Towards the end of the war, it was carrying out highly classified government research into the properties of uranium, as part of Britains atomic bomb project. How fortunate she was. Alma mater. It came as a massive shock to her daughter and to Dr Burke, who already knew Norwood. "Melita Norwood's relatives, friends and neighbours told [on 11 September 1999] of their shock on learning . Norwood's father died when was six from tuberculosis and the family moved to Southampton. Her spying career began four years after Joseph Stalin had seized power, long before his atrocities had become known to the outside world. By Widowed for 13 years, she was a keen gardener - surrounded by the fruits of her labour as she gave her statement - and was seen as bit of a dotty old woman by her neighbours. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. ''It's probably better I didn't know,'' she said. She says he disapproved of her spying, but "never tried to stop me". Today brings a fresh reminder of a national disgrace, the failure to prosecute Melita Norwood for treason. A writer, journalism and follower of Lenin - who formed the Communist Party in Great Britain - they were acquainted. Her name has been changed and the story sexed up, but there is no doubt it is based on unlikely operative Norwood. No life could have looked more ordinary. When her activities became publicly known in 1999, Norwood had said: "I did what I did not to make money, but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had, at great cost, given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, a good education and a health service. Her daughter, Anita Ferguson, said she died on June 2. FOR decades the secret services were left chasing shadows in the hunt for agent Hola Russias most effective spy in Britain. Melita Stedman Norwood ( ne Sirnis; 25 Maret 1912 - 2 Juni 2005) adalah seorang pegawai negeri Inggris dan sumber intelijensi KGB. Following in her fathers footsteps, Norwood joined the Communist Party. Mrs. Ferguson said she would stand by her mother -- a great-grandmother -- ''whatever she may have done'' and voiced relief that she had not been told before. Norwood wasn't a physicist she was a drop out from Southampton University, where she only studied Latin and Logic for a year. / Still, she refuses to discuss the actual passing over of documents and refuses to say who wooed her to the KGB. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), New film Red Joan tells the tale of Melita Norwood - a KGB 'man on the inside' who went undetected in Britain for almost 40 years, Melita Norwood, aka Hola, was Russia's most effective spy and wasn't unmasked until 1999, Described as 'the most important female agent ever recruited by the USSR', she is now the inspiration behind Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson's character with the pair playing her at different stages in her life, Her daughter, Anita Ferguson, defends her mother's career as a spy saying 'she did it to help the Russian people', Anita says Norwood was trying to help people and 'wasn't selfish', After joining the Communist Party, Norwood was recruited as a Russian agent by journalist Andrew Rothstein when she was just 22, The film is a glamorised version of events but there is no doubt it is based on unlikely operative Norwood, She never revealed her true identity, not even to her devoted husband Hilary (right), Despite having put millions of lives at risk, Norwood was never prosecuted for her treachery and she never expressed regret for her actions, Norwood leaked highly-classified documents that she came into contact with through her work as a secretary to the director of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, Dr Burke says that it was only when she gave the Russians information on how to safely enrich uranium that they were able to test a bomb in 1949, Dr Burke believes Norwood enjoyed her moment of notoriety, noting the moment she dressed up to address the press outside her home, Asked if the story was true, Norwood replied 'Ive been a rather naughty little girl', Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Norwood, who admitted passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, was exposed by Vasili Mitrokhin, who defected to Britain with a trove of KGB documents in 1992. Resides in Fairfax Station, VA. Spy Melita Norwood (far left) pictured with her mother Gertrude, sister Gerty and half-brother Alfred Brandt. And how had the mole managed to infiltrate our system? Shed then pass the camera off to her contact in the KGB, who knew her by her code name Hola.. I just wanted Russia to be on equal footing with the West, she told the media crowding at her front door in 1999 after being publicly exposed, before politely closing it. She ended her days in a cosy, third-floor rented flat in a sheltered housing complex. Despite being investigated by them TEN times, and not hiding her socialist sympathies, Norwood secured a job that gave her access to Britains nuclear secrets. The girl who had become bored with university life at Southampton after only a year was soon being promoted from clerk to secretary. The comments below have not been moderated, By Kamala opts out of kneeling with Biden for Warriors photo op. This was a woman who was seen pottering around tending to her vegetables and flowers. 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Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. Theodore Rothstein was one of the people in their group. Mon 27 Jun 2005 20.03 EDT. It was her appointment at the research facility that gave her the access she needed. She was dressed in a wide collared lavender floral print blouse and gray tweed skirt and clutching a handwritten piece of paper with slightly trembling fingers. Burke, who later wrote The Spy Who Came In From the Co-op: Melita Norwood and the Ending of Cold War Espionage, noted that Norwood kept repeating I thought Id got away with it. Yet as Burke wrote, she actually did get away with it: even after her outing, the government still declined to prosecute her. Date of death. Some believe, however, the real reason she was not put on trial was to avoid embarrassing details emerging about MI5s mistake in allowing her to work as a personal secretary at the very heart of Britains secret atomic research, even though she was known to have Communist sympathies. All of this is shown in Red Joan, but what's missing is the other work Norwood did - she was also a recruiter. 