So, with little more knowledge than to simply be himself and await further instruction, he became Penkovskys new courier. Both men pleaded guilty - Wynne "with certain reservations". An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Penkovsky's visits to an adjacent building identified him as a likely source of the leaks. But by July 1962, the walls were starting to close in on the pair. He was arrested, giving up Wynne's name. He did it out of loyalty to his country.. The Soviet Union had two double agents, William Whalen and Jack Dunlap, working in Washington. Wynne died of throat cancer at Cromwell Hospital in London on 28 February 1990, aged 70.[2]. After being convicted Wynne was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment and Oleg Penkovsky was sentenced to death and was executed on 16th May 1963. Several men drive past a strip club. Cumberbatch says: They tried everything, from the worst kind of deprivation to beatings, to psychological torture, to turning on the warm showers, turning them off again. Hospital spokesman Tony Prescott said he was admitted with a well-known pre-existing condition. He would not elaborate. Greville Wynne's former in laws: Greville Wynne's former father in law was Gordon Beaton Greville Wynne's former mother in law was Elsie Beaton. Greville Wynne wrote an autobiography which was first published in 1967. A meeting between the Russian prisoners, in which Wynne tells Penkovsky of the import of his information, as depicted in the film, is drama. A broken man, he turned to alcohol on his release and told increasingly wild tales. His first wife, Sheila, was present throughout his Moscow trial but divorced him after his release. Released in the same week as The Suns revelations about an alleged spy known as David Smith who worked in Britains embassy in Berlin, The Courier tells how the married 41-year-old sales consultant was persuaded by MI6 to deliver secrets from Russian spy Oleg Penkovsky. A year of cat and mouse would ensue before the British salesman won over the Russian. During the four-day trial, the court heard both men had spied for British and American intelligence. A man yells at his son and calls him dense in frustration. Subscribe to our Spartacus Newsletter and keep up to date with the latest articles. People drink and smoke throughout the film. All rights reserved. The Courier is currently lived by his son, Andrew, as he died in 1990 at What he endured is all the more incredible considering he wasnt a trained spook and he had no background or inclination to do the work he was asked to do. However, he was freed in 1964 in exchange for Soviet spy Conon Molody, or Gordon Lonsdale as he called himself in Britain. Penkovsky is believed to have been executed later that year. Ill be there., Wynne wrote: As I came out of the alley I saw two men. Then I was kicked in the kidneys by heavy feet and something metal hit my temple. Wynne was stripped naked and subjected to a metal probe before being put on a plane to Moscow with an armed guard, and taken to the KGBs notorious Lubyanka prison. 24 Jul 2002. Benedict says: This guy goes on an extraordinary journey from being an ordinary businessman, one who is quite severely dyslexic, almost to the point of illiteracy, to being a conduit for the West to get the most important bit of secret information during the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis.. Penkovsky, who was tried with him, was sentenced to death for treason. I am interested in going behind the scenes to explore the creative process; seeing how pop culture reflects social issues; and providing a context for art and entertainment. "He came from a very humble background, but was always trying to better himself," says Cumberbatch. Wynne and Penkovsky engage in bland business banter while Wynnes wife (Jessie Buckley) assumes his new secretiveness is to cover up an affair. Ryan Wynne, United Kingdom. "In a way, it's a love letter to Penkovsky," Cumberbatch says. Strange" to Sherlock Holmes. Greville Wynne was a British businessman who had a liking for the drink and the ability to travel between countries without question. MI6 sees him and his international dealings as a perfect cover for smuggling information out of Soviet Russia. The film is worth seeing, though, so that we can pay tribute to a pair of rather ordinary men who showed extraordinary courage because they had a genuine sense of human decency and desire to keep the world safe for their children and future generations. WebGreville Wynne was born in 1919. Wynne died from throat cancer in 1990 at the age of 70 bedevilled by questions around the authenticity of his accounts. And we later learn that he had an affair once before (thus her suspicion) but that she forgave him afterward. A few days later Wynne was arrested at a trade fair in Budapest, Hungary, and flown to the Soviet Union. In 1990, he died of throat The Soviets concluded that one of the likely conduits of information would be a British diplomat in Moscow. And the British intelligence agency MI6, though equally invested in preventing war, was