RIP John le Carré

^ Google Kim Philby

(14-12-2020 21:10 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  

(14-12-2020 18:34 )SecretAgent Wrote:  His career as a spy ended when Kim Philby named him to the Russians. Tinker Tailor was superb to read, a good film but a truly magnificent TV series with Alec Guiness in the role of George Smiley. R.I.P

How did Philby find out?

He worked for MI6 but had actually been a Russian agent since they recruited him when he was still a student at Cambridge. At one stage he was head of counter espionage at MI6, tasked with rooting out Russian agents! Was even head of the Washington station for a while with access to all sorts of information that the Russians couldn't wait to get their hands on.

He came under suspicion at various points in his career before he finally "defected" to Russia. Some think he was allowed to escape to avoid further embarrassment to the UK.