer for 23 days....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...
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a book I read when it first came out, is being re-released on kindle next month. When Anthony Blunt died in 1983, he was a man about whom almost anything could be - and was - said. As Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures and Director of the Courtauld Institute, Blunt's position was assured until his exposure in 1979 left his reputation in tatters. Miranda Carter's brilliantly insightful biography gives us a vivid portrait of a human paradox. Blunt's totally discrete lives, with their permanent contradictions, serve to remind us that there is no one key to any human being's identity: we are all a series of conflicting selves.
Well worth a read I think, as I recall really enjoying it and I like Miranda Carter
very much. She has written some excellent books, including
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Thanks Susan - I am sure I'd get a lot out of Anthony Blunt
Anthony Blunt, aesthete, communist, homosexual, MI5 agent and Soviet mole, was Surveyor of the King's Pictures and Director of the Courtauld Institute. Betrayed in 1963, he voted for Margaret Thatcher in 1979. Late that year, she was to expose his treachery and strip him of his knighthood. While the other Cambridge spies (Philby, Burgess and Maclean) subordinated their lives and careers to espionage, Blunt had a separate passionate existence. His reputation as an art historian was second to none: he made an enormous contribution to the establishment of art history as an academic discipline; his volumes on Poussin, French and Italian art and old master drawings are still in print and some are still set texts. At the Courtauld he trained a whole generation of world-class academics and curators.
Strongly recommend this - the Cambridge lot get a look in but there are some amazing chapters on others, including Mata Hari, the outrageous Alfred Redl and the Soviet spy who might just have won WW2, Richard Sorge. Take Nine Spies
Judy wrote: "There was a TV drama about Cambridge Spies some time back which I remember being good - Samuel West was one of the stars."Samuel West played Blunt. There is a scene where the then Queen Elizabeth (later The Queen Mother) says that she believes they are related. Which in TV show terms they were! "My mother will be your daughter, the next Queen (Prunella Scales in A Question of Attribution) and my father was your husband's grandfather. Indeed, I myself, as a very young child, was your husband's uncle ...(Timothy West was Edward VII, and young Samuel played his son Albert Victor)"
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Due out 25th Jan, 2018
What pushed Blunt, Burgess, Cairncross, Maclean and Philby into Soviet hands?
With access to recently released papers and other neglected documents,this sharp analysis of the intelligence world examines how and why these men and others betrayed their country and what this cost Britain and its allies.
‘Historians fumble their catches when they study individuals’ motives and ideas rather than the institutions in which people work, respond, find motivation and develop their ideas’ writes Richard Davenport-Hines in his history of the men who were persuaded by the Soviet Union to betray their country.
In a book which attempts to counter many contradictory accounts, Enemies Within offers a study of character: both individual and institutional – the operative traits of boarding schools, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Intelligence Division, the Foreign Office, MI5, MI6 and Moscow Centre.
The book refuses to present the Cambridge spies as they wished to be seen, in Marxist terms. It argues that these five men did their greatest harm to Britain not from their clandestine espionage but in their propaganda victories enjoyed from Moscow after 1951. Notions of trust, abused trust, forfeited trust and mistrust from the late nineteenth century to perestroika pepper its narrative.
In a book that is as intellectually thrilling as it is entertaining and illuminating, Davenport-Hines charts how the undermining of authority, the rejection of expertise, and the suspicion of educational advantages began with the Cambridge Five and has transformed the social and political temper of Britain.
Nigeyb wrote: "Kim Philby really was a piece of work. Incredible how he could have so casually consigned so many brave people to torture and death with barely a flicker of concern. They knew the risks they were t..."I read this book a couple of months ago and it is probably worth it even if you have seen the documentary.
The world of counter-intelligence is somewhat like a club of very special people or a family who share all their secrets over drinks and long dinners. Various operations and missions were topics of conversation that they mistakenly supposed would stay secret. Everyone trusted each other and Kim Philby was one of the most popular of this group. Little did they know he was passing everything he heard on to his KGB handlers. It makes you wonder how careless the government could have been but the "old school tie" certainly has its advantages.
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I still have the question about "why" did these young men turn traitor. I know that it was the thing to do to flirt with communism for young men at school either to shock their upper middle class parents or just to be different. But to take it a step further and actually become a spy, putting your country at risk and causing the death of others is quite a different matter. It is hard for me to believe that they actually felt that strongly about the communist ethos but instead rather enjoyed being "naughty boys" playing a dangerous game. That is probably too simplistic of an explanation (and maybe a little silly) but I'm at a loss to explain their actions.
