0:00:05 > 0:00:08MUSIC: "The Great Pretender" by The Platters
0:00:10 > 0:00:17# Oh, yes, I'm the great pretender... #
0:00:17 > 0:00:19He was just Dad.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23In a way, he's always been just my father
0:00:24 > 0:00:27"Dad" was Harold Adrian Russell Philby,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29better known to the world as Kim...
0:00:30 > 0:00:34..an Englishman who spied for the Soviet Union.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39I remember him as clear as day with his stuttering
0:00:39 > 0:00:41and wah, wah, wah
0:00:41 > 0:00:45sort of real English, Oxford/Cambridge-type you know?
0:00:45 > 0:00:48He had everything really going for him.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51It was a shame that he did what he did, but there it was.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54# I play the game
0:00:54 > 0:00:56# But to my real shame... #
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The last time I spoke to a Communist,
0:00:59 > 0:01:04knowing him to be a Communist, was sometime in 1934.
0:01:04 > 0:01:05THUNDER ROLLS
0:01:05 > 0:01:07It was a lie.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10On a stormy night in Beirut,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14a double life that had lasted 30 years ended
0:01:14 > 0:01:16when he defected to Russia.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19He was one of the worst traitors in history.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23For the rest of his life,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27he lived among a people whose language he never mastered while
0:01:27 > 0:01:31his countrymen counted the cost of trusting him with their secrets.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34It infected the whole British intelligence establishment
0:01:34 > 0:01:35with paranoia.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37I mean, if Philby, good old Philby,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41good old Kim, could have been a spy, any of us could have been.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48Scores of books have been written about what Philby did,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51but the man inside remains elusive.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57He was like two different people really in one body.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58It was strange.
0:01:58 > 0:02:04# Oh, yes, I'm the great pretender... #
0:02:09 > 0:02:12For the investigative writer Phillip Knightley,
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Philby's defection was the start of a long pursuit.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21'These are the Philby letters, are they?' These are the Philby letters.
0:02:21 > 0:02:22'How many were there roughly?
0:02:22 > 0:02:24'How many years did you say you talked to him?'
0:02:24 > 0:02:2620 years. Yes.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29"Your letter from India took six weeks to reach me
0:02:29 > 0:02:32"so the chance of a casual drink presented itself too late.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34"However, if you're still interested,
0:02:34 > 0:02:35"I think there's a fair possibility
0:02:35 > 0:02:38"of us getting together for a real talk in the not-too-distant future."
0:02:38 > 0:02:40That's how it all started.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Knightley took up Philby's invitation to meet him.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53A room had been reserved for him by the KGB.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57PHONE RINGS
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Then the phone rang and a voice said, "Knightley?"
0:03:00 > 0:03:03And I said yes. He said, "Philby here."
0:03:03 > 0:03:05I could hardly believe it.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08He said, "Do you want to start work straight away
0:03:08 > 0:03:12"and come around for a drink or we'll meet tomorrow?"
0:03:12 > 0:03:14And I said "Straightaway, Mr Philby, straightaway."
0:03:14 > 0:03:17He said, "A neighbour of mine will pick you up".
0:03:20 > 0:03:25Well, the neighbour turned out to be his KGB minder, his KGB gopher,
0:03:25 > 0:03:32and he drove me to a small block of flats in a nice garden,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36and we went up the lift to Philby's door.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44And the door opened and there was Philby.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50A smaller less impressive figure than I'd thought,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53because...slightly stooped.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Carpet slippers, looking very much at home.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00An Englishman receiving a visitor in his drawing room.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Philby's journey to that flat in Moscow had started
0:04:22 > 0:04:23here in Cambridge.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28The contrast between the gilded lives around him
0:04:28 > 0:04:33and the harsh world outside drove him towards left-wing politics
0:04:38 > 0:04:42The great fear then was the rise of fascists all over Europe.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47The question was what could people like him do about it?
0:04:47 > 0:04:51He was lucky in that his father, St John Philby,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54gave him ?50, which in those days was quite a lot of money,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and he immediately, with that money, bought himself a motorcycle
0:04:57 > 0:05:01and took a train all the way to Vienna.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08He got there just in time to witness the brutal suppression
0:05:08 > 0:05:11of local socialists by the Austrian fascists.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25The Nazis had re-introduced beheading for political offences.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30They carted one political dissident to the gallows on a chair
0:05:30 > 0:05:32because he'd already been wounded.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36These sort of things for a young man had a very powerful impression.