unwilling to risk escalating its own tensions with Russia if one of the groups spies got caught. Explore how the celebrity world connects. Wynne was flown from Hungary to Moscow, where he was brutally tortured before being sentenced to eight years in a Soviet labour camp. He was put on trial in Moscow on May 1963 for spying and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev eventually recognised the total devastation of a nuclear war and publicly agreed to a deal. Spectators in the crowded courtroom applauded and some shouted: "Not enough, not enough.". I was tripped and my arms were seized. Wynne recalled: If I had run they would have shot me. Copyright FameChain 2023, All rights reserved. In 1961, Oleg Penkovsky, deputy head of the foreign department of the Coordination of Scientific Research, told a British diplomat that he wished to sell Soviet secrets. He wrote: It is Penkovsky all right. When his cover was blown he found himself cornered by four burly Communist heavies who hurled him into the back of their car and hit him over the head with an iron bar. The MI6 agent suffered from depression after This dramatic cold-war era spy thriller isnt always the easiest film to watch. Mostly, Wynne was to carry on business as usual. LONDON (AP) _ Greville Wynne, who spied on the Soviet Union for Britain during the Cold War and who spent 18 months in a Moscow prison after being caught, has died of throat cancer, hospital officials said today. What only emerged long after his death was his connection to the Cuban missile crisis. While in prison, Wynne is forced to strip before a cavity search; we see him naked, covering his genitals with his hands (we also see his exposed backside). Sending an American would be a certain death sentence, since the last man the CIA worked with was caught and executed. However, while working together, something unexpected happens: The two men become friends. WebWife of British spy Greville Wynne. He was 71. But what he did want was to protect his wife and son. After sentencing, the court also named British and American officials in Moscow who were said to have helped Wynne in his espionage activities. Between April 1961 and August 1962 Penkovsky passed more than 5,000 photographs of classified military, political, and economic documents to British and U.S. intelligence forces. March 1, 1990. A married couple lays in bed while kissing passionately; its implied they have sex, as we later see them covered only by sheets. That immediate breaking of a man was awful. Matching is performed only by full name so it's possible that the information refers to more than one person. AT THE AIRPORT MRS WYNNE TOLD REPORTERS "ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT I AM GLAD Benedict Cumberbatch is known for bringing outlandish, extraordinary characters, from Marvel's "Dr. From online or printed sources and from publicly accessible databases. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. From online or printed sources and from publicly accessible databases. Penkovsky had made earlier offers to spy for the West. Most of the evidence based on confessions given by the two men. We see another man in similarly bad shape later on and learn he was also executed. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. MI6 is reluctant to rescue someone working undercover because it would require giving up one of the agencys own prisoners in exchange. The wealthy businessman, who described his exploits in two celebrated memoirs - The Man From Moscow and The Man From Odessa - worked for Britains MI6 Secret Intelligence Service. The unlikely British spy was freed in 1964 in exchange for Soviet spy Konon Molody. A man with multiple bruises and lacerations on his face and body gets shot in the head (we see some blood splatter). And although Wynne is told that he has to lie to his wife to protect her from the KGB, he expresses his discomfort since he lied to her in the past and hurt her with the deception. Keep up with all the latest news, arts and culture, and TV highlights from KPBS. He preceded this book with The Man from Moscow: The Story Of Wynne and Penkovsky (1967) and published in the USA as Contact on Gorky Street: a British Agent's Own First-Hand Account of His Mission to Moscow (1968). Nikolai Borovik, Wynne's Soviet lawyer, said the businessman would appeal. In April 1961 Penkovsky began passing information about Soviet missile developments, nuclear plans, locations of military headquarters and the identities of KGB officers. In his memoir The Man From Moscow, Wynne recalls finding a Soviet siren in his hotel room, clearly intended as a honey trap, forcing him to complain to reception that there had been a mistake. It tells the nuclear arms race-era tale of Wynne, a hard-drinking and smoking Mad Men-style businessman with a young wife named Sheila (Jessie Buckley) and 10-year-old son. His task was to make contact with Penkovsky, who worked for The Red Armys spy unit the GRU and was MI6 believed ready to cut a deal. Though Mack and Dom's specific grievances aren't featured in the exclusive clip, Nicole It