The Queen's Soviet Spy

<p>Sir Anthony Blunt, esteemed art historian and a favourite of the Royal family, was publicly revealed as a Soviet spy on 15th November, 1979, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher confirmed he had been part of the "Cambridge Five", a group of double agents who secretly passed sensitive information to the Soviet Union.</p><br><p>Despite his confession to MI5 in 1964, Blunt continued his association with the royal household, working as a surveyor of the Queen's pictures until his retirement in 1972. The response in Parliament included disbelief and accusations of deliberate cover-ups to protect Blunt, leading, eventually, to his knighthood being rescinded.</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how Blunt's privilege facilitated his double-dealing at the very highest levels of British society; ask whether his homosexuality influenced his relationship with Guy Burgess and his willingness to betray the British establishment; and explain how a fictional work - and some trigger-happy lawyers - led to his downfall…</p><br><p>Further Reading:</p><p>• ‘Art historian who spied for the Soviet Union’ (The Guardian, 1979): <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/17/anthony-blunt-spy-sentenced-1979" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/17/anthony-blunt-spy-sentenced-1979</a></p><p>• ‘Anthony Blunt: confessions of spy who passed secrets to Russia during the war’ (The Telegraph, 2009): <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5889879/Anthony-Blunt-confessions-of-spy-who-passed-secrets-to-Russia-during-the-war.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5889879/Anthony-Blunt-confessions-of-spy-who-passed-secrets-to-Russia-during-the-war.html</a></p><p>• ‘Art historian, professor, writer, spy – the extraordinary story of Anthony Blunt’ (The British Academy, 2020): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Z4lucQar0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Z4lucQar0</a></p><br><p><strong>Love the show? Join </strong>🌴<strong>CLUB RETROSPECTORS </strong>🌴<strong> to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!</strong></p><p>Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.</p><p><strong>Join now via </strong><a href="https://apple.co/3xCWWQX" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Apple Podcasts</strong></a><strong> or </strong><a href="https://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon</strong></a><strong>. </strong>Thanks!</p><p><strong>We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>podfollow.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.</em></p><br><p><br></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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