0:05:38 > 0:05:43And so did this woman - Alice, or Litzi, Friedman.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49She was a young, worldly-wise divorcee
0:05:49 > 0:05:51who was fighting fascism on the ground.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Philby fell in love almost as soon as he met her.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01He gave her his volume of Shelley's poems,
0:06:01 > 0:06:06and in return, got a lesson in the realities of an un-privileged life.
0:06:06 > 0:06:07She really took him in hand.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10She was two years older than he was, and they went eventually
0:06:10 > 0:06:13and lived in a very small flat practically no money.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18But they worked hard to protect the working class against this
0:06:18 > 0:06:20right-wing coup.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26After Philby defected, Patrick Seale wrote a book about him.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Evidence of his early political views wasn't hard to find.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35Oh, God. This is the fruit of the research into that book,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40and it's a mass of stuff in there.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43It is many years since I've looked in here.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46There's a colossal amount of stuff here.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50One source was a journalist called Eric Gedye who met the young
0:06:50 > 0:06:54Philby frequently during those hectic weeks.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Kim came to see him and was desperate, I think, for suits
0:06:57 > 0:07:02to take to the poor and socialists, who were running for their lives.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06Gedye was alarmed by what was happening there and the fact that
0:07:06 > 0:07:09the working class had been absolutely sort of savagely
0:07:09 > 0:07:12contained and crushed by the fascists.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19After a short and passionate affair, Kim married Litzi.
0:07:20 > 0:07:28Harold Adrian Russell Philby married to Alice, Litzi, Friedman.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Mosaich, Jew.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36To escape the Nazis, the newlyweds came to London.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42Here in Regents Park,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Philby had the meeting that would change his life.
0:07:48 > 0:07:49A friend of Litzi's,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53another Austrian Jew called Edith, had brought him here to meet
0:07:53 > 0:07:56a resident Soviet agent codenamed Otto.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Otto's advice was not what he expected.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06"Don't join the Communist Party " he said.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08Create a cover story for yourself,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11and get inside Britain's ruling establishment.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14They advised him very strongly
0:08:14 > 0:08:18to give up Communism, to give up left-wing views
0:08:18 > 0:08:21and pretend to be a rightist, which he did, of course.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25He even went and made friends with the German embassy
0:08:25 > 0:08:28and broke completely with all his left-wing friends.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37His great love became the collateral cost of his new mission.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46He didn't actually divorce her until after the war.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49By then he had three children
0:08:49 > 0:08:52by a respectable English woman called Aileen Furze
0:08:52 > 0:08:56and was safely installed at the heart of British intelligence.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Nobody seemed interested in the fact
0:08:58 > 0:09:00that he was once married to a Communist,
0:09:00 > 0:09:03had a background and a belief in Communism,
0:09:03 > 0:09:08been active in left-wing politics at university.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10It was just glossed over.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15There was something about Philby which inspired confidence.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20He seemed like an archetypal honest Englishman.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Four other Cambridge students with impeccable backgrounds
0:09:24 > 0:09:28started spying for the Soviets at the same time.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Two of them, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33were good friends of Philby's.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38Guided by the KGB, they all worked their way into government jobs,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40passing so many wartime secrets to
0:09:40 > 0:09:45Moscow that the Russians could scarcely believe they were genuine.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50But the end of the war plunged them into a dangerous new world.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06In 1949, Philby had been sent by MI6 to Washington.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09His job was the top secret point of liaison
0:10:09 > 0:10:13between British and American intelligence.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15It was a big step up.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19People even spoke of him becoming the next head of MI6.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24The only cloud on his sunny horizon was his friend
0:10:24 > 0:10:29Guy Burgess, whom he'd rather incautiously invited to stay.
