
1922–2020
George Blake (né Behar; 11 November 1922 â 26 December 2020) was a spy who worked for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and became a double agent for the Soviet Union.
George Blake (né Behar; 11 November 1922 â 26 December 2020) was a spy who worked for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and became a double agent for the Soviet Union. Captured during the Korean War, he was imprisoned by North Korean forces and became a communist, deciding to work for the Ministry of State Security (MGB). Upon returning to the United Kingdom, he resumed work with MI6 while secretly passing classified information to the Soviets, betraying dozens of agents working on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain. Blake was eventually discovered in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison, one of the longest terms ever imposed for espionage in Britain. In 1966, with the help of fellow inmates and outside supporters, he escaped from HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs in West London. He fled the country and made his way to the Soviet Union, where he was received as a hero. Although not part of the Cambridge Five, Blake later associated with members such as Donald Maclean and Kim Philby after arriving in Moscow. He continued to live in the Soviet Union and, after its dissolution in 1991, remained in Russia. Blake was granted citizenship and lived out the rest of his life there, defending his actions until his death in 2020 at the age of 98.
Same nationality and era where possible; falls back to shared nationality or era.
Roger "Mad Dog" Caron (April 12, 1938 â April 11, 2012) was a Canadian robber and the author of the influential prison memoir Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars (1978).
Ronald Arthur Biggs (8 August 1929 â 18 December 2013) was a British criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
Maurice Southgate (20 June 1913 â 17 March 1990), code named Hector, was an officer in the Royal Air Force and an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization during World War II.
Major Anthony Peter Roylance Rolt, MC & Bar, (16 October 1918 â 6 February 2008) was a British racing driver, soldier and engineer.
Lilian Vera Rolfe (26 April 1914 â 5 February 1945), code name Nadine, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organisation in France during World War II.