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Ring Of Spies
''Ring of Spies'' (also known as ''Ring of Treason'') is a 1964 British spy film directed by Robert Tronson and starring Bernard Lee, William Sylvester and Margaret Tyzack. It is based on the real-life case of the Portland Spy Ring, whose activities prompted " Reds under the bed" scare stories in the British popular press in the early 1960s. Plot Harry Houghton, a dissatisfied and alcoholic embassy attaché, disgraces himself at an official garden party in Warsaw, Poland. Knowing he is to be disciplined the following day, he says goodbye to his girlfriend, who reports back to the Russian embassy about his inevitable return to England. Despite a poor report from his previous superiors, Houghton is posted to the top secret Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment at Portland, a Royal Navy equipment testing facility. Houghton is soon approached by secret Soviet intelligence to hand over documents to them, as he apparently had in Warsaw, with the veiled threat of blackmail. He agree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nancy Nevinson
Nancy Nevinson (26 July 1918 – 25 January 2012) was a British actress. She was born Nancy Ezekiel, one of four children of Reemah (née Kadoorie) and David Ezekiel, members of the Baghdadi-Jewish community of Calcutta, India, during the Raj. The family moved to London in the 1930s, where Nancy trained at RADA and took the stage name Nancy Nevinson, which she retained after her subsequent marriage to Commander William Hoyes-Cock. Early life Nevinson was born in Chittagong, East Bengal, British India. Career Nevison worked on stage, in film and on television. She also dubbed voices for both young and old. She appeared in the films ''Foxhole in Cairo'' (1960), '' Light in the Piazza'' (1962), '' Mrs. Gibbons' Boys'' (1962), ''Ring of Spies'' (1964), '' The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' (1965), ''For the Love of Ada'' (1972), ''Symptoms'' (1974), ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), ''S.O.S. Titanic'' (1979), ''Le Pétomane'' (1979), ''Raise the Titanic'' (1980), ''Young Sherlock Hol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Tronson
Robert Tronson (18 May 1924 – 27 November 2008) was an English film and television director, born in Chilmark, Wiltshire. Educated at Churcher's College in Hampshire, followed by the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, he served with the Royal Navy from 1941. After leaving the service at the end of the Second World War he determined to become a writer, but soon joined the BBC, where he produced children's television programmes. In 1955 he joined Associated-Rediffusion, and by the end of the decade he was working on television drama serials. From the 1960s onwards he worked as a freelance director in a career spanning almost 50 years. His final television credits were for directing five episodes of ''Hetty Wainthropp Investigates'' for the BBC, between 1996 and 1998. In 1965 Tronson married Nona Richards (died 1987). He died on 27 November 2008 and was survived by their son. Filmography Films *'' Shooting Star'' (1951), written with Hazel Adair *'' The Professor's Secret'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Houghton
Harry Frederick Houghton (7 June 1905 – 23 May 1985) was a British Naval SNCO and a spy for the Polish People's Republic and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He was a member of the Portland Spy Ring. Early life Houghton was born in Lincoln, England. He left school at 14 to become an errand boy and later joined the Royal Navy. By the end of the Second World War he was a chief petty officer. After the war, he joined the civil service and in 1951 was attached to the staff of the naval attaché of the British embassy in Warsaw, Poland. Houghton dabbled in the black market, starting with coffee and moving on to medical drugs (in his memoirs, Houghton admits to the former but denies the latter). That made him money and acquaintances but also led him to heavy drinking and the attention of the Polish Secret Police. Houghton's wife complained of domestic abuse, and there were concerns that he was mixing with the wrong people. In 1952, he was ordered home. Houghton and his wife ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morris Cohen (Soviet Spy)
Morris Cohen (, ''Morris Genrikhovich Koen''; July 2, 1910 – June 23, 1995), also known by his alias Peter Kroger, was an American convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union. His wife Lona was also an agent. They became spies because of their communist beliefs. Early life and education Morris Cohen was born in Harlem, New York City, on July 2, 1910, to a Jewish immigrant family. His father had immigrated from an area near Kyiv in present-day Ukraine. His mother was from Vilnius in present-day Lithuania; the couple had met and married in New York. Cohen was a football standout at James Monroe High School in the Bronx. After briefly attending New York University he was awarded an athletic scholarship to Mississippi A&M College (now Mississippi State University). He was injured in a freshman game. No longer able to play football, he was kept on scholarship as athletic manager. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business, and after a year of graduate work transferred to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Konon Molody
Konon Trofimovich Molody (russian: Ко́нон Трофи́мович Моло́дый; 17 January 1922 – 9 September 1970) was a Soviet intelligence officer, known in the West as Gordon Arnold Lonsdale. Posing as a Canadian businessman during the Cold War he was a non-official (illegal) KGB intelligence agent and the mastermind of the Portland Spy Ring, which operated in Britain from the late 1950s until 1961. Gordon Lonsdale identity A person by the name of Gordon Arnold Lonsdale was born on 27 August 1924 in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada. His father Emmanuel Jack Lonsdale was a miner. His mother Olga Elina Bousa had emigrated from Finland. The Lonsdales separated in 1931. A year later, Olga took her 8-year-old son with her back to her native Finland. He is believed to have died c. 1943 and the Soviets obtained his papers for use by their agents.Tietjen, Arthur (1961) ''Soviet Spy Ring''. Pan Books. The actual Gordon Lonsdale was recorded as having been circumcised; the impostor w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Frederick Houghton