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From the Russian revolution until the late 1950s Communism was perceived as a viable and credible way of organising a state - some believed it was an inevitability that the world would evolve to be 100% communist. It may seem bizarre from our 21st century perspective, but bear in mind that in 1945 the Communist Party of Great Britain won two seats in the general election. From 1945 to 1956 the CP was at the height of its influence - though this tailed off significantly after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. It was a similar story in much of Europe.
I think that also partly explains Philby's lack of remorse - those he sent to their deaths were just casualties of war - a righteous war in his mind.
I just have trouble seeing them as committed Communists although I know that Communism was looked upon differently then than it is now and that Fascism was really the enemy back in the day. But I am having trouble convincing myself that they would have gone as far as they did. Since your thoughts make absolute sense, I need to quit being so naive!! :>)
Whether they were comitted or not it is whether you consider post revolution Russia as communist or some kind of derivative far removed from the Marx/Engles some discussions held in Manchester.
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If they regretted being in Russia then either their theory of communism didn't match the reality or did they, given their sacrifice, expect privileges? Did the Russians see them as committed brothers and comrades or traitors and therefore untrustworthy.
I'll need to read and catch up with the BBC4 series.
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I don't think the Russians ever really trusted the Cambridge Spies, Michael- not completely anyway. They couldn't believe how easily they made it into such important positions. Probably, they never understood the concept of old school tie.
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Enemies Within by Richard Davenport-Hines review – the Cambridge spies and distrust of the elite
Did Burgess, Philby and Maclean wreak more damage to the British establishment following their exposure than they had while they were actually spying?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
This conclusion is especially interesting...
For Davenport-Hines...the worst damage was not the loss of trust within the establishment so much as the loss of faith in the establishment from the wider public. Indeed, part of the motivation for this book seems to have come from the 2016 Brexit vote, and the distrust of experts it communicated. Davenport-Hines writes that when Michael Gove said the public had had enough of experts, he was stoking the “populist delusion that one person’s opinion is as good as any other, and pretending that it is improper to value trained minds and rational expertise higher than instincts, inklings, hunches and overemotional fudge”.
It’s hard to see Brexit as caused, even indirectly, by the Cambridge spies. But it’s not hard to follow Davenport-Hines in his belief that the public distrust of the 1950s elite shares characteristics with the public distrust of today’s elite. As a result, this book manages to be both nostalgic and politically progressive when it seeks to remind us, passionately and eloquently, of the value of trust.
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For those of us interested in espionage, the kindle deal of the day is an interesting one:
Next Stop Execution: The Autobiography of Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Gordievsky was the highest ranking KGB officer ever to work for Britain.
For eleven years, from 1974 to 1985, he acted as a secret agent, reporting to the British Secret Intelligence Service while continuing to work as a KGB officer, first in Copenhagen, then in London.
He gave Western security organizations such a clear insight into the mind and methods of the KGB and the whole system of Soviet Government that he has been credited with doing more than any other individual in the West to accelerate the collapse of Communism.
Here for the first time his extraordinary, meticulously planned escape from Russia is described.
Peopled with bizarre, dangerous and corrupt characters, Gordievsky’s story introduces the reader to the fantastical world of the Soviet Embassy, tells of the British MPs and trade unionists who helped and took money from the KGB, and reveals at last what the author told Margaret Thatcher and other world leaders which made him of such value to the West.
Gordievsky’s autobiography gives a fascinating account of life as a secret agent. It also paints the most graphic picture yet of the paranoia and incompetence, intrigues and sheer nastiness of the all-encompassing and sometimes ridiculous KGB.
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Both sound right up my street, and I know you have impeccable taste Susan, so I will be delving into his work this year. Thanks.
Susan wrote: "For those of us interested in espionage, the kindle deal of the day is an interesting one:
Next Stop Execution: The Autobiography of Oleg Gordievsky"
That does sound fascinating. I'm off to grab a copy (the easy part) though wonder if I'll ever actually read it (the trickier part).
Thanks again
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It is a long, meandering book, which seems bent on giving me the history of espionage between the UK and Russia since - well, forever. However, there has, so far, been only a mere mention of Maclean and Philby, and I am quite far in. I have loved previous books by this author, but I am really not engrossed.... Just in case anyone was thinking of reading it, I thought I should mention my lack of enthusiasm. It might, of course, pick up and I will carry on in the hope it gets better.
