Guy Burgess and the Cambridge Spy Ring (148)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2020

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Guy Burgess was the most important, complex, and fascinating of The Cambridge Spies, brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. An engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others, Burgess rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which he passed to his Russian handlers. In his book “Stalin’s Englishman”, Andrew Lownie tells us how even Burgess's chaotic personal life of drunken philandering did nothing to stop his penetration and betrayal of the British Intelligence Service. Even when he was under suspicion, the fabled charm which had enabled many close personal relationships with influential Establishment figures (including Winston Churchill) prevented his exposure as a spy for many years. UK fans can buy the book and support the podcast here https://amzn.to/3jyvcTH US fans can buy the book and support the podcast here https://amzn.to/35LDAdR Now I really need your help to allow me the time to continue producing and preserving these Cold War stories. A monthly donation to help keep us on the air is only about $3, £3 or €3 per month (larger amounts are welcome too) plus you can get a sought after CWC coaster as a monthly financial supporter and you bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a financial contribution is not your cup of tea, then you can still help us by leaving written reviews wherever you listen to us as well as sharing us on social media. It really helps us get new guests on the show. I am delighted to welcome Andrew Lownie to our Cold War conversation… There’s further information on this episode in our show notes,plus a book giveaway which can also be found as a link in your podcast app here. http://coldwarconversations.com/episode148/ If you can’t wait for next week’s episode do visit our Facebook discussion group where guests and listeners continue the Cold War Conversation. Just search Cold War Conversations in Facebook. Thank you very much for listening. It is really appreciated Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:06.3	When I talked to a man called Sergei Condrachev, who's a KGB General, about why they let Burgess and Philby work together and live together, because that's shown some suspicion on Philby.
0:18.3	He said, we didn't care. We had so many. We didn't worry about losing a few.
0:24.1	This is Cold War Conversations. Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app so that you don't
0:32.6	miss out on future episodes. Guy Burgess was the most important, complex and fascinating of the Cambridge
0:40.3	spies, all brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union.
0:48.3	Burgess was an engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others.
0:56.6	He rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access
1:03.4	to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which were passed to his Soviet handlers.
1:10.1	In his book, Stalin's Englishman, Andrew Lowney, tells us how even Burgess's chaotic personal life of drunken philandering did nothing to stop his penetration and betrayal of the British intelligence service.
1:24.9	Even when he was under suspicion, the fabled charm which had enabled his many close personal relationships with influential establishment figures, including Winston Churchill, prevented his exposure as a spy for many years.
1:39.8	Now, I really need your help to allow me the time to continue producing and preserving
1:46.2	these Cold War stories.
1:48.7	A monthly donation to help keep us on the air is only about $3, 3 pounds or 3 euros a month,
1:55.7	although larger amounts are always welcome.
1:59.1	Plus, you get the Cold War Conversations coaster as a monthly financial supporter,
2:04.7	and you bask in the warm glow of knowing that you are helping to preserve Cold War
2:09.6	history.
2:10.7	Just go to coldwarconversations.com slash donate.
2:15.1	If a financial contribution is not your cup of tea, then you can still help us by
2:20.5	leaving written reviews wherever you listen to us, as well as sharing us on social media.
2:26.3	It really helps us get new guests on the show.
	...

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