Medals of WW2 Fighter Pilot Ace go on sale

Medals of WWII fighter ace who survived terrifying 25,000ft death plunge but then was killed in Las Vegas pleasure flight crash 20 years later could sell for £30,000

The bravery medals of a fearless Battle of Britain pilot who survived his oxygen supply failing at 25,000ft have emerged for sale for £30,000.

Wing Commander James 'Butch' McArthur claimed eight kills and three other 'probables' during heartstopping dogfights with the Luftwaffe in 1940.

During one duel, he closed to within 10 to 20 yards of his adversary so he could shoot them down.

His closest brush with death came when he lost consciousness over Warmwell in Dorset while helping to engage more than 50 enemy aircraft. 

He came round as his aircraft hurtled towards the ground in a high-speed dive, but was able to regain control just in time to avoid crashing.

Wing Commander McArthur joined the Canadian Royal Air Force after the war and served with them in the Korean War of 1950 to 1953.

But, with his active operations days well behind him, he was killed in a civilian air crash in 1961.

The airman's medal group, including the prestigious Distinguished Flying Cross, is going under the hammer at London-based auctioneers Spink & Son.

The bravery medals of a fearless Battle of Britain pilot who survived his oxygen supply failing at 25,000ft have emerged for sale for £30,000. Wing Commander James 'Butch' McArthur claimed eight kills and three other 'probables'

There are now no surviving members of The Few after Group Captain John Hemingway's death was announced last week.

Churchill said of the 3,000 Battle of Britain airmen who kept the Luftwaffe at bay in the summer of 1940: 'Never was so much owed by so many to so few..'

Marcus Budgen, head of the Spink & Son medals department, said: 'Wing Commander 'Butch' McArthur was one of the most outstanding Spitfire pilots of the Battle of Britain.

'He shot down eight enemy aircraft at the height of one of the most pivotal events of the Second World War - when the fate of these isles of ours hung in the balance.

'These medals are one of the few which still remain outside of a museum and available for collectors to acquire.

'At this poignant time that we lost the last of 'The Few', it is a fitting moment to commemorate one of his gallant comrades of the skies.'

Wing Commander McArthur was born in Tynemouth, North Tyneside, in 1913 and attended the Marine School in South Shields, Tyneside.

He was employed as a seagoing radio officer by the Marconi Company and took part in long distance races.

Gun camera footage taken from Flight Lieutenant J. H. McArthur's Spitfire

The airman's medal group, including the prestigious Distinguished Flying Cross, is going under the hammer at London-based auctioneers Spink & Son

Wing Commander McArthur flew in the England to Australia 'MacRobertson Air Race' in 1934.

He then attempted to break the London to Cape Town return record, but had to bail out of his aircraft north of Khartoum, Sudan.

Landing safely in the desert, he became the youngest member of the Caterpillar Club, for airmen who successfully use a parachute.

Wing Commander McArthur joined 609 Squadron in August 1940 at Middle Wallop, Hampshire, and in his first sortie destroyed a pair of Ju 87s during a dogfight over the Isle of Wight.

He wrote in his combat report: 'I dived on the outside of the Ju. 87 from just over 5,000 feet, fired a 7 second burst and saw him turn on his back and go into the sea.

'The formation then split up and I regained 4,000 feet very quickly. Height of Ju. was about 100 feet.

'I then dived again and gave a long burst of 10 seconds on another Ju. 87 which started to emit black smoke and dive into the sea.'

Fellow ace Flight Lieutenant David Crooks recalled: 'Mac was very pleased about this fight, and certainly a bag of two for one's first action is very good.

Pilots of No. 609 Squadron at Warmwell in 1940 - McArthur, standing, fourth from right

'But it made him rather over-confident, and for the next few days he regarded the German Air Force rather as an organisation which provided him with a little target practice and general harmless amusement.

'He soon learnt better!'

Wing Commander McArthur, having heeded his squadron mate's advice, shot down more German aircraft over the south coast in the following weeks, including an Me 110 'from a range of just 10-20 yards'.

He wrote afterwards: 'I turned quickly and out came the Me 110. When 3,000 feet above it and on its port side I attacked and opened fire at about 200-300 yards * and by this time almost dead astern.

'Both engines were on fire and a fair piece of something fell off.