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. Reuters. They had been married for 50 years when he died in 1986. Despite her odd hobby no one really thought much of it but if they had perhaps her past wouldn't have come as so much of a shock as reporters clambered for a shot of her on her drive. She was a bit worried so she took an aspirin before going in. BN-FRMA linked up with a to-secret project to develop a nuclear weapon called Tube Alloys. Norwoods excuse for helping dictator Joseph Stalin in his pursuit of the atomic bomb at the end of World War Two was that she feared the US, which already had nukes, would end Russias socialist dream. Widowed, Melita moved to Wombourne to be close to her daughter. Anita Ferguson, a school laboratory technician from Wombourne, Staffordshire, speaks to the media following the news that her 87-year-old mother Melita Norwood spied for the Russians for 40 years. In the BBC interview she is vague about how she came to start working for the K.G.B. Her father died when she was six, but her mother was active in leftist causes, instilling in her children strong sentiments against all war and sympathy for countries like Germany that the family viewed as victims of warfare. Melita Norwood akhirnya meninggal dunia pada tahun 2005 tetapi orang tetap terpesona dengan kisah hidupnya. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. It was not that side I was interested in. Norwood would make copies then deliver them to her KGB handlers. anita ferguson daughter of melita norwood About; FAQ; Contacts; Location; Rose, David. Incredibly, despite doubts about her extreme Left-wing sympathies and links, she was cleared. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. Paperwork about how to safely enrich uranium, which would be used in bombs, passed across his desk and was put in his safe. The next four decades saw her hand over secrets and files under the name of Agent Hola. She was born Melita Sirnis in 1912 near Southampton, the daughter of an English mother and a Latvian father who was a follower of Leo Tolstoy. In many other countries, the grey-haired great-grandmother would have ended her days in prison, or even been shot. In the BBC interview for broadcast next Sunday, Mrs. Norwood explains that in addition to sympathizing with the social gains that the Soviet experiment promised, she thought that in the postwar era, the Soviet Union represented the only counterbalance to capitalism and that the West should not be allowed an advantage as great as sole possession of nuclear bombs. In 2000, Joan is arrested and charged with espionage. 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. But what Melita exactly did is up for debate. Melita Norwood was a die-hard communist and unapologetic about her spying. For Mrs Norwood was no ordinary granny. Everyone liked her. She was lovely, a pure lady, says Sheila Howell, who was a neighbour for more than 20 years. Sat 2 Jul 2005 21.01 EDT. The British government decided nothing was to be gained from sending the "granny spy" to prison, and Mrs Norwood was left in peace at her home in Bexleyheath. Melita Norwood. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. "I do not consider myself a spy," she told reporters. Find family history information in a whole new way. Husband (m. 19351986). From World War II through the Cold War, she stole nuclear secrets from the office where she worked as a secretary and. She had links with a spy ring working for the Soviets in the Woolwich Arsenal, and three other agents were caught by MI5 and imprisoned. Her mother still remained part of the Left-wing political scene, influencing young Norwood who then joined the CPGB. "Granny spy" Melita Norwood has died at the age of 93, her daughter has confirmed. Anita Ferguson But she had sexual predator Lonsdale ditched, says Dr Burke, as she didnt want to work with him because of his lack of professionalism. Rose, David. , updated But, her activities never made her rich, and she continued to live in the rather basic London house she bought with her husband in the 1950s. Sir Winston Churchills wife started sending packages to support the Russians. View our online Press Pack. Judi Dench gives us the painful memories and rickety joints of the old Joan, tending a garden in the suburbs in 2000 when Special . Filming of Red Joan in Cambridge City Centre (Image: Keith Jones) Red Joan is a film based, although highly romanticised, on the true story of spy Melita Norwood who stole . Red Joan (2018) Ben Miles as Nick IMDb. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Joan also comes up with the idea of enriching uranium in the film, which is part of the process of making atomic energy. 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. / They had one daughter: Anita Ferguson (born Norwood). Along with the geraniums in her windows there are anti-war and nuclear disarmament stickers, and on a cupboard shelf visible through the kitchen window is a mug with Che Guevara's bearded face on it. She had evaded detection by playing the dutiful housewife and mother. I thought perhaps what I had access to might be useful in helping Russia to keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany. She added that, in general, I do not agree with spying against one's country.. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. As she retreated back into her house, she murmured, ''No, no, no,'' to shouted questions asking whether she regretted her actions. Cu MIX za . five years later, saying only, ''Somebody said that my work might be an interesting source of material.'' These documents revealed Norwoods espionage, but British officials kept it secret because they didnt think there was enough evidence to prosecute. <br> <br>1. 