"Once, a big group of us were on a trip on the Volga: Kim and I and, of course, his KGB escort, and the escort's daughter. Kim Philby drank while Guy Burgess, who was gay, missed his friends in London, including Anthony Blunt whose spying activities, though known to the government, were kept under wraps until they were exposed much later, in 1979. John Philby, who has died aged 65, was the eldest son of the Russian spy Kim Philby, unmasked in 1963 as a double agent and the notorious Third Man in the Cambridge spy ring of the 1930s. They took the train to Zurich, where they changed trains to Schwarzach in Austria. Of course, he made bold and hugely controversial decisions, some of which had fatal consequences, but he didnt do so lightly. They had access to the special shops reserved for the Soviet elite, and were able to import canned goods and drinks from Denmark. 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. I remember Kims words: I have followed exactly the same line the whole of my adult life. Philby exposed. "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. But they were quasi-spy novels so I ended up talking about them in relation to his story anyway. Kim leapt up and shouted, 'Whoever is rude to my wife is rude to me!' 1925Attends Westminster School in London. Your email address will not be published. Charlotte Philby. Lets have another drink on it, old man. Good old Kim. I would like to have drawn Bennett further on his comments, but unfortunately, when I contacted his agent to request a meeting, my invitation was declined. He had got afraid that I would leave, and hidden the boot.". She and her late father, the spy's eldest son, John, both had to live with continuing speculation about the motivation for Philby's treachery. Kim Philbys granddaughter describes memories of her grandfather. Kim Philby drank while Guy Burgess, who was gay, missed his friends in London, including Anthony Blunt whose spying activities, though known to the government, were kept under wraps until they. En route, I pass some of Kims old haunts, and heeding his advice to visitors If you can no longer feel your nose, go inside stop off briefly for coffee at that famous Soviet hangout the Hotel Metropole. In our final extract, she secretly joins him behind the Iron Curtain. This is the first time Ive ever stood at the foot of my grandfathers grave, but I know it instantly. The extent of these contrasts can be seen by comparing two articles appearing on consecutive days in the Moscow Times. Eleanor Philby. After graduating from Washington University, she worked for the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson in San Francisco. He got himself a job teaching English in a school. children: John David Philby Josephine F. Philby Dudley Thomas Philby Miranda Philby Harry George Philby Birth. children: Dudley Thomas Philby, Harry George Philby, John David Philby, Josephine F. Philby, Josephine Philby, Miranda Philby, Tommy Philby Born Country: India Spies British Men Died on: May 11, 1988 place of death: Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Cause of Death: Heart Failure More Facts Recommended Lists: British Celebrities Russian Celebrities Image: Barney Beech, A Sunday Times best book of the year, here is Edith and Kim in review - and where to find signed first editions, An interview with Stephanie Merritt about Edith and Kim, the perils of writing about family, and why female spies often get overlooked, From a compendium of stories about life at the Bauhaus to a Modernist memoir by the founder of the iconic Isokon, here are some of the books that inspired my forthcoming novel, For the Telegraph, I wrote about the woman who recruited my grandfather to the Soviets - the subject of my forthcoming novel Edith and Kim, My tribute to the late - and truly great - master of spy fiction, for the i paper, From a celebration of the life of John le Carr at Cheltenham to an exploration of women and crime in Chiswick, please join me at one of the following events, across the country (and the internet!). The two men in the front seat my guards of honour peer out in silence, squinting their eyes against the sunlight as it pours in through the canopy of trees above. . Joins Cambridge University Socialist Society. There are things I know for certain about my grandfather. 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. birth date: 1912-01-01. birth place: Ambala. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Rufina Pukhova, his Russian-Polish wife, said Philby struggled to control his drinking by downing only two glasses of cognac a night and then handing her the bottle to hide. We walk on in silence; the others hold back, bowing their heads, as I take my place in front of another plot a few feet away. 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. Where do you write?I wrote Edith and Kim all over the place because weve been in the process of moving house for the past couple of years, but now I have a shed at the bottom of our garden where I can feel Im in the middle of nowhere, and Im never leaving! Macleans study resembled that of a Cambridge professor, with copies of Trollope, biographies of Gladstone and airmail editions of The Times. 