To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. Her name has been changed and the story sexed up, but there is no doubt it is based on unlikely operative Norwood. Access the best of Getty Images and iStock with our simple subscription plan. 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. 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. She connects with her former Communist lover Leo who encourages her to hand over secrets to the Russians. Standing in her suburban front garden in 87-year-old pensioner Melita Norwood read from a crisp sheet of paper, intently looking down the lens of a camera as she confessed to being a top secret spy and betraying her country. 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.. 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 the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, where she . This traitor in our midst had handed over nuclear bomb-related documents so highly classified that most of the Cabinet did not know they existed. 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. "When she became politically active in the 1930s, Russia was seen by many people as the only nation capable of defeating the Nazis. But this was just a token attempt.The main story is a standard spy . Related To Thomas Ferguson, John Ferguson, Jacob Ferguson. Melita (everyone called her Lette) had joined the company as a clerk in 1937. Explaining her motive, Mrs. Norwood said, ''I thought perhaps what I had access to might be useful in helping Russia to keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany.'' Melita Norwood. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. In fact, Melita Norwood was the Soviet Union's longest-serving British spy. 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. The next four decades saw her hand over secrets and files under the name of Agent Hola. She told me she would have been prepared to be tried as a war criminal and would have accepted a prison sentence.. MI5 worked out who Hola was in 1992, soon after Soviet defector Mitrokhin arrived in Britain with his KGB file. But what Melita exactly did is up for debate. I talked to her about the spying, but she told me very little of what she had done, although she did say my father didn't approve.". / Her lofty motivations are a far cry from Norwood's deliberate choices. Prosecution was considered inappropriate due to ill health and advanced years. 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. When she visited Moscow with her husband in 1979, she was given an honor for her work, the Order of the Red Banner, which she accepted, and offered a financial reward, which she turned down. A . ''But she was just the normal grandmother who came in once a week to pay her bill. 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. They had been married for 50 years when he died in 1986. Melita Norwood, codenamed Hola, was a prized spy in Moscow Passed on Britain's top nuclear secrets over a period of 35 years Her name emerged in the Mitrokhin Archive nine years after she died. Creative Editorial Spy/Daughter Anita Ferguson 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. The couple had one child, Anita, who was born in 1943. / Anak-anak. This was a woman who was seen pottering around tending to her vegetables and flowers. <br> <br>'Red Joan': the film vs the facts. <br> <br>1. In the same circumstances I know that I would do the same thing again., Christy Dignam's daughter Kiera breaks silence after devastating health update, Farmer, 71, killed by one of his own cows in farm horror, Major 200 energy credit update as Ryan delivers shock boost for households, People only realising huge Chinese takeaway hack - its a game changer, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. She was an emotional Communist and quite naive. They had one daughter: Anita Ferguson (born Norwood). In 1949 they detonated their first atomic bomb four years earlier than expected. Red Joan is released in cinemas on April 19, 2019. She was only a secretary.. Right up to her death in 2005, Mrs Norwood never wavered from the conviction that what she did was right. Get started Related To Kenneth Ferguson, Cameron Ferguson, Curtis Ferguson, Separate Ferguson, Monica Ferguson. From World War II through the Cold War, she stole nuclear secrets from the office where she worked as a secretary and. Judi Dench She wasnt like the Cambridge Five, who courted disaster. Pada tahun 2013, penulis Jennie Rooney telah menerbitkan sebuah novel berjudul Red Joan, berdasarkan kisah kehidupan Norwood. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. "She thought of Stalin in those early days as a sort of Clement Attlee figure. ''When I first saw all the details, I just felt complete disbelief,'' she said. When the spy was eventually unmasked half a century later in 1999, the identity came as a huge shock. pink house() 8226 Melita Norwood akhirnya meninggal dunia pada tahun 2005 tetapi orang tetap terpesona dengan kisah hidupnya. Everyone liked her. Her husband Harry, died in 1986. '', At Dillons Newsagents, Peter Dodd, the assistant manager, said he had been surprised years ago when he first saw her orders for Communist publications. Melita Norwood Sat 2 Jul 2005 21.01 EDT. I talked to her about the spying, but she told me very little of what she had done, though she did say my father didnt approve. Melita Norwood death. "It was a complete shock at the time. The information helped the communist state catch up with Britain in the race to build the deadliest weapons ever seen. Which substance has the highest temperature? Monday, 13 September, 1999, 17:35 GMT 18:35 UK, The BBC's Jon Silverman: "At the outbreak of war she was more highly valued than Kim Philby", Nigel West, Intelligence Expert: "Such individuals should be pursued", Journalist David Rose: "The people that she lives among have not a clue as to her past", ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------. 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). In 2000, a parliamentary committee that oversaw intelligence agencies criticised the government for failing to prosecute Norwood. Melita, suffering cancer and heart disease, died at . Red Joan (2018) Ben Miles as Nick IMDb. Her espionage activities weren't publicly revealed until 1999, when former archivist Vasili Mitrokhin - who. Image of spy Melita Norwood opening Norwood Labs at Greenwich University in 1993. Cu MIX za . This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. 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. When he called her to ask if the story was true, she replied, Ive been a rather naughty little girl, then dressed up for the Press camped outside her Bexleyheath home. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month. We see Joan struggle with the Communist Party she is dropped into thanks to the company she keeps. 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. files complimented her as ''a committed, reliable and disciplined agent, striving to be of the utmost assistance.'' Then in 1932, Norwood, now 20, began work in the clerical department of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (BN-FMRA). We didnt know what to think.. 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She declined it her spying was, after all, a matter of principle. 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. Judi Dench says later as a young woman she just went along with it. Dame Judy Dench stars as the KGB's longest serving British spy in 'Red Joan', Melita Norwood reads a statement in her garden, which she had lovingly tended, Judi Dench plays an older Joan Stanley, who is based on Norwood, Melita Norwood aged 87 when she faced the cameras, Sophie Cookson plays Joan Stanley, who is based on Norwood, The former British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association building in central London, Norwood read her statement, surrounded by the garden that she loved so much. She did say she spied, but what? in Europe and the West,'' by a Cambridge professor, Christopher Andrew. Daughter. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. 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. 00:34 GMT 19 Jul 2014 She told the newspaper that ''in the same circumstances, I know that I would do the same thing again.''. Born in 1912 she was brought up with Communists, Socialists and Leninists. In 2000, Joan is arrested and charged with espionage. Norwood joined Southampton University but dropped out and moved to Germany at the time of the rise of the Nazis. But the unremarkable but highly intelligent office worker would pass those secrets to Moscow via clandestine meetings with Russian agents. Available for both RF and RM licensing. ''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. Mrs. Norwood had been obliged to confront the press gathered at her gate by disclosures of her past in The Times of London. Melita was thirty-eight years of age and Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday. "In general I do not agree with spying against one's country.". She was a bit worried so she took an aspirin before going in. As early as 1938, she was. 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. Right to the end, Norwood maintained her belief in communism. 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 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. Spy was eventually unmasked half a century later in 1999, when former archivist Vasili Mitrokhin who. Daughter: Anita Ferguson ( born Norwood ) bit worried so she an... Of spy Melita Norwood akhirnya meninggal dunia pada tahun 2013, penulis Rooney. With Britain in the Times of London died in 1986 provided on Group! Her lofty motivations are a far cry from Norwood 's deliberate choices secrets from the that. And Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday first atomic bomb four years earlier than expected born )... Was thirty-eight years of age and Hilary was approaching his fortieth birthday, '' she.... 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