Working so close to highly classified research, Lette had to go through a security vetting. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Access the best of Getty Images and iStock with our simple subscription plan. When the spy was eventually unmasked half a century later in 1999, the identity came as a huge shock. Anita Ferguson, the daughter of Melita Norwood, "has spoken of her distress at discovering the double life led by her mother throughout her childhood." She was characterized as a "disciplined and Anita Ferguson, a school laboratory technician from Wombourne, Staffordshire, speaks to the media following the news that her 87-year-old mother. "'I Gave Bomb Secrets to Russia So It Could Stand Up to the West.'" . She had been working for five years in the general office of the British Non Ferrous Metals Research Association in Euston, North London when her career in espionage first began. The next week, the writer David Burke visited her and found her still in a state of shock, as he wrote in The London Magazine. Her spying career began four years after Joseph Stalin had seized power, long before his atrocities had become known to the outside world. FOR decades the secret services were left chasing shadows in the hunt for agent Hola Russias most effective spy in Britain. Its just what you did she says. He kept sensitive documents in both, sometimes holding evening meetings at home at which Lette was expected to be on hand. Joan and Max go to Australia, but return to Britain at some point. When everything she had done came out in the newspapers her neighbours were stunned. Norwood was survived by her daughter, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild. . But to the neighbours in Garden Avenue, Bexleyheath, a pleasant street of semis and discreet net curtains, Lette was viewed as a charming old lady who just happened to be a bit eccentric and very openly Left-wing. 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. When she was finally unmasked, confessing in her garden, the public called for her to be prosecuted but Home Secretary Jack Straw ruled that dragging such an old woman into court would be inappropriate. The Russians knew how to build a bomb, but they didnt know how to build a nuclear reactor to extract the uranium. Dr Burke says: She was a sophisticated spy. Until her death in 2005 . ''When I first saw all the. ''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.''. It was directed by Trevor Nunn, [10] and produced by David Parfitt, with a screenplay by Lindsay Shapero. Born to a British mother and Latvian father, Norwood is most famous for supplying the Soviet Union with state secrets concerning the development of atomic weapons from her job at . / She began her spying career in the 1930s while working as a secretary for the Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association in London. Until her death, on 2 June at the age of 93, she began her days with the Today programme. Red Joan is a 2018 film very loosely inspired by Norwood's life, starring Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. They were a middle-aged professional couple with a fixed mortgage, presumably beyond reproach. melita norwood daughter anita ferguson 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. So who was Hola? The intelligence and security committee said Norwood had escaped prosecution because a junior officer in the domestic secret service MI5 decided the case was not worth pursuing. As the news of Norwoods espionage broke in The Times, Norwood held a press conference to confirm that she was a spy and explain why shed done it. I remember her talking to me once about Karl Marx, he says. These usually ended so late that she stayed overnight. 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. In real life, Norwood was a Communist from an early age. She retired in 1972, and remained in her Bexleyheath home until her death in 2005. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images), 1268 x 1012 px (4.23 x 3.37 in) - 300 dpi - 357 KB. She was perusing the archives of 20th-century intelligence under the guidance of Professor Chris Andrew, MI5s official chronicler. Sitting in front of Max, her boss, she simply suggests using a centrifuge as causally as you would suggest having a cup of tea before turning back to her notes. She had evaded detection by playing the dutiful housewife and mother. Right to the end, Norwood maintained her belief in communism. / But what Melita exactly did is up for debate. Her confession that sunny Saturday came as a surprise to everyone but none more than her daughter, Anita, a school lab technician. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. Although her father died when she was six, the family still held Left-wing views which the bright child absorbed from an early age. Close. ''I would not have liked to have kept such a secret.''. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); She married chemistry teacher Hilary Norwood (formerly named Nussbaum), also a Communist, in 1935, and two years later they bought the house on Garden Avenue where she would live for the next 65 years. It was a complete shock at the time, says Anita, now 71. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. ''I thought, 'Who is this nutter?' 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. Resides in Monticello, AR. Red Joan is certainly a watchable curiosity, but as a piece of political discourse, it seems strangely ham-fisted and bland. In the BBC interview she is vague about how she came to start working for the K.G.B. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. How did Norwood get away with it for so long? Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. She removed items from her boss' safe, photographing details and sending them on to the Soviets, as is seen in the film. When Leo is away, Joan begins to fall for co-worker Max Davis (Stephen Campbell Moore), the man who eventually becomes her husband and Nicks father. Melita was thirty-eight years of age and Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday. The couple's daughter, Anita Ferguson, 56, a biologist living in Staffordshire, said she learned of her mother's activity from the newspaper report Saturday. Jack Straw, then Britain's home secretary, said in 1999 that superiors had become suspicious of Norwood in the 1940s. anita ferguson daughter of melita norwood About; FAQ; Contacts; Location; Rose, David. The couple's daughter, Anita Ferguson, 56, a biologist living in Staffordshire, said she learned of her mother's activity from the newspaper report on Saturday. July 21, 2020 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review, Your email address will not be published. Melita Norwood aged 87 when she faced the cameras ( Image: PA) Sophie Cookson plays Joan Stanley, who is based on Norwood ( Image: Nick Wall/Lions Gate) Don't Miss Norwood wasn't a. How she came to be in a position to do that is a source of great embarrassment to MI5. By the time she agreed to work for the KGB, she had been promoted and was personal assistant to the director. Anita Lynn Ferguson, 75. 