0:10:29 > 0:10:34Burgess, homosexual and louche scandalised the locals.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36And there was worse to come.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41REPORTER: This is the BBC Home Service and here is the news -
0:10:41 > 0:10:45the Foreign Secretary made his expected statement in Parliament today
0:10:45 > 0:10:48about the disappearance of the two Foreign Office officials
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Mr Maclean and Mr Burgess.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54No longer was Uncle Joe an ally of the West.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58To spy for the Communists was the worst of sins.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04In the anonymous buildings near Parliament where MI6 was housed,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06there was consternation.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08Unknown to the public,
0:11:08 > 0:11:10Maclean was about to be interrogated
0:11:10 > 0:11:14because of evidence supplied by the FBI.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Someone had obviously tipped him off.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22The finger of suspicion pointed at their bright young star
0:11:22 > 0:11:23in Washington.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Philby was recalled
0:11:25 > 0:11:31immediately upon the defection He travelled back to London.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35As soon as he arrived, he was taken to MI5's headquarters.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42Waiting for him was a team of interrogators led by Dick White,
0:11:42 > 0:11:46the rising talent of the counterespionage service.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50The trump card for MI5 was to produce
0:11:50 > 0:11:54Litzi Friedmann's passport, showed it to him,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59and it was covered with stamps of her travels on the Continent
0:11:59 > 0:12:02And he was asked, "If you were living on ?2 a week,
0:12:02 > 0:12:07"how could she afford to travel around the continent in this way?"
0:12:07 > 0:12:12And Philby was absolutely poleaxed by that and he had no reply.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17But it wasn't a knockout blow.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20They tried to get a confession from him
0:12:20 > 0:12:25by having him interrogated by Buster Milmo QC,
0:12:25 > 0:12:29and Philby proved more than a match for Milmo,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32adopting a technique that he later told me he'd adopted frequently
0:12:32 > 0:12:34in these matters -
0:12:34 > 0:12:37when asked to explain something that looked really suspicious,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41he would just say, "That's interesting, I can't explain that,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44"it's very, very..." and go no further.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51MI5 thought he was guilty and Philby had to resign from his job.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54But some colleagues in MI6 weren't so sure.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56It sort of split MI6.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00He had his friends who felt he was being badly done by,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04and he had those who were absolutely convinced that he was guilty,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07and being British, it was not resolved.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09It was swept under the carpet.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14Philby found himself in limbo.
0:13:14 > 0:13:21No job with MI6 and no contact with his friends in the KGB.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24He brought his wife and now five children down to the sleepy Sussex
0:13:24 > 0:13:26town of Crowborough,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and tried without much success to get work.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Dad was all over the place.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33He worked in Majorca. He worked in Ireland.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36We never knew really what he was doing.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39I sort of slightly assumed, you don't question it as children,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41that he might have been some sort of rep.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43I think people helped him, you know,
0:13:43 > 0:13:47gave him the odd job or two, because he wasn't really employable.
0:13:49 > 0:13:55They rented a large Victorian house, shielded from the road by trees.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58But the unresolved question didn't go away.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Suddenly, Dad was in the news, he was on the paper,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04this is the Third Man.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11The man behind this headline was J Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15He was so furious that Philby had got off scot free that he
0:14:15 > 0:14:18deliberately leaked information to a journalist.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22But the plot backfired.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan was asked
0:14:24 > 0:14:26a question about it in Parliament.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29And with no proof that would stand up in court,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33he had no option but to clear Philby.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35This is what he said:
0:14:35 > 0:14:37MAN READS TEXT
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Philby immediately invited the world's press to join him
0:14:51 > 0:14:53at his mother's flat in Kensington.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56REPORTER: Mr Harold Philby on the right holds a press conference
0:14:56 > 0:14:59to deny charges that he was involved in the disappearance
0:14:59 > 0:15:00of Burgess and Maclean.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Mr Philby, Mr Macmillan, the Foreign Secretary,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05has said there is no evidence that you are the so-called
0:15:05 > 0:15:08"Third Man" who allegedly tipped off Burgess and Maclean.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10Are you satisfied with that clearance that he gave you?
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Yes, I am.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15If there was a Third Man, were you in fact the Third Man?
0:15:15 > 0:15:17No, I was not.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20I think Mum was always worried
0:15:20 > 0:15:24She said to her best friend once, "I'm terrified Kim's going to
0:15:24 > 0:15:29"go to Moscow or Russia, and take John and Jo."
0:15:29 > 0:15:31I was asked to resign from the Foreign Office
0:15:31 > 0:15:34because of an imprudent association with Burgess
0:15:34 > 0:15:38and as a result of his disappearance.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Beyond that, I'm afraid I have no further comment to make.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44'So, do you mean she knew he was a spy?'
