![famous secret agents famous secret agents](https://www.apkahindiblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Who-Is-Pam-Dawber-Married-To-Pam-Dawber-Children-Age.jpg)
Le Carré became a full-time author, and his spy novels inspired by his time in the service were well received. His career came to an abrupt end when British double agent (and Cambridge student, not that I’m implying anything) Kim Philby exposed the identities of several British secret agents to the KGB. Even while studying at Lincoln College he was working undercover for the secret service, joining far-left societies to look out for anyone in league with the Soviets. His knowledge of German allowed him to work in Hamburg and carry out interrogations on those who had crossed to the West through the Iron Curtain.
#FAMOUS SECRET AGENTS FREE#
They approached young students who had returned from the war and were benefitting from Labour’s free university education, appealing to their sense of patriotism as a means of persuading them to join the Secret Service.ĭavid Cornwell, better known under the pseudonym John Le Carré, was one of those working for both MI5 and MI6 at the height of the Cold War. An Arab specialist responsible for many covert intelligence operations in the Middle East, he is also notable for inviting Dame Judi Dench to the MI6 Christmas lunch, after the actress said she would be interested to learn about the real-life counterpart to ‘M’.ĭuring the Cold War, MI5 and MI6 recruitment focused on Oxbridge in an attempt to tackle the fears of Communism spreading in England. Sir David Spedding, a Hertford alumnus recruited by a tutor, was yet another Oxford ‘C’. The latter took on the role just a week before the September 11th attacks, was heavily involved in drawing up the September Dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – one of the documents Parliament would use as justification for the Iraq war – and was later expelled from Moscow in a tit-for-tat response to a Russian spy’s expulsion from England. Sort of like Dumbledore.Ī few Oxonians who have occupied the role are Colin McColl (Queen’s), John Rennie (Balliol), and John Scarlett (Magdalen). As per a tradition started by the first head of the Service, all correspondence is signed with a letter ‘C’, the single initial by which the official is known, in green ink. The nature of the job has evolved from operations in Germany throughout the World Wars, to countering the ‘Soviet threat’ to a more recent focus on terrorism. Past heads of MI6 consist almost entirely of Oxbridge alumni, and have the responsibility of collecting intelligence to pass onto the government. The Secret Service Bureau, first created in 1909, later split into the Security Service (MI5), which deals with domestic issues, and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) which combats overseas threats – and was so secret that its existence was only officially acknowledged in 1994. But just what is the deal with Oxford and spying?
![famous secret agents famous secret agents](http://www.whataboutclients.com/archives/famoustop.jpg)
I choose to interpret this as proof that Lincolnites are just particularly good spies – ones who don’t get found out. But, disappointingly, on the Wikipedia page for my college, Lincoln, it states: “There is little evidence to substantiate the college’s reputation as a recruiting ground for spies”. I can’t be the only person who’s spent at least some of my time at Oxford hoping to be talent spotted by MI5.