'I kept firing until about 10-20 yards from his tail when he turned violently to port and over on his back.

'I followed him down for about 7,000 feet and saw him dive into the ground.'

Wing Commander McArthur kept up his kill rate in September and had his close escape when his oxygen supply failed.

He retired from the air force after a motorcycle accident in 1957 and relocated to Mexico, but died during a pleasure flight near Las Vegas in 1961

That did not put him off as he was soon back in the sky downing an Me 110 over Bournemouth.

It was his final Battle of Britain sortie as he had to be hospitalised due to damaged eardrums from a breakneck descent.

But he received the consolation of a DFC for his 'brilliant leadership, skill and determination'.

His citation reads: 'An outstanding fighter pilot who has now destroyed 8 enemy aircraft (confirmed) and 3 others probably, besides damaging a further 2.

'His brilliant and inspiring leadership has raised the morale of his flight to a very high standard since he took it over.'

Wing Commander McArthur did early test flights on B17 aircraft and other experimental work in the US and Canada for the rest of the war.

He left the RAF in 1947 and joined the Royal Canadian Airforce in Edmonton, Alberta.

Wing Commander McArthur was back in action during the Korean War ferrying American troops to and casualties from Tokyo as part of Operation Hawk.

He retired from the air force after a motorcycle accident in 1957 and relocated to Mexico, but died during a pleasure flight near Las Vegas in 1961.

Both he and his passenger, a croupier from the Horseshoe Club, perished after the aircraft inexplicably dived into the ground.

Wing Commander McArthur was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Las Vegas, with full military honours.

His medal group consists of the Distinguished Flying Cross; 1939-45 Star, clasp, Battle of Britain; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; U.N. Korea 1950-54; Canadian Forces Decoration.

They have been consigned by an American medal collector who has owned them for nearly 40 years.

The sale takes place on April 24.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14531401/Medals-WWII-fighter-ace-sell-30-000.html

Spitfire 

Spitfire 

UK Teachers Instructed to Educate Students Against Nigel Farage & Reform Party

Nigel Farage vs teachers union after teachers were told to educate pupils not to vote for  Reform

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has pledged the party will ‘go to war against the teachers’ unions’ after the country’s largest education union branded it ‘far-Right and racist’.

The National Education Union is to demand at next month’s annual conference that pupils are taught the dangers of voting for Reform.

Teachers are set to debate a motion accusing ‘far-Right and racist organisations, including Reform’ of scapegoating refugees, asylum seekers, Muslims and Jews.

The motion, seen by The Mail on Sunday, claims four million votes were secured by Reform at the 2024 election on an ‘anti-immigrant platform’.

It calls for teachers to ‘educate and challenge’ pupils who are drawn to ‘racist beliefs and far-Right activity’ and for anti-racist resources to be developed for use in schools.

Reform has always rejected suggestions it is ‘far-Right’. Last year, the BBC was forced to apologise for calling it far-Right in a news report.

Meanwhile, the party’s popularity among the young has soared. An exclusive Mail on Sunday poll last month found that 30 per cent of 16- and 17- year-olds would vote Reform if the voting age was lowered.

Last night, Mr Farage said: ‘This is happening up and down the country. Reform is subject to endless propaganda at the hands of teachers. When we are in a position to do so, we will go to war against the teachers’ unions.’

The National Education Union, led by Daniel Kebede (pictured), is to demand at next month’s annual conference that pupils are taught the dangers of voting for Reform

Reform MP Lee Anderson (pictured) has said the NEU is 'indoctrinating our youth, silencing free speech and spreading hateful rhetoric'

In the motion, to be debated at the Harrogate event, union activists also criticise the Government for seeking advice from ‘members of racist governments, such as Georgia Meloni’ of Italy.

The NEU’s leader Daniel Kebede has called the UK ‘a brutally racist state’ and dubbed the education system ‘institutionally racist’. He even called the national curriculum ‘a Little England, white saviour narrative’.

Concerns were also raised last night that the NEU was disregarding the legal duty on teachers to maintain political impartiality in their teaching.

‘It is deeply disturbing that members of our largest teachers’ union should want to bring politics into the classroom by linking immigration concerns with racism,’ said Professor Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at Buckingham University.