1955Government white paper on Burgess-Maclean affair. She cashed a substantial cheque, bought her toddler daughter some new clothes and settled an outstanding garage bill. He worked as a journalist until 1940, when Guy . And if a soldier is fighting for a cause he believes in, which he believes is worth sacrificing single human lives for, but then in the end his side loses the war, does that mean that he was wrong to have stood up and fought in the first place? 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. The comments below have not been moderated. The Soviet authorities buried him with honors when he died in 1988. Everything has seen better days. She hoped Donald would now find a way of getting in touch with her. Macleans outward calm in the face of exile was greatly bolstered by his wifes support. He betrayed his country yes, perhaps he did, Greene continues, but who among us has not committed treason to something or someone more important than a country? In his own words: I am really two people. The fight against Fascism and the fight against imperialism were fundamentally the same fight.. 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. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Kim Philby in Russia in 1968, five years after defecting. Im reminded of a brief phone conversation I had earlier this morning with one of Kims old KGB comrades, whom Id been in contact with during the course of my research for this article, who told me that a gang of five or six of Kims former colleagues still meet up every month and raise a toast in his honour. It was, in fact, those journeys to Kims flat which form some of my strongest early memories: flying down the third lane of the motorway in an unmarked car. Elliott was born in London, the son of Claude Aurelius Elliott, a don at Cambridge and Headmaster at Eton, where Nicholas was sent after Durnford School, a prep school on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset.. After leaving Trinity College, Cambridge, Elliott was offered a post in 1938 as Honorary Attache at the Hague by Sir Nevile Bland.His career in secret intelligence came by chance . Required fields are marked *. Maclean accused Philby of being a double agent working for the British and they stopped speaking. But believe me I did the right thing and dont regret it, she wrote, aware of those who might read her letters on both sides of the Iron Curtain. A large amount of the letters in the book are lifted verbatim from those. What are you writing next?After publishing four novels in four years, Im taking more time to write the next one. Inside, however, the lift is as temperamental as it ever was, so I make the journey to his flat by foot, instantly recognising the strange studded-leather front door as I emerge from the stairwell. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The Philby case has always fascinated me. 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. The central post office, where Kim would come every morning to pick up his mail and a stack of British and American newspapers, stands halfway up on the left. Required to take new names and identities, Maclean chose to be Mark Petrovich Frazer (after the Cambridge anthropologist Sir James Frazer of Golden Bough fame, a 12-volume study of mythology and religion). A Double Life: The Times & Observers Thriller of the Month. Back in England, begins to cover up his past, joining the Anglo-German Fellowship, editing its pro-Hitler magazine. But as the months turned into years and no word came from him, she sank into depression at the realisation that she was now bringing up their children alone. I feel as if I have been through some form of therapy, Ive purged these questions in a way. St John, who had joined the British Foreign Service in 1917, when his only son was five years old, was also a non-conformist. Which author do you most admire?I dont have favourites, but I love Helen Dunmore. There are so many ways that Kims choices have continued to occupy my mind since my dad died in 2009, but I do feel that this book draws a line under it. Indeed, when the leading Russian writer Genrikh Borovik was given access to Kims unseen KGB file in 1994 six years after his death the extent to which the Russians mistrusted him became clear. Later, I notice the same sign above a statue of Lenin near the former KGB headquarters. It was a miracle. Melinda Maclean. He barely embraced his wife. Area of responsibility extended to include North African and Italian espionage. How easy did you find it to capture Kims voice?I spent so long with his letters and they gave me such an insight into the expressions he used, the way he spoke, how he flipped between being tender and reflective and witty and scathing, and his very English obsession with the weather. