melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson

Only in 1965 did MI5 get wise to the risk she posed. Norwood was survived by her daughter, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild. '', At Dillons Newsagents, Peter Dodd, the assistant manager, said he had been surprised years ago when he first saw her orders for Communist publications. 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. 00:48 GMT 19 Jul 2014. In 1949 they detonated their first atomic bomb four years earlier than expected. He kept sensitive documents in both, sometimes holding evening meetings at home at which Lette was expected to be on hand. 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. It was a complete shock at the time, says Anita, now 71. Invest in the future today. 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. 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. 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. Known as ''Letti'' to her friends, she was identified in K.G.B. In general, I do not agree with spying against ones country. She'd potter around the streets after her morning cup of tea, out of her Che Guevera mug, and deliver copies of the Communist Party newspaper, The Morning Star. In the film, the young Red Joan, played by Kingsman actress Sophie Cookson, is seduced by a handler and has an affair with her boss. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. These documents revealed Norwoods espionage, but British officials kept it secret because they didnt think there was enough evidence to prosecute. 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. She was an emotional Communist and quite naive. "Melita Norwood's relatives, friends and neighbours told [on 11 September 1999] of their shock on learning . When she visited Moscow with her husband in 1979, she was given an honor for her work, the Order of the Red Banner, which she accepted, and offered a financial reward, which she turned down. This week her daughter defended her mums decision to spy for the Soviets from 1934 to 1972. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. She was a bit worried so she took an aspirin before going in. No life could have looked more ordinary. Dr Burke says: She was a sophisticated spy. Melita Norwood akhirnya meninggal dunia pada tahun 2005 tetapi orang tetap terpesona dengan kisah hidupnya. While his identity still remains unknown to the public, Norwood confessed later: "I am not going to deny itI take complete responsibility and blame.". Incredibly, despite doubts about her extreme Left-wing sympathies and links, she was cleared. ''But she was just the normal grandmother who came in once a week to pay her bill. Her husband Harry, died in 1986. , updated 2023 Getty Images. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. She was recruited as a Russian agent by journalist Andrew Rothstein in 1934, at the age of just 22. Collect, curate and comment on your files. 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. View our online Press Pack. Melitapassed away. 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. Today brings a fresh reminder of a national disgrace, the failure to prosecute Melita Norwood for treason. Melita Norwood was a great-grandmother when her espionage was finally revealed. Find family history information in a whole new way Create a free family tree for yourself or for Melita Sirnis and we'll search for valuable new information for you. 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. Though Norwoods employers were suspicious of her ties to the Communist Party, over decades of work they never pinpointed her as a mole. Mona Maund, one of the first female MI5 agents, actually identified Norwood as a possible spy back in the 1930s, when Norwood was at the beginning of her espionage career. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Norwoods secret finally came out in September 1999, when The Times of London began to publish Andrews book serially. The reality is that Norwood was devoted to her husband, who she nursed through liver cancer up to his death in 1986. Melita Norwood She ended her days in a cosy, third-floor rented flat in a sheltered housing complex. She's a very good person, very strong and totally unmaterialistic," she told The Daily Mail at the time. Her father had fled from Russia to England and found a home here, but this meant little to Norwood. Date of death. 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. 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. She was a traitor to her country and had got away with it for decades. 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.. Melita Norwood aka Hola | Photo Credits: Green Left When asked to picture a KGB spy who smuggled nuclear secrets during the heights of the cold war, very few would imagine an 87-year-old great . She said her purpose had been to keep Russia abreast.". Dame Judy Dench stars as the KGB's longest serving British spy in 'Red Joan', Melita Norwood reads a statement in her garden, which she had lovingly tended, Judi Dench plays an older Joan Stanley, who is based on Norwood, Melita Norwood aged 87 when she faced the cameras, Sophie Cookson plays Joan Stanley, who is based on Norwood, The former British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association building in central London, Norwood read her statement, surrounded by the garden that she loved so much. 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. anita ferguson daughter of melita norwood About; FAQ; Contacts; Location Theodore Rothstein was one of the people in their group. Akce tdne. [8] Death [ edit] We all knew where her politics lay. It was a terrible shock. Intriguingly, it included profiles of 200 British KGB collaborators written by their Kremlin handlers. "She thought of Stalin in those early days as a sort of Clement Attlee figure. documents by the code name ''Hola.'' Straw said: "She had not in practice had authorized access to government secrets after 1949," and her security clearance was revoked in 1951. Selama sekitar 40 tahun sejak ia direkrut pada 1937, ia memberikan rahasia- rahasia negara kepada KGB (dan . Close. Joan also comes up with the idea of enriching uranium in the film, which is part of the process of making atomic energy. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. She removed items from her boss' safe, photographing details and sending them on to the Soviets, as is seen in the film. Unlike those Mata Hari-style seductresses whose treachery is based in the boudoir, Mrs Norwood was a very different kind of agent. Shes a very good person, very strong and totally unmaterialistic.. Norwood died on June 2, 2005 never facing trial for her crimes. Melita Norwood, now called Joan Stanley, is played by two actors. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. Behind this dull company name was an important firm involved in vital research. 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 . Also known as Anita L Goertz, A L Ferguson. ''I thought, 'Who is this nutter?' 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. The couple had one child, Anita, who was born in 1943. He said: "Melita was not a hard-line Stalinist. She was dressed in a wide-collared lavender floral print blouse and gray tweed skirt and clutched a handwritten piece of paper with slightly trembling fingers. Norwood never revealed to anyone what she was up to, not even to her Left-leaning husband Hilary, a maths teacher. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Dr Burke explains: At one time she was vetted again. Related To Kenneth Ferguson, Cameron Ferguson, Curtis Ferguson, Separate Ferguson, Monica Ferguson. 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. They had been married for 50 years when he died in 1986. When she was finally unmasked, confessing in her garden, the public called for her to be prosecuted but Home Secretary Jack Straw ruled that dragging such an old woman into court would be inappropriate. 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. 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. Her father had fled from Russia to, Key to this was research into metallurgy and this is exactly what Melita Norwood had access to in her apparently lowly job. She was born Melita Sirnis in 1912 near Southampton, the daughter of an English mother and a Latvian father who was a follower of Leo Tolstoy. 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