Includes Address (23) Phone (7) Email (7) See Results. Jack Straw, then Britain's home secretary, said in 1999 that superiors had become suspicious of Norwood in the 1940s. "'I Gave Bomb Secrets to Russia So It Could Stand Up to the West.'" . handlers, she said, she would blame it on traffic tie-ups -- an excuse he accepted though he knew it to be sham. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. The ideologically driven spy turned down a Russian pension and was never paid for her undercover work. Also known as Anita L Goertz, A L Ferguson. "I do not consider myself a spy," she told reporters. [8] Death [ edit] Her handlers were top Soviet spies Ursula Kuczynski, aka Red Sonja, and playboy Gordon Lonsdale, who was jailed in 1961 for espionage. Her name has been changed and the story sexed up, but there is no doubt it is based on unlikely operative Norwood. Resides in Fairfax Station, VA. ''It is a longstanding policy not to confirm or deny the details of security service investigations,'' she said. "Granny spy" Melita Norwood has died at the age of 93, her daughter has confirmed. 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. Anita Lynn Ferguson, 75. ''I'm sorry to get you all out like this on a Sunday,'' she told the waiting journalists. 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. It was a complete shock at the time, says Anita, now 71. She added, ''In general, I do not agree with spying against one's country.''. Posted on January 17, 2022 | by . Melita Norwood, nee Sirnis, was born in 1912, the English daughter of a Latvian father and a British mother, and grew up in unremarkable circumstances in the Home Counties. '', At Dillons Newsagents, Peter Dodd, the assistant manager, said he had been surprised years ago when he first saw her orders for Communist publications. 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. How fortunate she was. 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. Her confession that sunny Saturday came as a surprise to everyone but none more than her daughter, Anita, a school lab technician. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. 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 . Get started Today's newspapers predicted that the excerpts from Professor Andrew's book and an accompanying BBC documentary called ''The Spying Game'' would unmask up to a dozen more Britons who worked for Soviet intelligence, including a former Scotland Yard officer and a person described tantalizingly by the author as ''a prominent public figure who is now dead.''. Melita Norwood was a great-grandmother when her espionage was finally revealed. "Melita Norwood's relatives, friends and neighbours told [on 11 September 1999] of their shock on learning . 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. Melita Norwood, now called Joan Stanley, is played by two actors. In 2000, a parliamentary committee that oversaw intelligence agencies criticised the government for failing to prosecute Norwood. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. 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:. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. 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. Pada tahun 2013, penulis Jennie Rooney telah menerbitkan sebuah novel berjudul Red Joan, berdasarkan kisah kehidupan Norwood. 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. 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. Norwood wasn't a physicist she was a drop out from Southampton University, where she only studied Latin and Logic for a year. 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 . Norwood would make copies then deliver them to her KGB handlers. 93-year-old spy still keeping war secrets - BBC News Joan and Max go to Australia, but return to Britain at some point. 1999, 22 April Mr Straw is told that the Attorney General had advised against prosecution as it would be "inappropriate". "But I didnt immediately think of pinching it. I remember her talking to me once about Karl Marx. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. Well, she was partly aided by the boys club atmosphere of MI5, the British Security Service. Norwood never revealed to anyone what she was up to, not even to her Left-leaning husband Hilary, a maths teacher. <br> <br>'Red Joan': the film vs the facts. In 1967, she recruited a British civil servant 'Hunt' who passed on secrets about arms sales for nearly 15 years. It was directed by Trevor Nunn, [10] and produced by David Parfitt, with a screenplay by Lindsay Shapero. Today brings a fresh reminder of a national disgrace, the failure to prosecute Melita Norwood for treason. Access the best of Getty Images and iStock with our simple subscription plan. No life could have looked more ordinary. It was incredibly valuable. His occupation was Yes. Untroubled by the problems of the world, and with the added comfort of her married daughter Anita living nearby, Melita Norwood enjoyed the tranquillity of the small development ringed with flowering trees, and got on with her jam-making until her death, aged 93. 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. 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 . 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. 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. 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. 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. The newspaper will begin on Monday to serialize a book published in Britain as ''The Mitrokhin Archive: The K.G.B. 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. View our online Press Pack. The information helped the communist state catch up with Britain in the race to build the deadliest weapons ever seen. Lettes work for the Soviets continued right up until her retirement from the company in 1972, when she was 60. 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 . 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. Anita Ferguson, the daughter of Melita Norwood, "has spoken of her distress at discovering the double life led by her mother throughout her childhood." She was characterized as a "disciplined and Anita Ferguson, a school laboratory technician from Wombourne, Staffordshire, speaks to the media following the news that her 87-year-old mother. While his identity still remains unknown to the public, Norwood confessed later: "I am not going to deny itI take complete responsibility and blame.". Melita Norwood akhirnya meninggal dunia pada tahun 2005 tetapi orang tetap terpesona dengan kisah hidupnya. She was perusing the archives of 20th-century intelligence under the guidance of Professor Chris Andrew, MI5s official chronicler. There were several cries of ''traitor!'' 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. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Cu MIX za . 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. Key to this was research into metallurgy and this is exactly what Melita Norwood had access to in her apparently lowly job. The couple had, Its just what you did she says. From World War II through the Cold War, she stole nuclear secrets from the office where she worked as a secretary and. 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