Harry Frederick Houghton (7 June 1905 – 23 May 1985) was a British Naval SNCO and a spy for the Polish People's Republic and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He was a member of the Portland Spy Ring. Early life Houghton was born in Lincoln, England. He left school at 14 to become an errand boy and later joined the Royal Navy. By the end of the Second World War he was a chief petty officer. After the war, he joined the civil service and in 1951 was attached to the staff of the naval attaché of the British embassy in Warsaw, Poland. Houghton dabbled in the black market, starting with coffee and moving on to medical drugs (in his memoirs, Houghton admits to the former but denies the latter). That made him money and acquaintances but also led him to heavy drinking and the attention of the Polish Secret Police. Houghton's wife complained of domestic abuse, and there were concerns that he was mixing with the wrong people. In 1952, he was ordered home. Houghton and his wife ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The street outside follows the route of the ancient wall around the City of London, which was part of the fortification's '' bailey'', hence the metonymic name. The Old Bailey has been housed in a succession of court buildings on the street since the sixteenth century, when it was attached to the medieval Newgate gaol. The current main building block was completed in 1902, designed by Edward William Mountford; its architecture is recognised and protected as a Grade II* listed building. An extension South Block was constructed in 1972, over the former site of Newgate gaol which was demolished in 1904. The Crown Court sitting in the Old Bailey hears major criminal cases from within Greater London. In exceptional cases, trials may be referred t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lona Cohen
Lona Cohen (, ''Leontina Vladislavovna Koen''; January 11, 1913 – December 23, 1992), born Leontine Theresa Petka, also known as Helen Kroger, was an American who spied for the Soviet Union. She is known for her role in smuggling atomic bomb diagrams out of Los Alamos. She was a communist activist before marrying Morris Cohen. The couple became spies because of their communist beliefs. They were both arrested in Britain in 1961, and convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union the following year. After serving part of a prison sentence, Lona Cohen and her husband were exchanged by the British in 1969. They lived the remainder of their lives in Moscow, teaching spy skills. Early life Lona Cohen was born Leontine Theresa Petka in Adams, Massachusetts, the daughter of Polish Catholic immigrants. At the age of 15, Lona left her parents' home in Taftsville, Connecticut and moved to New York City. By 1928, she had joined the Socialist Party. While in Greenwich Village, Lona had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morris Cohen (spy)
Morris Cohen (, ''Morris Genrikhovich Koen''; July 2, 1910 – June 23, 1995), also known by his alias Peter Kroger, was an American convicted of espionage for the Soviet Union. His wife Lona was also an agent. They became spies because of their communist beliefs. Early life and education Morris Cohen was born in Harlem, New York City, on July 2, 1910, to a Jewish immigrant family. His father had immigrated from an area near Kyiv in present-day Ukraine. His mother was from Vilnius in present-day Lithuania; the couple had met and married in New York. Cohen was a football standout at James Monroe High School in the Bronx. After briefly attending New York University he was awarded an athletic scholarship to Mississippi A&M College (now Mississippi State University). He was injured in a freshman game. No longer able to play football, he was kept on scholarship as athletic manager. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business, and after a year of graduate work transferred to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon Lonsdale
Konon Trofimovich Molody (russian: Ко́нон Трофи́мович Моло́дый; 17 January 1922 – 9 September 1970) was a Soviet intelligence officer, known in the West as Gordon Arnold Lonsdale. Posing as a Canadian businessman during the Cold War he was a non-official (illegal) KGB intelligence agent and the mastermind of the Portland Spy Ring, which operated in Britain from the late 1950s until 1961. Gordon Lonsdale identity A person by the name of Gordon Arnold Lonsdale was born on 27 August 1924 in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada. His father Emmanuel Jack Lonsdale was a miner. His mother Olga Elina Bousa had emigrated from Finland. The Lonsdales separated in 1931. A year later, Olga took her 8-year-old son with her back to her native Finland. He is believed to have died c. 1943 and the Soviets obtained his papers for use by their agents.Tietjen, Arthur (1961) ''Soviet Spy Ring''. Pan Books. The actual Gordon Lonsdale was recorded as having been circumcised; the impostor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethel Gee
Ethel Elizabeth Gee (10 May 1914 – 7 June 1984), nicknamed "Bunty", was an Englishwoman who helped her lover spy for the Soviet Union. She was a minor member of the Portland Spy Ring. Early life The daughter of a blacksmith, Ethel Gee lived on the Isle of Portland, England. She left school at 15 to begin employment. In October 1950, she became a filing clerk at the Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment at Portland. She thus handled top secret documents on Britain's underwater warfare work and , the Royal Navy's first nuclear submarine. Single, Gee had limited social life, since her spare time was spent looking after aging relatives, including her mother, aunt and uncle. Spying career Around 1955, Gee met Harry Houghton, a former sailor who had become a civil service clerk. Houghton was an alcoholic; his marriage ended in divorce in 1956. They would later pose as a married couple when they booked into London hotels. Houghton had been supplying military secrets to spies fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service. From the middle decades of the 17th century, and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing and defending the British Empire, and four Imperial fortress colonies and a string of imperial bases and coaling stations secured the Royal Navy's ability to assert naval superiority globally. Owing to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, to ref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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