‘It is indoctrination rather than education at a time when the current Government stated intention is to lower the voting age to 16.’

Reform MP Lee Anderson said: ‘The NEU has revealed its true colours.

‘By indoctrinating our youth, silencing free speech and spreading hateful rhetoric, they have abandoned their legal duty of political neutrality.’

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at Buckingham University (pictured) has branded the move 'deeply disturbing' 

Labour is accused of bowing to union pressure in its controversial Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which had its third reading last week, and its new curriculum review.

The proposed reforms, described as a ‘wrecking ball’ by opposition MPs, will curtail academy freedoms.

Fears have also been raised that education union ‘wokeness’ is influencing the Government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review, which published its interim report last week.

Led by Professor Becky Francis, the review said that it was governed by ‘a social justice lens'.

Last year, the NEU caused outrage by debating a motion calling Israel the ‘main driver’ of violence in Gaza.

A spokesman for the NEU said: ‘It is vital we take on racist behaviour and language, in schools and in wider society. The NEU makes no apologies for holding that view.’

Surprising support for Reform increases in school mock elections 

Support for Reform UK among the UK’s schoolchildren taking part in mock elections ahead of last year’s General Election took many by surprise.

One in five of a record 70,000 taking part in the Hansard Society and Association for Citizen Teaching’s mock elections for schools voted for the party.

In some areas like the West Midlands, Reform UK won the vote - with over a quarter voting for the party while a similar number voted for them in the East Midlands and the East of England.

In all areas, apart from London and Scotland, they comprehensively beat the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Some schools were said to be ‘embarrassed’ when they held a mock election to great fanfare only to find that pupils comprehensively voted Reform into first place.

One pupil at an independent school in Bath said: ‘Everyone was involved in a whole school mock general election and the school put social media pictures up of everyone taking part and voting but then the results were never officially announced.

‘It was common knowledge that Reform had won and it wasn’t the result the school were expecting so they just went quiet on it all.’

At Passmores Academy in Harlow, Essex, which featured in the 2011 television series Educating Essex, Reform UK also put in a strong performance, coming second in the school’s mock election but co-principal Vic Goddard said ‘voting patterns show that the vast majority of votes for Reform (approximately 80 per cent) were cast by boys’.

At the time, he told Schools Week it was natural for young people ‘to align themselves with the ‘outsider’ as an expression of rebellion, adding:

‘Nigel Farage has carefully curated his image as the bad boy of British politics and a vote for his party as a way of pushing back against authority.’

And he warned ‘the growth of the populist right in politics does present a challenge for schools, especially for the many with very diverse intakes’.

Around the country, at state and independent schools, it was a similar picture.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14526947/Nigel-Farage-teachers-union-racist-Reform.html

British WW2 Bombing Missions Over Germany

He may be 107, but pilot's memories of 62 World War II missions he ran are still vivid

At the grand old age of 107 the memory of that day is still seared in the mind of Mr Richardson, who is now one of the last surviving Second World War bomber pilots.

Sitting in his home in Ochiltree, Ayrshire, the memory is as sharp as ever.

‘As we flew away, I looked back at the south-east coast of England and wondered if I would ever see it again,’ he told the Mail on Sunday.

He could so easily have never returned as the RAF Bomber Command aircrews – whose service and sacrifices changed the outcome of the war – suffered a brutally high 46 per cent death rate.

That mission was the first of 62 completed bombing missions Mr Richardson would make to Germany and occupied Europe and later over Burma and Malaysa until 1947, when the Japanese surrendered to the Allies, finally bringing the long war years to a close.

His outstanding bravery will be honoured at VE Day 80 - Victory in Europe 80th anniversary celebrations - on May 8 in South Ayrshire, where Mr Richardson settled after the war.

Mr Richardson flew a Vickers Wellington twin-engined medium bomber. It was widely used by the RAF as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War

His love of flying began when he was 18 and unhappily working in an accountancy firm. He used to cycle past RAF Northolt near his home in West London, where his family had moved from Bolton.

‘I would watch these lovely airplanes flying around, taking off and landing and thought, that’s for me,’ Mr Richardson said.

‘Two weeks before the war, I tried to join the RAF but they said they weren’t taking on pilots. I knew I was in the first call-up so when war was declared I joined up straight away as a pilot.’

