Guy Burgess and the Cambridge Spy Ring (148)
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- čas přidán 5. 11. 2020
- Guy Burgess was the most important, complex, and fascinating of The Cambridge Spies, brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. An engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others, Burgess rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which he passed to his Russian handlers.
In his book “Stalin’s Englishman” , Andrew Lownie tells us how even Burgess's chaotic personal life of drunken philandering did nothing to stop his penetration and betrayal of the British Intelligence Service. Even when he was under suspicion, the fabled charm which had enabled many close personal relationships with influential Establishment figures (including Winston Churchill) prevented his exposure as a spy for many years.
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The British Actor Samuel West who played Sir. Anthony Blunt on the Crown was absolutely powerful!
Samuel West is a Great Actor - Very Distinguished.
Sir Anthony Hopkins did a great performance before
Reading the Lownie book now. Richly detailed and fascinating.
Yes a great book. I have an endless fascination with the Cambridge 5.
whats the name of it?
@@acoustic5738 Stalin's Englishman
There are 3 books you need to read - this one [Stalin's Englishman], 'A Spy named Orphan' and Treason in the Blood. Of the 3 Treason in the Blood is the best place to start because it is a dual biography of Philby and his father & explains the perspective of British India from which the mythography and inviolability of Imperial power seems to come from and which so alienated Orwell, Philby, Lawrence - the elite literary caste of the time. These were literary men who did spying as a side-hustle.
@@robertsmuggles6871I agree about the first two of your recommendations, especially Anndrew Lownie's. I haven't read 'Treason in the Blood' so will seek it out. I found Ben MacIntyre's "A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal" excellent. I'd challenge your assertion that, for Philby, spying was a 'side-hustle'; I think he was much more deeply committed than that.
Excellent work...shall start supporting...
Fascinating story.
Another great podcast
To me, the govt's secrecy is a structural problem. It's a monarchy problem. It's a matter of: Do you have a republic? Is it a res publica, i.e., the state goods are the people's goods? If you didn't fight for that, the govt will feel entitled to pull this bs. And the fight is continuous and multifaceted, frankly.
This piece is awesome, and I'm going to watch more! I did want to hear a bit more about the Cambridge Fives' involvement in passing on atomic secrets and how Burgess (they) reacted, if you've found more information on that.
they??
@@burzijaThe other Cambridge 5 dudes.
Thanking you. This fascinates as my own father was an intellectual, socialist and worked as a diplomat. Like my father I think they had emotional problems. Probably lacked father input and they were overattached to their mothers. I always wondered why my father worked as a diplomat but was also a rebel and a socialist. I definitely feel these men had problems with asserting masculinity so they did this through spying. So these men are of interest to me in an attemp to understand my own father. And my conclusion is they all had inferiority complexes even though they were intelligent.
When my father joined the Foreign Office,they really researched his sexual persuasion and I think this was as a consequence of The Cambridge Lot. And they were very impressed by the Russian Manliness.
If I'm not mistaken, the dudes were disgusted by their own privileged lives while so many people were suffering badly around them, and thought that communism was the only way to create better and more fair societies, and believed that the USSR was the model nation, (boy were they fooled), so they worked to help power-up the Soviets to fight off the spreading menacing government system of fascism in Spain and Germany and Italy. But I could be totally wrong.
Yes I do think they saw communism as a solution to privilege but I also think they were persuaded when they were young and once in the party they had no way out. And I do think their sexual persuasion made them more impressionable. And of course its turned out that communism was not a solution to the class struggle. The only well off were the party and look now at all the rich kgb oligarchs in Russia.
@@marypartridge5154 Agreed. And in China and Korea and Cuba I think; they hate everything about capitalism except the MONEY part.
The KGB deserves 👏 a round of applause for totally penetrating the British Secret Intelligence Services.Incidently making it the greatest comedy act of all time.👏 ❤️
It's a good job the Cold War never became a real war because they had us trussed up big time!
Your hard work is very much appreciated. Excellent stuff, thank you.
it was fashionable to be marxist in the cambridge of the 30s
Russian penetration of British society is even deeper even more so in the past 30 years due to the UKlaundromat environment.
Explain?
@@Dovewhite60 during the COLD War until 1990 Russian penetration of western democracies was largely limited to politically motivated people (Communists and their fellow travellers). After 1990, that limitation was massively expanded to those with an economic interest serving Russian money in all its forms: bankers, politicians, lawyers, estate agents and others driven more by greed than political ideology but willing to provide services and cooperation at all levels to what is essentially an utterly corrupt, Mafia type rogue country. Russia and its Establishment is a security threat to Western democracy.
Hidden Romanov heirs
Could you do an episode on the missing spy pilots and other Mia's from the cold war, Korea and Vietnam that were taken to USSR? I'd be willing to look at funding that ep myself...
Hi Brett. Thanks for all the kind comments.
For some subjects, it's a question of finding the right guest. Is there anyone you can think of that would be good to interview about this?
Thanks
Ian
@@ColdWarConversations Ian yes, I've sent e-mails to 3 potential interviewees ...shall keep you posted..
@@ColdWarConversations if you can give me an e-mail address, I'll be happy to send you some material...
@@ColdWarConversations guys I have 2 people willing to be interviewed on this...
@@brettshea8623 Sorry for the delay. Email me at ian “at” coldwarconversations.com
Fascinanting story The Cambridge Five
There are no ******* rules there's only expectations the reality is why does anybody do what they do they do it for them ******* selves and in some cases they do it because they know that the same side they're on as funked up so that's why they do it that's just a part of the game I mean the same ********* that they're ****** *** about we're doing the same **** so they know what the deal is so they really can't be mad
Burgess might have been ideological, but if he hadn't he'd be easy to blackmail considering his lifestyle.
Did Burgess have a 1st-Class degree? First part of tripos, yes. But then underperformed. Very misleading to claim that he had a 1st Class degree. I read Lownie’s book and was generally disappointed. Compare Milne’s (senior ex-SIS officer, published posthumously) far superior exercise in informative discretion about Philby which refers to Burgess a lot, painting a different picture, especially about Burgess’ credentials as academic or intellectual.