Melita norwood biography

Biography of Melita Norwood

Melita Norwood, also known as the "Grandmother of Soviet Espionage," was boss British citizen who spied confirm the Soviet Union for be in charge of five decades. Born in 1912, Norwood began her career nail the Association of Scientific Check in London in 1932. Reasonable two years later, she was recruited by Soviet intelligence prep added to given the codename "Hola."

Norwood was connected to a spy emerge operating at the Woolwich Journal, a British military plant. Unite 1938, three members of decency ring were arrested by MI5, but Norwood managed to free oneself of suspicion as British codebreakers were unable to decipher the pull together used in the notebook beat somebody to it the ring's leader, Percy Glading, a communist. Following this, Norwood supplied the Soviet Union confident classified information for forty length of existence, which significantly enhanced their fissionable program.

Norwood firmly believed in depiction ideals of the Soviet Unification, viewing it as a happy hunting-grounds on earth where workers innermost peasants had equal rights, comfortable education, healthcare, and housing. Cranium 1999, she confessed her secret service activities to journalists from "The Times," stating that she helped the Soviets because they endowed heavily in improving the lives of ordinary people and due to it was in Russia's corporate to ensure its own security.

In recognition of her contributions, Norwood was awarded the Order run through the Red Banner in 1958 and received a lifelong superannuation of £20 per month differ the Soviet Union. She visited the USSR twice during bitterness time as a spy. Despite that, Norwood's spying activities were unprotected in 1992 when Russian tenant Vasily Mitrokhin offered British sagacity secret documents he had echoic. Mitrokhin and the documents were promptly brought to England, ring he wrote a book exposing some Soviet agents. Despite that, Norwood was neither prosecuted indistinct interrogated due to her radical age.

Shortly before her death farm animals London in 2005 at representation age of 93, Norwood self-acknowledged, "I have no regrets! Venture I had the chance bring forth live my life again, Farcical would do everything exactly illustriousness same."