During flight training on Tiger Moth biplanes, he was singled out to be a bomber pilot and went on to fly Wellington Bombers with 149 Squadron in Europe before training other pilots in the Avro Anson, affectionately known as ‘Annie’.

At the tail end of the war, he was stationed in Calcutta, now Kolkata, with 159 Squadron, flying Liberator Bombers over ports and fuel tankers in Malaysia and Burma, now Myanmar. 

All in all, he completed 62 dangerous missions when he was only expected to carry out 30.

One of his many close shaves was in 1941 as captain on a bombing mission to Duisberg in Germany when he and his aircrew met a Junkers Ju 88, a German night fighter plane.

‘We were in complete darkness when the searchlights sprang into life. Tracer bullets from a fighter appeared from astern. The rear gunner fired a burst but was hit – shot through the ankle – and the turret was put out of action.

Mr Richardson (far left) is pictured with the crew of his Wellington Bomber during the war

‘I decided to turn back as the gunner was injured and to jettison my bombs. But the enemy came in for another go. When I judged he was behind us – it was dark so I couldn’t see – I told the front gunman to fire and that was the last we saw of the fighter. 

'A fire started on the ground and I thought it was the bombs we’d jettisoned. But when we got back to base, I discovered the mechanism to release the bombs hadn’t worked and we still had them. The explosion must have been the enemy plane.’

In another hair-raising exploit in 1942, Mr Richardson again cheated death, while saving the six-man crew and his plane, which was his responsibility as the captain.

On a bombing mission to Essen in Germany with 149 Squadron, he was flying at 8,000ft with cloud around 6,000ft below when searchlights picked up his plane’s position and kept it silhouetted as a target for the enemy fighters. The searchlights were eventually doused and he flew on.

But the searchlights found the plane again over The Hague and it came under attack from ‘flak’ – the name British airmen gave to Germany’s heavy antiaircraft gun. When an 88mm projectile exploded at altitude, it sent out jagged metal fragments that tore through any nearby aircraft with sometimes deadly consequences.

‘I realised there was only one thing to do and pushed the nose down and corkscrewed down until I was only about 300 feet up and could see rooftops plainly,’ Mr Richardson said.

‘The searchlights still held us in spite of our gunners putting some of them out. So down I went further, just a few feet over the buildings to fly under the searchlights, all the while keeping an eye out for steeples.’

He managed to get away from the city but a fighter was soon on his tail. The enemy was closing in as they reached the sea and flew over a flak ship.

The Liberator aircraft Mr Richardson later flew during bombing runs in Southeast Asia

‘Just before this, the fighter opened up and the rear gunner replied, but as the flak ship opened up, the fighter sheared off. Several hits were scored by the flak ship but the rear gunner might have put one of their guns out of action.

‘One shell exploded inside our cabin putting holes through the navigator’s seat, table, and one of his maps, and through the hydraulic tank, which we sealed with chewing gum before much was lost. We lost a door through the blast, but we landed safely.’

Mr Harrison has a small piece of tangled metal saved from his plane from the Duisberg attack. It takes pride of place along with photograph albums of his RAF comrades and his medals in his home in Ochiltree, East Ayrshire, where he lives with his 80-year-old daughter, retired nurse, Penny Richardson.

She will accompany her father to the VE Day 80 celebrations in Ayr.

‘I’m so proud of dad and everything he did during the war,’ she said.

Back when the whole of Britain was celebrating the first VE Day – the end of the World War II in Europe – Mr Harrison was 5,000 miles away in India with 159 squadron, flying Liberators. Their mission was to carry on fighting the Japanese by bombing ports and transport lines in Southeast Asia.

‘We had a few pints in the mess when the news came through. It was quite a relief, but we still had a job to do,’ said Mr Harrison.

VE Day 80 South Ayrshire organiser, RAF veteran Terry Wright, said: ‘Harry is a warrior and still has plenty of vim and vigour. He had to fight on while Europe was celebrating peace, which took a lot of gumption. His bravery is an inspiration.’

When Mr Richardson left the RAF, he was a Flight Lieutenant and had a chest full of medals –the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), the War Star, the Air Crew Europe Medal, the Burma Star, and the Defence Medal.