0:15:44 > 0:15:46I really don't know.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49I think she probably suspected he'd been accused!
0:15:49 > 0:15:52I mean, you know, Burgess had been living with us.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57It must be very difficult not to know, although he was very,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00very good - he obviously was excellent because he got away with
0:16:00 > 0:16:06all the questioning by all the sort of authorities and came out of it.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11The last time I spoke to a Communist, knowing him to be a Communist,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14was sometime in 1934.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19Just what a whopper that was very few people knew at that stage.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23The whisper put around was that Philby had been a middle-rank
0:16:23 > 0:16:26civil servant of no great importance.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30Then Knightley came across a book by a former secret agent writing
0:16:30 > 0:16:32under the name of John Whitwell
0:16:32 > 0:16:34Oh, here we are.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36'So you discovered this book?' Yep.
0:16:38 > 0:16:39There we are, "British Agent".
0:16:39 > 0:16:43And, of course, we quickly found out from the publishers that
0:16:43 > 0:16:48John Whitwell was a pseudonym, both a secret service pseudonym
0:16:48 > 0:16:53and an author's one as well,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55and his real name was Leslie Nicholson.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58His publisher eventually agreed to give us
0:16:58 > 0:17:04his private address which was above a cafe in the East End of London.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07I went down to see him.
0:17:07 > 0:17:08Very pathetic case.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Like so many people who had been in the secret services,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16he was in bitter dispute over his pension rights
0:17:16 > 0:17:21and he felt he had been diddled over his pension.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24He was living in very straitened circumstances
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and then I realised, of course, that all I had to do was sell him
0:17:27 > 0:17:31what his life used to be like when he was on expenses.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Towards the end of this very boozy four-hour lunch, he said,
0:17:38 > 0:17:43"Phillip, I'm a bit surprised at how little you know about Philby.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47"Don't you know what Philby's job was in the secret service?"
0:17:47 > 0:17:49And I said, "Well, we haven't got that far yet."
0:17:49 > 0:17:54He said, "He was in charge of the anti-Soviet section."
0:17:54 > 0:17:57The anti-soviet section of the British Intelligence
0:17:57 > 0:18:00was in the hands of a Soviet agent.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18But instead of jail,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20Lucky Kim found himself in what was then called
0:18:20 > 0:18:22the Paris of the Middle East.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33This strange twist in his fortunes happened because some people
0:18:33 > 0:18:38in MI6 couldn't bring themselves to believe that he had betrayed them.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42They went along to David Astor of the Observer
0:18:42 > 0:18:46and the editor of the Economist, and they said, "This man has been
0:18:46 > 0:18:50"grossly wronged by the establishment
0:18:50 > 0:18:53"and he should be looked after.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56And they found him work.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01So his period of treachery was extended by years.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05'So they found him work not only as a journalist but as a spy?' Yes
0:19:06 > 0:19:08'Astonishing really, isn't it?
0:19:08 > 0:19:12Yes, it is astonishing but then it's an astonishing world.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Dick Beeston was then Middle East correspondent
0:19:19 > 0:19:21for the News Chronicle.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26Dick and his wife Moira befriended Philby when he arrived.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32They noticed he drank too much, but his charm was undeniable.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35He had this stammer which people found rather attractive in a way,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38sort of tried to help him out with his words,
0:19:38 > 0:19:40but it was actually his good manners
0:19:40 > 0:19:42and his charm which went down very well,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45during the time that he was sober.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52In those days, the British Embassy in Beirut was housed in something
0:19:52 > 0:19:54called the Spears Building.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Even today, the electricity bills come in their name.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04MI6 - or "the Friends" as they were called - operated from here,
0:20:04 > 0:20:05up on the fourth floor.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11The whole building is being redeveloped as flats now,
0:20:11 > 0:20:16but after the 1956 Suez crisis it became the hub of a vast
0:20:16 > 0:20:19intelligence web covering the whole region.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22It was very much a centre. There were a lot of
0:20:22 > 0:20:25sort of CIA people buzzing round the place and quite
0:20:25 > 0:20:28a lot of British Intelligence people mostly based on the Embassy there.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31'Did you know who was who?'
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Yes, more or less we did, yes.
