WebSummary: Spy Greville Wynne with his son Andrew and wife Sheila outside of their London home after being released from the Soviet prison in April 1964. Penkovsky, described by one intelligence officer as the "best spy in history", was considered so important that a meeting was arranged between him and Sir Dick White, head of MI6. It's the early 1960s and Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a salesman who represents Western manufacturers in foreign countries. "In a way, it's a love letter to Penkovsky," Cumberbatch says. US President John F Kennedy decided to place a ring of ships around Cuba to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. A drink-loving bon vivante as portrayed onscreen, Wynne's real-life salesmanship and genuine naivet made him perfect for throwing off serious suspicion. 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. Penkovsky either was shot or killed himself in prison there are disputing accounts. WebGreville Maynard Wynne was born in 1919. On October 22, Kennedy spoke about the crisis in a televised address to the US. He said he first joined the British security services in 1938 and worked for them during World War II. 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. But do note that it is not possible to be certain of a person's genealogy without a family's cooperation (and/or DNA testing). It is not known where he will spend the rest of his sentence. 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. "The Courier" has compressed the real-life story and changed some facts. And to this end, each man protects the other from KGB agents, refusing to sign confessions that would condemn the other person even at risk to his own life. Explore how the celebrity world connects. 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. The Cuban missile crisis began after the crew of an American U-2 spy plane photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on Cuba. THE world held its breath for 13 days in October 1962 when it was on the brink of nuclear war. They take him to a Russian prison where he forced to strip and undergo a body cavity search. British officials have never officially commented on his accounts. Wynne, who took the 50,000, suggested that it was a reward for gleaning from Penkovsky vital information about the Russian military sites in Cuba that steered Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. Five months later, Wynne would be dead and his extraordinary story of how he was a major player in one of the most productive covert operations ever conducted by MI6 and the CIA against the USSR would be buried with him. Herma van Buren Bio Details. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. He divorced his first wife Sheila after his return before entering a second failed marriage. Sentenced to eight years in a labor camp, Wynne spent 18 months in Moscow's Lubyanka Prison, where he was subjected to beatings and torture. Strange" to Sherlock Holmes. The Courier is currently lived by his son, Andrew, as he died in 1990 at So, with little more knowledge than to simply be himself and await further instruction, he became Penkovskys new courier. 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.. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. Click here to Start FameChaining. Over a period of 14 months Penkovsky passed photographs of 5,000 secret papers to the CIA and MI6. The release was bittersweet for Wynne, who was largely left to fend for himself. Gordon Beaton{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Gordon Beaton", "gender": "Male" }, Elsie Beaton{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Elsie Beaton", "gender": "Female" }, Andrew Wynne{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Andrew Wynne", "gender": "Male" }, born 1952, age 69 (approx.) A British businessman accused of spying for the West has been sentenced to eight years' detention by a Moscow tribunal. 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. Spy Greville Wynne with his son Andrew and wife Sheila outside of their London home after being released from the Soviet prison in April 1964. See FameChain's massive Trump family tree. In 1960, the nuclear arms race between the USSR and the United States was coming to a head. WebGreville Maynard Wynne Age 70 Born Wednesday 19 Mar 1919 Died 28 Feb 1990 Start a FameChain Other Partners Divorced married about 31 Jul 1970 divorce circa 1986 Herma But Wynne paid a heavy price for his heroism. And we also witness him in a particularly vulnerable situation when he is forced to remove his clothes and have his bodily cavities examined. The Soviets concluded that one of the likely conduits of information would be a British diplomat in Moscow. Penkovsky's visits to an adjacent building identified him as a likely source of the leaks. There were signs in 1963 of a lessening of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. He said he acted as the intermediary for Soviet double agent Col. Oleg Penkovsky, a senior military intelligence officer who passed Moscow secrets to MI6 and the CIA. Sending an American would be a certain death sentence, since the last man the CIA worked with was caught and executed. It involved a lot of foreign travel, including trips to Soviet bloc countries, and thus provided ideal cover for spying. He is a terrible sight.. Space-X continues to reach for the stars. The back door of the front car was opened and I was hurled inside. He endows his film with a meticulous sense of detail but without ever making those details feel riveting. Andrew and Sheila lived Wynne recalled: If I had run they would have shot me. This was one of the early examples of a book being published about secret work that the government never expected to be made public. It is believed to be correct at the time of inputting and is presented here in good faith. "The Courier," which opened in cinemas earlier this year, is now available