His survival after fighting from 1939 to 1947 is all the more remarkable when contemplating the grim statistics about airmen in Bomber Command.

Most aircrew were aged between 19 and 25, with some as young as 16. More than 8,000 aircraft were lost in action and Bomber Command aircrews suffered a brutally high casualty rate – out of 126,000 aircrew, more than 57,000 were killed, a 46 per cent death rate. A further 8,400 were wounded in action and nearly 10,000 became prisoners of war.

There were few ‘giggles’ Mr Richardson says during the war years, but a brief respite came when he met his wife, Margaret, and they married in 1943. The couple had two girls, Penny in 1944, and Lynda, in 1947.

After the war, the family moved to Prestwick where Mr Harrison joined the National Air Traffic Service as an air traffic controller, assisting in the planning of the Air Traffic Service over the Atlantic. Sadly, Mrs Harrison died in 1989 at the age of 67 and he later married his second wife, Marjorie, in 1993 when they were both 75.

‘I always missed flying but Margaret was scared all through the war that I would be injured or worse. She made me promise not to fly again.’

But Mr Harrison was able to take to the skies again last year to celebrate his 106th birthday when he climbed into the cockpit with a pilot from Prestwick Flight Club and they flew over the Ailsa Craig.

He puts his longevity down to keeping active ‘physically and mentally’ and to ‘deep breathing’ and a loving, close family.

‘I think the secret is to pick the right parents, and make sure your genes are good. Keep active physically and mentally of course. Try not to get too excited all the time, it’s important to keep calm, and do lots of deep breathing.’

He became an original member of the Prestwick Royal Air Force Association (RAFA) 67 years ago and still goes there every Saturday night for a dance.

But throughout his long life, his love of flying never left him.

‘I used to go down to Wolverhampton where they would fly us veterans every year, but there’s not enough of us left to organise now.’

Mr Harrison is now looking forward to the VE 80th anniversary celebration that will see an artwork of aircrew silhouettes ‘Standing With Giants’ created by Dan Barton installed in Ayr, with other events between May 1 and 10.

But the celebrations will also be a poignant time for Mr Harrison.

‘I can’t feel proud because there won’t be any of the other guys there. I’ll be the only one.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14526647/He-107-pilots-memories-62-World-War-II-missions-ran-vivid.html

Top British Double Agent into KGB Passes Away, Age 86

Double agent Oleg Gordievsky dies aged 86: Former British mole into KGB who gave Brits Russian secrets passes away in Surrey home after defecting in the 1970s

Former KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky has died aged 86.

Gordievsky was said to be Britain's most valuable spy inside Russia's intelligence agencies and spent many years leaking information to both MI6 and MI5.

He passed away peacefully at his home in Surrey, the BBC reports. 

Counter-terrorism police are assisting the coroner, but his death is not being treated as suspicious.

Gordievsky had lived in Surrey under police protection since Moscow became suspicious of him in 1985.

He narrowly escaped arrest, trial and a firing squad by getting smuggled across the border into Finland in the boot of a car.

Before becoming a spy Gordievsky had been languishing in a desk job at the KGB headquarters in Moscow for three years.

And so, when the plum job of a posting to the KGB station in London came up in 1981, he seized the opportunity.

He spent many years working as a double agent, passing vital intelligence to both Britain's MI6 and MI5

KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky has died aged 86

Gordievsky has lived in the ceremonial county under police protection since Moscow became suspicious of him in 1985 and he narrowly avoided arrest, trial and a firing squad by getting smuggled across the border into Finland in the boot of a car

Gordievsky worked undercover for the KGB – the Soviet secret service – in London in the early Eighties, sending reports back to Moscow. 

But he was also, bravely, spying for the West. 

The London rezidentura was one of the most active in the world, and he would be handling secrets of the first importance.

He put on a show of enthusiasm, obsequiousness and fake humility to the boss whose decision it was - a thoroughly unpleasant character known as The Crocodile.

Gordievsky loathed him.

But his toadying worked. He was appointed to the Soviet embassy in London, ostensibly to the diplomatic position of Counsellor but in reality deputy head of the KGB station housed there.

One by one, Gordievsky exorcised the demons of MI6 history.