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. Eleanor found Melinda amusing but nervous and highly strung and yearning for the luxuries of Western capitalism. One can hardly overlook the irony of a man who so resolutely betrayed his country, surrounding himself in his Soviet apartment with British condiments, newspapers and light-hearted English classics. But no matter; allowing myself plenty of time to get lost, Im soon heading towards the apartment where my grandfather lived out the final 25 years of his life under the watchful eye of Moscow and where his widow Rufa is currently preparing an enormous spread for our afternoon tea. It was bad enough with Kim and the Cambridge spies showing up the British establishment, but the idea that this foreign Jewish woman might run rings around men in positions of authority, perhaps that was embarrassing for them. All was reasonably well between them until Kim Philby the master-spy who recruited him back in their Cambridge days himself defected in 1963. Those are the facts but there are plenty of question marks too. Published by Charlotte Philby on 12th June 2018. When her brother-in-law, Alan Maclean, asked her whether she would join Donald if she knew for sure that he was behind the Iron Curtain, she gave a firm No. 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. She liked it that he was a man with strong beliefs, and agreed to stand by him. One of the first tasks he was given was to spy on his own father, which he did, without question digging up very little, because, though the Russians failed to believe it, there was nothing to dig up. 1962George Blake is caught. 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. 23. Just beyond the crossroads which dominates Pushkin Square the spot where its said dissidents would meet, acknowledging each other by removing their hats is the former site of the Hotel Minsk (like much of the city, now under a lengthy reconstruction process), where Kim first met the journalist Murray Sayle in 1967. Donald refused to become part of the twilight brigade community of defectors, down-at-heel, disillusioned and wondering how they had got there. Philby is summoned for interrogation and asked to resign from Foreign Service. He believed in freedom of speech and thought that Stalinism and all that were temporary and obviously, the outcome proved otherwise. As previously noted, this has been taken as a sign along with his heavy drinking that in the end, Kim was left a broken man, disillusioned and dejected, having arrived in Moscow expecting to be given important assignments and a high-ranking role in the KGB, only to be left with very little to do, and plied with booze to keep him compliant. Standing on the balcony, you can see the same school playground, where children in heavy ski jackets are involved in a timeless game launching themselves from the top of a flight of concrete stairs to the ground below, cushioned with thick blankets of snow. But I dont think my grandfather ever questioned a single decision he made. 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. But the place where Kims presence looms largest from every corner is in his study. Bennett concludes: Charlotte Philby thinks her grandfather was more honest, but its a saloon-bar honesty. He did all he could do for a cause he believed in: what was there to regret? He was tall and fair; she was slight with curly, dark hair. 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. 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. Exposure showed me along with William Boyds Restless how you can write a novel that is ostensibly a spy story but is really about the people, and the families, at the heart of a great betrayal. Charlotte Philby, daughter of John Philby, H.A.R. 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. He needed a secret sharer in his life as well as someone to admire him. Philby spied on his poor wife Aileen, the mother of his children His passage up to the highest levels of MI6 was so swift and easy that from time to time his Soviet controllers worried he must. 1941Transferred to SIS Iberian sub-section. But more generally womens roles in espionage have been sidelined, and I wonder if thats because a lot of this history has been recorded by men. 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. But above all, the problem was that Kims intelligence was too good, and to their detriment intelligence services are geared to believe that the better information is, the more it should be questioned. 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. "Kim" Philby's oldest son, has penned an extensive account of her memories of her grandfather. The whole plan is being masterminded by Kim Philby in Moscow. Kim Philby: new revelations about spy emerge in secret files UK government launched campaign to block memoirs being published fearing damaging disclosures Kim Philby had been secretly. And while on holiday in Majorca, she gave away a lot of her clothes to the maid of a family she was staying with. His cover story was that he was a political migr, a trade union leader persecuted in England for his political views. 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. When I asked my dad, shortly before he died late last year, how hed felt about his own fathers betrayal, he told me exactly what Kim had told Sayle during that interview in 1963: To betray, you must first belong. And as Kim said himself: I never belonged. My dad always had great respect for my grandfather; he told me that even when he was a child, he always knew he was up to something he just didnt know what. 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