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That you are not sure where Richard Davenport-Hines is going with Enemies Within: Communists, Cambridge Spies and the Making of Modern Britain suggests that he might have fallen into this familiar trap.
I hope it gets better soon.
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I've still got A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre to read which, on top of those two great documentaries (Philby. Burgess), will probably be enough for me.
Perhaps also the Blunt book - Anthony Blunt: His Lives by Miranda Carter?
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I remember being fascinated by Philby for years, but not sure if I'm that interested in the story any more.
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Winner of the St Ermin's Intelligence Book of the Year Award.
'One of the great biographies of 2015.' The Times
Fully updated edition including recently released information.
A Guardian Book of the Year. The Times Best Biography of the Year. Mail on Sunday Biography of the Year. Daily Mail Biography of Year. Spectator Book of the Year. BBC History Book of the Year.
'A remarkable and definitive portrait ' Frederick Forsyth
'Andrew Lownie's biography of Guy Burgess, Stalin's Englishman ... shrewd, thorough, revelatory.' William Boyd
'In the sad and funny Stalin's Englishman, [Lownie] manages to convey the charm as well as the turpitude.' Craig Brown
Guy Burgess was the most important, complex and fascinating of 'The Cambridge Spies' - Maclean, Philby, Blunt - all brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. An engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others, Burgess rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which he passed to his Russian handlers.
In this first full biography, Andrew Lownie shows us how even Burgess's chaotic personal life of drunken philandering did nothing to stop his penetration and betrayal of the British Intelligence Service. Even when he was under suspicion, the fabled charm which had enabled many close personal relationships with influential Establishment figures (including Winston Churchill) prevented his exposure as a spy for many years.
Through interviews with more than a hundred people who knew Burgess personally, many of whom have never spoken about him before, and the discovery of hitherto secret files, Stalin's Englishman brilliantly unravels the many lives of Guy Burgess in all their intriguing, chilling, colourful, tragi-comic wonder.
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The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake
by
Simon Kuper?
I got a copy out of the library and will be going in soon
Must say I am quite excited about it
'A deeply human read, wonderfully written, on the foibles of a fascinating, flawed, treacherous and sort of likeable character.' Philippe Sands
Those people who were betrayed were not innocent people. They were no better nor worse than I am. It's all part of the intelligence world. If the man who turned me in came to my house today, I'd invite him to sit down and have a cup of tea.
George Blake was the last remaining Cold War spy. As a Senior Officer in the British Intelligence Service who was double agent for the Soviet Union, his actions had devastating consequences for Britain. Yet he was also one of the least known double agents, and remained unrepentant.
In 1961, Blake was sentenced to forty-two years imprisonment for betraying to the KGB all of the Western operations in which he was involved, and the names of hundreds of British agents working behind the Iron Curtain. This was the longest sentence for espionage ever to have been handed down by a British court.
On the surface, Blake was a charming, intelligent and engaging man, and most importantly, a seemingly committed patriot. Underneath, a ruthlessly efficient mole and key player in the infamous 'Berlin Tunnel' operation. This illuminating biography tracks Blake from humble beginnings as a teenage courier for the Dutch underground during the Second World War, to the sensational prison-break from Wormwood Scrubs that inspired Hitchcock to write screenplay.
Through a combination of personal interviews, research and unique access to Stasi records, journalist Simon Kuper unravels who Blake truly was, what he was capable of, and why he did it.
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The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake (2021)
by
Simon Kuper
The reviews suggest a fascinating read into a person who was notorious in his day and lead an extraordinary life - and arguably a more interesting person than the Cambridge spies
I'll let you know
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The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake"
It's great
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
4/5
Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake (other topics)The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake (other topics)
The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake (other topics)
Stalin's Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess (other topics)
Anthony Blunt: His Lives (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Simon Kuper (other topics)Simon Kuper (other topics)
Ben Macintyre (other topics)
Miranda Carter (other topics)
Richard Davenport-Hines (other topics)
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/prog...
That documentary is followed by: Kim Philby - His Most Intimate Betrayal featuring the wonderful Ben Macintyre. Two parts, following each other, so make sure you record both if you are interested.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040bnsl