For years there had been rumours of a ‘Fifth Man’, an unexposed member of the notorious Cambridge spy ring of Burgess, Maclean, Philby and Blunt. 

Gordievsky confirmed it was John Cairncross, a former MI6 officer.

Pictured: Oleg Gordievsky is made a Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and St George by The Queen at Buckingham Palace

Pictured: KGB and MI5 Double agent Oleg Gordievsky (left) and codebreaker Alan Stripp pit their wits over the Mastermind

He was able to name a Soviet spy discovered in 1946 but never formally identified, as Leo Long, a former intelligence officer, and that an Italian nuclear physicist, Bruno Pontecorvo, who worked on Britain’s wartime atomic bomb research, had volunteered his services to the KGB seven years before he defected to the USSR in 1950.

He also laid to rest the long-held conspiracy theory - on which much angst had been expended in the intelligence services - that Roger Hollis, a former chief of MI5, was a Soviet mole.

Most importantly, Gordievsky also put to rest MI6’s anxiety about current operations. 

MI6 had expected to learn that there was a vast network of KGB agents in Britain, communist spies like the Cambridge Five who had wormed their way into the Establishment to destroy it from within.

But Gordievsky told them that the KGB had only a small handful of agents, contacts and illegals in Britain, none very threatening.

Moreover, his insider’s depiction of KGB operations indicated that MI6’s Soviet adversary was not the invincible giant of myth, but flawed, clumsy and inefficient.

It remained vast, well-funded and ruthless but its ranks included many time-servers, boot-lickers and lazy careerists with little imagination.

The KGB was still a dangerous antagonist, but its vulnerabilities and deficiencies were now exposed. It could be beaten.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14524551/KGB-double-agent-Oleg-Gordievsky-dies-aged-86.html

How Britain’s prize double agent PROVED Labour Leader Michael Foot took cash from the KGB: Cold War 'super spy' Oleg Gordievsky reveals a bombshell disclosure about the ex Labour leader hidden deep in the Moscow archives

At their first meeting with Michael Foot, in the offices of Tribune (the Left-wing magazine he edited), KGB officers posing as diplomats slipped £10 into his pocket (worth roughly £250 today). He did not object

Gordievsky recalled: ‘Foot freely disclosed information about the Labour movement. He told them which politicians and trade union leaders were pro-Soviet, even suggesting which union bosses should be given the present of Soviet-funded holidays on the Black Sea

Gordievsky opened a file to discover that ‘Boot’ was the Right Honourable Michael Foot, above, distinguished writer and orator, veteran Left-wing MP and leader of the Labour Party. If Labour won the next election, he would become PM

Foot, seen campaigning above in Plymouth. The KGB classified him as an agent. 

Foot

Jack Jones, one of the most respected figures in the British trade union movement, was also a KGB agent. He had been one of the most powerful people in Britain

Liberal leader David Steele, Foot, centre, and Thatcher, right, hold their wreaths at the cenotaph for a Remembrance Day service

Foot's meetings with Soviet officials took place roughly once a month over lunch

Adapted from THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR by Ben Macintyre, published by Viking at £25. © Ben Macintyre 2018. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6427529/Cold-War-super-spy-Oleg-Gordievsky-reveals-bombshell-disclosure-ex-Labour-leader-Foot.html

Oleg Gordievsky in his student days at Moscow's eliste Institute of International Affairs where he was first recruited by the KGB

Covert surveillance photographs of Oleg Gordievsky taken by the Danish intelligence service PET during his postings to Copenhagen

For years these covert surveillance photos were the only images available of him

Gordievsky on the Baltic coast with Mikhail Lyubimov, a Russian novelist and retired colonel in the KGB

The MI6 filration team pause to take a souvenir photo en route to Norway a few hours after the fugitive spy crossed into Finland

Gordievsky, pictured in 1976, was hidden in the car boot as part of a British diplomatic convoy crossing between Moscow and Finland.

Traitor Aldrich Ames, a former CIA agent who became a mole and leaked information about Gordievsky to the KGB

Oleg Gordievsky, former colonel of the KGB and KGB resident-designate and bureau chief in London

Russian Spy Oleg Gordievsky, widely acknowledged to be the most valuable secret service mole at the heart of the KGB during the latter decades of the Cold War, with his ex-wife Mrs Leyla Gordievsky