on Bluray. George Blake, a Soviet mole inside MI6, had already pointed out Ruari and Janet Chisholm as MI6 operators in the British embassy in Moscow. But by July 1962, the walls were starting to close in on the pair. He has also been stripped of his rank of colonel and all his medals. You are being followed. It is believed to be correct at the time of inputting and is presented here in good faith. In the film, Greville Wynne is recruited by MI6 agent Dickie Franks (Angus Wright) and CIAs Emily Donovan (played by The wonderful Mrs. Maisel star, Rachel This dramatic cold-war era spy thriller isnt always the easiest film to watch. Someone uses cigarettes to poison a man. Threats of annihilation were made, bomb shelters were created, and people on both sides were terrified. Both men were patriots (albeit from warring countries) who simply didnt want to see their families and friends, and millions of their countrymen perish because of a few angry political leaders. Start a FameChain Add to my FameChain. WebGreville Maynard Wynne (19 March 1919 28 February 1990) was a British spy famous for his involvement with, and imprisonment as a result of, the espionage activities of Oleg Wynne returned to his life as a businessman. LONDON (AP) _ Greville Wynne, a British spy who told in his celebrated memoirs how he pried loose some of Moscows best-kept secrets and who served 18 A broken man, he turned to alcohol on his release and told increasingly wild tales. That said, many families wont want to ignore some of the content labels weve listed here before watching. Current appointments. Though Mack and Dom's specific grievances aren't featured in the exclusive clip, Nicole "He started as a nave amateur. On paper, Oleg and Greville shouldnt have worked as friends. Wynne died from throat cancer in 1990 at the age of 70 bedevilled by questions around the authenticity of his accounts. And he certainly didnt want to become one himself. WebTHE SPY CHARGES FACING 42-YEAR-OLD WYNNE COULD BRING A DEATH SENTENCE OR SEND HIM TO JAIL FROM SEVEN TO 15 YEARS.HE HAS BEEN DETAINED SINCE HE WAS ARRESTED IN BUDAPEST LAST NOVEMBER. Bert Wynne{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Bert Wynne", "gender": "Male" }, Ada Wynne{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Ada Wynne", "gender": "Female" }, Nada Wynne{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Nada Wynne", "gender": "Female" }, Andrew Wynne{ "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Person", "name": "Andrew Wynne", "gender": "Male" }, born 1952, age 69 (approx.) But in September 1989, Wynne was present in the High Court when he won substantial libel damages from Allasons publisher Weidenfeld. Wynne states that drinking is his one true gift, and we see him and others drunk on several occasions. After the war he became a businessman selling electrical equipment. He never escaped the legacy of the mission, his capture, and the fall out. Khrushchev later backed off and ordered the Soviet missiles returned to the Soviet Union after President John F. Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba. After his release from prison, he prospered as a property developer. From online or printed sources and from publicly accessible databases. The fault lies in part with the script, which gives Wynne the greater focus when in many ways it's Penkovsky who is the more interesting character. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites. However, he was freed in 1964 in exchange for Soviet spy Conon Molody, or Gordon Lonsdale as he called himself in Britain. 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. Benedict Cumberbatch is known for bringing outlandish, extraordinary characters, from Marvel's "Dr. Hes beaten and starved half to death. He said he was motivated by patriotism and a dislike of the Soviet system. Nikita Khrushchev (then president of the USSR) liked to brag about Russias scientific and militaristic advancements. This is quite shocking, since their countries are nearly at war. Theres also some foul language, a reference to a mans extramarital affair and lots of belligerent alcohol consumption. 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. 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 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. From online or printed sources and from publicly accessible databases. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Donald asks the courts to let him tweet. Benedict Cumberbatch: Battled mystery flu, fake crew cut facing Jodie Foster in 'The Mauritanian'. In 1959 he played an important role in helping a Russian intelligence officer, Major Kuznov, to defect to the West. Space-X continues to reach for the stars. Copyright FameChain 2023, All rights reserved. Parents, get practical information from a biblical worldview to help guide media decisions for your kids! Wynne was arrested and jailed as a spy The moonlighting spy was arrested on a business trip to Budapest in November 1962 and taken to the Soviet Union. AT THE AIRPORT MRS WYNNE TOLD REPORTERS "ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT I AM GLAD The sequence depicting one main character in a Russian prison is brutal. Greville Wynne was born in 1919. WebRuth Wynne, United Kingdom. Theyre supposed to hate each otheror at least only grudgingly tolerate each another. Wynne was a middle-class British businessman whose frequent travel to Eastern Europe attracted recruitment by MI-6 to serve as a liaison to high-ranking Soviet official Penkovsky. They were on hand for a party when Penkovsky visited Paris in September 1961 using a Soviet trade fair as a cover. Explore how the celebrity world connects. NEWSLETTERS: Sign up to keep up with all the latest news, arts and culture, and TV highlights from KPBS. Sheila assumes that the reason her husband keeps traveling to Russia is because he is having an affair. 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