Anthony Frederick Blunt was born in Bournemouth, England in 1907 and educated at Marlborough School and Cambridge University, where he became a fellow in 1932.
As a Cambridge lecturer, he recruited for the Soviet secret service and, as a member of the British Secret Service between 1940 and 1945, he passed information to the USSR.
In 1951 he assisted the defection to the USSR of the British agents Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean.
Unmasked in 1964, he was given immunity after his confession.
He was stripped of his knighthood in 1979 when the affair became public (he was publicly named by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher).
Blunt, meanwhile, had been the author of many respected works on Italian and French art, including a study of Poussin. He was director of the Courtauld Institute of Art (1947 – 74) and Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures (1945 – 1972).
He died from a heart attack at his home in London in 1983, aged 75.
You May Also Like
Denise Drysdale Australia's most famous Go-Go dancer, Denise Drysdale's name was actually spelt with a 'c' (Denice) but…
Boston Strangler It was 14 June 1962 when The Boston Strangler first struck. Over the next 18 months,…
Richardsons, The Charlie Richardson was born in Camberwell, south-east London in 1934. His brother Eddie was born in…
Junie Morosi In Australia in the 1970s, Shanghai-born Junie Morosi became the first woman to take the position…
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born in the northern Caucasus, studied law at Moscow University and joined…
Georges Pompidou 1 9 1 1 - 1 9 7 4 Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou trained as a…
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn was a British Labour politician. In fact, he was formerly the leading…
Harlem Globetrotters The exact beginnings of the Harlem Globetrotters are uncertain, although the team considers that their first-ever…