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. Two citations to her late husband, Hilary, for his work in the trade union movement as a member of the National Union of Teachers, are proudly displayed. In 1979, she and her husbandwho knew about her spying and disapprovedvisited Moscow so the Soviet Union could award her the Order of the Red Banner (she accepted the honorary award, but turned down the financial reward). It's quite a shock to be told that the sweet old lady round the corner has been a K.G.B. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. 2023 Getty Images. , updated Judi Dench Anak-anak. '', Ray Simmons, 67, a retired chief technician at the University of Greenwich, who lives nearby, commented: ''I've known her for 20 years, and she never gave a hint of anything like that. Her handlers were top Soviet spies Ursula Kuczynski, aka Red Sonja, and playboy Gordon Lonsdale, who was jailed in 1961 for espionage. One said to the Sunday Mercury: "We all knew where her politics lay. Lettes work for the Soviets continued right up until her retirement from the company in 1972, when she was 60. It seemed that Britain was headed into another of the spy expose frenzies that have occurred periodically with the unmaskings of men like Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross who followed their Communist sympathies into espionage. ''I did what I did not to make money but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had, at great cost, given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, a good education and a health service,'' she read in a firm voice. 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. It was a show of compassion Russian wouldn't have shown if the tables were turned. The public were shocked when elderly woman Melita Norwood was uncovered as a KGB spy. Dr Burke says: She was a sophisticated spy. Something went wrong, please try again later. While his identity still remains unknown to the public, Norwood confessed later: "I am not going to deny itI take complete responsibility and blame.". Then in 1932, Norwood, now 20, began work in the clerical department of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (BN-FMRA). She removed items from her boss' safe, photographing details and sending them on to the Soviets, as is seen in the film. Red Joan is certainly a watchable curiosity, but as a piece of political discourse, it seems strangely ham-fisted and bland. But a male superior dismissed her tip because he didnt think women could be good spies (in 1940, he fired Maund for accusing him of incompetence). Over a period of 35 years, she had been a spy for the KGB, passing on Britains nuclear secrets that enabled the Soviet Union to catch up in building the atomic bomb. There were calls to prosecute the granny traitor, but the secret services did not want the details of their failure to come out at trial. But this was just a token attempt.The main story is a standard spy . Melita, suffering cancer and heart disease, died at . Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. Anita Ferguson, 61, Mrs Norwood's only daughter, confirmed her mother's death, but . only confirmed she was a spy in the 1990s. Her confession that sunny Saturday came as a surprise to everyone but none more than her daughter, Anita, a school lab technician. Like many nonagenarians, Melita Norwood did her best to keep her mind active. Her espionage activities weren't publicly revealed until 1999, when former archivist Vasili Mitrokhin - who. Her KGB file gave her a glowing review calling her "committed, reliable and disciplined agent, striving to be of the utmost assistance. Lived In Garland TX, Duncanville TX, Dallas TX, Desoto TX. Well, she was partly aided by the boys club atmosphere of MI5, the British Security Service. Hilary Norwood Secrets of Bletchley Park: How codebreakers paved way for World War 2 victory, Ex-spy killing 'linked to unsolved murder of Brit family in the Alps', Novichok victim Charlie Rowley asks Putin's man 'did you kill my girlfriend? Related To Thomas Ferguson, John Ferguson, Jacob Ferguson. 13:54, 18 APR 2019. On nights when she was delayed getting home by her appointments with her K.G.B. You can cancel anytime and if you cancel within 14 days you won't be billed. Her work continued after the war and there's no question what she handed over was useful to the Soviets. That was the anodyne name given to Britain's nuclear weapons reseach program that is sometimes compared to the more famous American project conducted in Los Alamos, N.M. Mrs. Norwood regularly removed files from a safe after hours, copied them and turned them over to Soviet agents in meetings in the leafy southeastern suburbs where she has lived for more than 50 years. Anita Ferguson, 75, who lives in a small house in the West Midlands, told The Sun: She did it to help the Russian people. She declined it her spying was, after all, a matter of principle. Melita Norwood Melita grew up to become a bright young girl, which she proved in 1923 by winning a scholarship to attend Itchen School, a secondary school near Southampton, in Southern England. It was her refusal to get drawn into the glamorous side of being a mole, unlike Philby from the Cambridge University set, that allowed Norwood to evade detection. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. As early as 1938, she was. pink house() 8226 The cause of death was not disclosed. Then in 1999 an extensive archive of KGB material was uncovered by a defector. ''But I suppose it's all right as long as you are getting paid for it. We see Joan struggle with the Communist Party she is dropped into thanks to the company she keeps. 1998 In December, Mr Straw is informed for the first time heard about Melita Norwood's role and is told the Security Service was considering whether to prosecute. Experts still debate how much she actually ended up helping the Soviet nuclear program. Joan Staley, the film, TV and stage actress died 24 November at the age of 79. 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 . We didnt know what to think.. