Independent Labour Party (until mid-1930s) Communist Party of Great Britain (from mid-1930s)
Spouse
Hilary Nussbaum
(m. 1935; died 1986)
Children
1
Awards
Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1958)
Espionage activity
Allegiance
Soviet Union
Service years
1937–1972[1]
Codename
Hola
Melita Stedman Norwood (née SirnisLatvian:[zirnis]; 25 March 1912 – 2 June 2005) was a British civil servant, Communist Party of Great Britain member and KGB spy.
Born to a British mother and Latvian father, Norwood is most famous for supplying the Soviet Union with state secrets concerning the development of atomic weapons from her job at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association, where she worked for 40 years.[1][2] Despite the high strategic value of the information she passed to the Soviets, she refused to accept any financial rewards for her work. She rejected the Soviets' offer of a pension,[2][3] and argued that her disclosures of classified work helped to avoid the possibility of a third world war involving the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union.[1][4][5]
In The Mitrokhin Archive: The K.G.B. in Europe and the West, co-authored by Christopher Andrew, she is described as "both the most important British female agent in KGB history and the longest serving of all Soviet spies in Britain."[6] She is also described by the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), as "a real heroine" and "a consistent fighter in defence of peace and socialism."[2][4] She was also widely known as a life-long supporter of the Morning Star newspaper, and its predecessor the Daily Worker.[7]
In popular culture she is most known for her depiction in the 2018 spy drama Red Joan, whose protagonist was loosely inspired by Norwood's life.[8][9][10]
^ abc"Grandmother: I was right to spy". BBC News. 20 September 1999. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 27 April 2008.
^ abcMeddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Co-operative Limited. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
^Cite error: The named reference SpartacusMN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abMeddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Co-operative Limited. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
^Cite error: The named reference Hoge was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Andrew, Christopher; Mitrokhin, Vasili (2015) [1999]. The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West. London: Penguin. p. 154. ISBN 9780141966465. (Originally published by Allen Lane, The Penguin Press)
^Meddick, Simon; Payne, Liz; Katz, Phil (2020). Red Lives: Communists and the Struggle for Socialism. UK: Manifesto Press Co-operative Limited. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-1-907464-45-4.
^Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference hollywoodreporter.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference screendaily.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Melita Stedman Norwood (née Sirnis Latvian: [zirnis]; 25 March 1912 – 2 June 2005) was a British civil servant, Communist Party of Great Britain member...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
written by Jennie Rooney, which was itself inspired by the life of MelitaNorwood. Norwood worked at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association as...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
worked as a courier for the USSR's "Atomic spies", Klaus Fuchs and MelitaNorwood. Agent Sonya thus hastened the development of the Soviet atomic bomb...
London as well during his European trips and ran other spies, including MelitaNorwood. The Krogers acted as his technical support; he communicated with Moscow...
of Cambridge. Joan Smith (played by Judi Dench), loosely inspired by MelitaNorwood, is depicted as studying physics at Cambridge. The 2021 film The Dig...
House for much of his life, when Bexleyheath was mostly countryside MelitaNorwood (1912–2005), Cold War Soviet spy Kenneth Noye (1947–), gangster and...
Mitrokhin to the MI6 exposed an unknown number of Soviet agents, including MelitaNorwood. He was co-author with Christopher Andrew of The Mitrokhin Archive:...
1971 Red Joan (2018) – British spy drama film inspired by the life of MelitaNorwood who worked at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association as...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a Lutheran family that lived in the Norwood Park neighborhood. He was of Norwegian descent.[citation needed] His father...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
what was known about Tina, and she was conclusively revealed to be MelitaNorwood in 1999. Nor did Peierls fit Pers, as the latter worked at the Clinton...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
same-titled novel, it was inspired by the life of KGB intelligence source MelitaNorwood. While the film earned generally negative reviews, Dench was applauded...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
ISBN 978-0-19-965658-5. Burke, D. (2008). The Spy who Came in from the Co-op: MelitaNorwood and the Ending of Cold War Espionage. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer Ltd...
George Blake David Crook Litzi Friedmann Klaus Fuchs Percy Glading MelitaNorwood Alan Nunn May John Peet Geoffrey Prime Goronwy Rees Michael John Smith...
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