is believed to be correct at the time of inputting and is presented here in good faith. Wynne wrote about his time as a spy in a book entitled The Man from Odessa, first published in 1981. The Russian turned to him and said: You must get out, quickly! What did Greville Wynne do after he was released from the Soviet prison? The film sees him arrested on a plane leaving Moscow and does not delve into his show trial for spying alongside Penkovsky in May 1963. "(Chisholm) played a very important role in the story that we couldn't get into, because it's a whole other movie," Cooke says. Greville Wynne was born in 1919. British Spy Greville Wynne Dead At 71. THE world held its breath for 13 days in October 1962 when it was on the brink of nuclear war. But his leaked information on Soviet missile capabilities and played a key role in President Kennedy's strong, successful stance during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He acted as a courier to transport top-secret information to London from Soviet agent Oleg Penkovsky. This information comes from public records and it's show in accordance to Article 6.1 of the GDPR. The sequence depicting one main character in a Russian prison is brutal. The release was bittersweet for Wynne, who was largely left to fend for himself. Wynne was arrested in Budapest and extradited to the Soviet Union. Someone tells Wynne that if Russia attacks the UK, his entire family will be destroyed before he has a chance to say goodbye. with Sheila Wynne{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Sheila Wynne", "gender": "Female" }, Cromwell Hospital, South Kensington, London, England, UK, Nottingham University, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom, View Greville Wynne's Family Tree and History, Ancestry and Genealogy, Greville Wynne's father was Bert Wynne Greville Wynne's mother was Ada Wynne, Greville Wynne's former wife is Herma van Buren Greville Wynne's former wife was Sheila Wynne, Greville Wynne's former father in law was Gordon Beaton Greville Wynne's former mother in law was Elsie Beaton, View Herma van Buren's Family Tree and History, Ancestry and Genealogy, Herma van Buren's former husband was Greville Wynne, Herma van Buren's former father in law was Bert Wynne Herma van Buren's former mother in law was Ada Wynne Herma van Buren's former sister in law is Nada Wynne. Penkovsky and Wynnes motivation to steal top-secret intel from the USSR is driven by their desire to protect their loved ones from a nuclear holocaust. The most controversial claim in the book was that he and Penkovsky were smuggled into the White House and lauded by President Kennedy. Wynne was returned to the West at a Berlin Wall checkpoint in April 1964, exchanged for KGB agent Konon Molody, who had been sentenced to 25 years in Britain. That said, many families wont want to ignore some of the content labels weve listed here before watching. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Hes beaten and starved half to death. There were signs in 1963 of a lessening of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. Wynne was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, five in a labour camp, while Penkovsky was executed by a firing squad (although a Moscow rumour said hed But he said his training with the MI6 was even worse. Should you have information that conflicts with anything shown please make us aware by email. See FameChain's massive Trump family tree. Welsh-born Wynne was plucked from obscurity by Britains secret services because they needed someone with a plausible cover and Eastern Bloc countries were desperate for the type of state-of-the-art engineering and technical equipment that he sold. Several couples kiss. After graduating from Nottingham University he became an electrical engineer. The affair developed into the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Donald asks the courts to let him tweet. Several people, including a young girl, are roughly handled by KGB officers. No question. He headed for the airport where he met Penkovsky. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Sheila was born between October 1921 and December 1921, in Wandsworth RD, Surrey, England. Start a FameChain Add to my FameChain. Wynne later became an intermediary and courier for Penkovsky, smuggling top-secret Soviet intelligence to London on return from his frequent trips to the USSR. The interactions between the two men were designed to take place in plain sight and not involve any danger, and for the bulk of the film thats true, which, as you might suspect, is not exactly riveting cinema. This is somewhat true, but his time in prison affected him both physically and psychologically, having a long-term impact on Wynnes health. The UK's supply crisis puts extra pressure on Prime Minister Boris. He endows his film with a meticulous sense of detail but without ever making those details feel riveting. As mentioned, Greville Wynne had a son named Andrew with his first wife, Sheila. Explore how the celebrity world connects. 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