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. I made the approach.". We didnt know what to think.. I did not want money. 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.. "When she became politically active in the 1930s, Russia was seen by many people as the only nation capable of defeating the Nazis. Asked if she had ever been frightened of being caught, she said, ''I suppose so, but I can't remember pondering it.''. For other inquiries Contact Us. 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. Hilary Norwood 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. Who would have thought she was a spy? We sent soldiers there to die against Hitler. Now her double life has inspired the film Red Joan, with Dame Judi Dench co-starring in the title role. Daughter Anita tried to downplay the damage Norwood had done, saying: There are questions about whether it was really useful at all to the Russians. Unlike those Mata Hari-style seductresses whose treachery is based in the boudoir, Mrs Norwood was a very different kind of agent. In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. Her occupation was occupation. Melitamarried Hilary Norwood. At firs the Security Service insisted her part in everything had been "marginal", it was a huge embarrassment. "But I didnt immediately think of pinching it. It was incredibly valuable. The grandmother was 87 and living in a semi-detached house in Garden Avenue when she was first unmasked in an . And she had her gardening: flowers at the front, vegetables at the back. This innocuous-sounding association was actually part of a secret nuclear weapons research project with the U.S. called Tube Alloy. When no one was looking, Norwood would sneak into her boss office, open his safe and take pictures of the secret documents inside. Melita Norwood To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 1999, 22 April Mr Straw is told that the Attorney General had advised against prosecution as it would be "inappropriate". In Wombourne, South Staffordshire, 120 miles away, her daughter Anita, a school laboratory technician, was astonished at the revelations about her elderly mother, and described herself as being in a state of disbelief. She was an emotional Communist and quite naive. Melita Stedman Norwood ( ne Sirnis; 25 Maret 1912 - 2 Juni 2005) adalah seorang pegawai negeri Inggris dan sumber intelijensi KGB. Norwood's father died when was six from tuberculosis and the family moved to Southampton. They had been married for 50 years when he died in 1986. 09:21 GMT 28 Jun 2005 Her husband Harry, died in 1986. But for the 40 years that she worked for Moscow, her bank balance rarely reflected the spoils of her labour. His occupation was Yes. Melita (everyone called her Lette) had joined the company as a clerk in 1937. In 1996, the government decided that the information in the Mitrokhin papers should be available to the public, and handed them over to the Cambridge professor Christopher Andrew so he could write a book about them. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. ''But she was just the normal grandmother who came in once a week to pay her bill. Tom King, chairman of the Parliamentary Security and Intelligence Committee, promised an investigation by lawmakers, saying, ''Questions need to be asked about who knew what when, and why there were no prosecutions.''. Daughter. It was not that side I was interested in. For Mrs Norwood was no ordinary granny. documents by the code name ''Hola.'' No life could have looked more ordinary. Melita Norwood. The elderly woman exposed as the longest-serving Soviet spy in Britain was a fresh-faced 25-year-old when her political idealism first drove her into spying for the Soviet Union. Well, she was partly aided by the boys club atmosphere of MI5, the British Security Service. When she returned to the firm in 1944, she went to work for the director, Dr G. L. Bailey, who wanted Lette because he knew she could cope with the technical jargon. Then in 1999 an extensive archive of KGB material was uncovered by a defector. The cause of death was not disclosed. Only in 1965 did MI5 get wise to the risk she posed. For example, she used Che Guevara tea mugs and habitually posted copies of the Communist Morning Star through the letterboxes of 32 of her neighbours. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Also known as Anita L Goertz, A L Ferguson. Intriguingly, it included profiles of 200 British KGB collaborators written by their Kremlin handlers. Posted on January 17, 2022 | by . 87years (December 9, 1934) Key to this was research into metallurgy and this is exactly what Melita Norwood had access to in her apparently lowly job. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. ''It is a longstanding policy not to confirm or deny the details of security service investigations,'' she said. The KGB awarded her the prestigious military honour the Order of the Red Banner. what happened to melita norwood. "Granny spy" Melita Norwood has died at the age of 93, her daughter has confirmed. She added, ''In general, I do not agree with spying against one's country.''. Kamala opts out of kneeling with Biden for Warriors photo op. 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. 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. Her KGB file gave her a glowing review calling her "committed, reliable and disciplined agent, striving to be of the utmost assistance. Mentioned only by codenames, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, of the infamous Cambridge Five, got critical mention: Burgess for not dressing tidily and being constantly under the influence of alcohol, and Maclean for his drunk spells and being not very good at keeping secrets. Why Bother? Find family history information in a whole new way. Described as the most important female agent ever recruited by the USSR, she was considered more valuable than infamous British Reds Kim Philby or Guy Burgess. It was only when Melita Norwood gave them British Non-Ferrous Metals solution that they could test a bomb in 1949, when British Intelligence had been saying they would not get there before the mid-Fifties.. ''I'm sorry to get you all out like this on a Sunday,'' she told the waiting journalists. 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 . Red Joan (2018) Ben Miles as Nick IMDb. Judi Dench But this was just a token attempt.The main story is a standard spy . Alma mater. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! '' he said. Melita turned down all the offers from newspapers, preferring to tell her story - for free - to her friend David Burke. 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