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. The newspaper will begin on Monday to serialize a book published in Britain as ''The Mitrokhin Archive: The K.G.B. But Cambridge Universitys Dr David Burke, who interviewed Norwood for a book about her life, The Spy Who Came In From The Co-Op, insisted last night: She was a crucial spy. Intriguingly, it included profiles of 200 British KGB collaborators written by their Kremlin handlers. 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. 93-year-old spy still keeping war secrets - BBC News Her motivations weren't as pure as the film suggests either. The Russians had been struggling to find a solution to an issue they were having with creating the atomic bomb when Norwood found the answer. 131,-K/kg. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. in Europe and the West,'' by a Cambridge professor, Christopher Andrew. She says she was working for the ideology not the financial reward. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images) Embed Save PURCHASE A LICENSE 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. Mrs. Norwood had been obliged to confront the press gathered at her gate by disclosures of her past in The Times of London. Norwood was survived by her daughter, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Unions longest-serving British spy. Anita (l. 1943) Pekerjaan. ''I'm sorry to get you all out like this on a Sunday,'' she told the waiting journalists. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos The Russians knew how to build a bomb, but they didnt know how to build a nuclear reactor to extract the uranium. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. melita norwood daughter, anita fergusonhot wheels mystery car code list melita norwood daughter, anita ferguson. "She once said to me she didn't agree with spying against one's country. Melita (everyone called her Lette) had joined the company as a clerk in 1937. 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. We all knew where her politics lay. . Even after she was publicly exposed in 1999 as having worked for the KGB, neighbours found it very hard to condemn the nice old girl whod been such a good neighbour for decades. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Image of spy Melita Norwood opening Norwood Labs at Greenwich University in 1993. [9] The film was shot in the UK. How did Norwood get away with it for so long? She told The Times of London that in the same circumstances, I know that I would do the same thing again.. Melita Norwood made her unrepentant confession Saturday in the well-tended garden of freesia and daisies in front of her two-story stucco home in Bexleyheath, southeast London. Norwood died in 2005, but people have remained fascinated with her story. There were several cries of ''traitor!'' <br>Who would have thought she was a spy? But a decision not to put her on trial was quickly taken so that the collapsing Soviets would remain in ignorance about just how much we knew. ''In the war the Russians were on our side, and it was unfair to them that they shouldn't be able to develop their weaponry.''. Journalism strengthens democracy. A . She told me she would have been prepared to be tried as a war criminal and would have accepted a prison sentence.. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Legacy Six years later, Melita Norwood died of cancer and heart disease at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, on June 2, 2005. Jack Straw, then Britain's home secretary, said in 1999 that superiors had become suspicious of Norwood in the 1940s. In 1967, she recruited a British civil servant 'Hunt' who passed on secrets about arms sales for nearly 15 years. 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. She was only a secretary.. Melita Norwood made her unrepentant confession Saturday in the well-tended garden of freesia and daisies in front of her two-story stucco home in Bexleyheath, southeast London. As a highly trusted employee, sensitive documents crossed her desk each day. We cannot guarantee accuracy of data published on this website. documents by the code name ''Hola.'' It seemed as if she'd got away with it all - and there was a lot to get away with. During that time she had handed over the country's secrets - willingly - to Russia, among them crucial information about the atomic bomb and its development. Melita Norwood. 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. "I must have thought if any of the work the BN-FMRA was doing, not secret stuff, might be useful," she explained. It also offered her a pension of 20 a month. She'd leave them somewhere to be picked up or handed them over at a meet-up. The couple had, Its just what you did she says. Her husband Harry, died in 1986. The how is known, the what is mostly conjecture, which makes Judi Dench's film a controversial adaptation - it opts for a more romantic take on the tale that has been called everything from "preposterous" to "inaccurate". Also known as Anita L Goertz, A L Ferguson. from the crowd in her street. I did what I did not to make money but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had, at great cost, given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, a good education and a health service, she told the press in front of her home. Key to this was research into metallurgy and this is exactly what Melita Norwood had access to in her apparently lowly job. Members of her family didnt know what was going on at all. Ironically, reporters found anti-nuclear CND signs in her kitchen, where she made chutney. Burke still believes Norwood was the naive character Joan protrays. 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. Is it time Harry & Meghan accept Clarkson's apology and move on? I certainly didn't.". He said in the 1960s, the security services concluded that Norwood had been a spy, but felt they had no "usable evidence" to prosecute. It was incredibly valuable. She is interrogated by two detectives from Scotland Yard, whom she accuses of misunderstanding her life, but gradually concedes that she did provide information to the Soviets.