George Blake: Soviet Cold War spy and former MI6 officer dies in Russia George Blake, the former MI6 officer and one of the Cold War's most infamous double agents, has died aged 98, Russian media has reported. Over nine years, the Soviet spy handed over information that led to the betrayal of at least 40 MI6 agents in Eastern Europe.
Interesting "analysis" by George Corera BBC Security Correspondent, more a series of half baked comments actually.
Confession time..... I’d never heard of George Blake. Plenty of excuses like the fact I’m 38, Cold War was never covered at school (other than a special assembly at primary school when the Berlin Wall came down when I was 7) and I’ve had no interest in the topic until now. I have to say I’ve found his various obits really interesting reading today!
I read that he admitted to identifying/betraying over 400 British agents, over 40 of which were tortured and killed by the KGB. The man should have had his neck stretched.
This may provide an answer to why this traitor changed his mind: George Blake obituary Here are two passages:
There had been a whole raft of misplaced idealism among the Cambridge "intelligentsia" from the 1930's onward, even after the Soviet show trials and the exposure of the forced starvation of the Ukrainian Kulaks. Cambridge Five - Wikipedia
BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Breaking Blake BBC audio drama - Radio 4 - 215pm 19d1m2021 - and BBC Sounds - post broadcast. "Breaking Blake Drama George Blake, a member of MI6, passed secrets to the Russians and was sentenced to an unprecedented term of 42 years imprisonment. But after only four years, he was sprung from Wormwood Scrubs. Many assumed the KGB was behind the daring break-out. The truth is much stranger. Barnaby Kay revisits this incredible story. Cast: George Blake................................Michael Maloney Michael Randle.............................Elliot Levey Anne Randle..................................Claire Rushbrook Pat Pottle.......................................Tony Gardner Sean Bourke..................................Lloyd Hutchinson Alim/Doctor....................................Walles Hamonde Hawkins/Nice Barry........................Ben Crowe Boys...............................................Kellan & Merryn Dowley News reports.................................David Holt Secretary/Mum..............................Freya James Director ........................................Barnaby Kay Sound Recordist and Designer ......David Thomas Production Coordinator ................Sarah Tombling Producer........................................Karen Rose A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4"
BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, George Blake: The Confession BBC Radio 4 - 9pm - Friday 5th February - and BBC Sounds after broadcast. "George Blake: The Confession Archive on 4 A remarkable interview with the notorious double agent, who recently passed away. George Blake became a senior MI6 officer - even though he had converted to the Communist cause while held as a prisoner in North Korea. He photographed vast numbers of classified documents, and by his own estimates betrayed around 500 agents working for the Western powers. In the late 1980s, the journalist Tom Bower secured the first interview with Blake, in which he freely confessed to betraying his colleagues and described in detail his sensational escape from Wormwood Scrubs Prison in London, and his journey to exile in Moscow. This radio version was first broadcast in 2009."