0:20:33 > 0:20:34There was a man called
0:20:34 > 0:20:38Paul Paulson who was the head of the MI6 operation in Beirut
0:20:38 > 0:20:42who actually had been at school with Kim Philby at Westminster.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48One of the embassy insiders was John Julius Norwich.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53Diplomacy, like spying, was still very much a gentleman's game.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57This is the main embassy team after the new ambassador
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Moore Crossthwaite had presented his credentials.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02'Which one is he?' He's the one in the middle here.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08Myself, Max Perotti, our consul Alec Brodie, our military attache,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13Paul Paulson, he was the head of MI6 in the embassy, and John Selwyn,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17who I see is also in uniform, an enormous display of medals.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20I cannot exactly remember what he did.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25In the summer heat,
0:21:25 > 0:21:30embassy staff were allowed to flee to the hills every afternoon.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34The custom in those days was to drink before you drove.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Next to the British Embassy,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41there was a very pleasant little establishment called Joe's Bar.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43And several of us
0:21:43 > 0:21:48used to congregate in Joe's Bar at 1:00 in order to have a
0:21:48 > 0:21:51couple of stiff ones to help us drive up the mountains for lunch.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55There was Paul Paulson, John Julius Norwich,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59and Colonel Brody, the military attache.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01Quite an amusing little group of people.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05'So more of a sort of spooks' bar, was it?' Yeah.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13In 1975, the streets around the embassy were overwhelmed by civil war.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18In the shadow of those scarred buildings,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22I found someone who remembered where the bar had once been.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43'And what was Joe's Bar like? Was it a nice bar?'
0:22:46 > 0:22:50It became one of Philby's favourite drinking dens.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54Over there, that yellow building behind the trees is
0:22:54 > 0:22:56the British Embassy.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58They'd just step down here to the bar.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08You went in. There was the bar on your right.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12There was a window, not more than 12, 15 feet across.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15It had two or three little tables at one of which was Kim
0:23:15 > 0:23:17who was part of the furniture.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19I mean I was never there when he wasn't there.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20'And in what state was he?'
0:23:22 > 0:23:23Speechless.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27I mean, perhaps he could speak but he didn't speak.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29You said, "Hello, Kim" and he said, "Hello."
0:23:29 > 0:23:32And then you went and ordered your drink and everybody started
0:23:32 > 0:23:34talking and Kim just went on sitting there at the back table.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38He didn't even join us, he didn't get up and join the party.
0:23:38 > 0:23:39He just sat at the back.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42On the other hand, I think he listened very,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45very carefully to everything we were saying.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Because one of the great mysteries of Kim was that
0:23:47 > 0:23:51he never went to a press conference or anything like that.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56You know, if some VIP arrived, Kim was not there.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01But every Sunday in the Observer, frequently on the front page,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05this brilliantly written account from HAR Philby, Beirut
0:24:05 > 0:24:08and we always wondered where he did it and how
0:24:08 > 0:24:11he got the information because he never seemed to move from the bar.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17In fact, Philby's main base was the Normandy Hotel, and it was here,
0:24:17 > 0:24:23late in 1958, that a KGB agent finally made contact again.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Philby said later that he felt his heart pounding with
0:24:26 > 0:24:31excitement as he realised he was back in the spying business.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37But behind his cover story there were glimpses of turmoil inside.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39At the end of a long evening,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43my wife was sitting next to him - in Joe's Bar actually -
0:24:43 > 0:24:47and she said, "Oh, were you the Third Man?" and he said,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51"My dear, if you had a great friend and you knew that you had some
0:24:51 > 0:24:54"information about him that would get him into enormous trouble,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58"what would you do? I always value friendship more than isms."
0:24:58 > 0:25:01It was a sort of confession in a way,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03but in fact in a way it wasn't a confession,
0:25:03 > 0:25:07because he was really more interested in isms than loyalty
0:25:11 > 0:25:18In 1960, the British Embassy moved into a new building on the Corniche.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22'Well, this would be the view that the British ambassador would have
0:25:22 > 0:25:24'had in those days.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26'Beautiful.'
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Patrick Seale had just joined the press corps as Philby's
0:25:31 > 0:25:33backup on the Observer.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37I think, with retrospect, I can say that he was trying
0:25:37 > 0:25:40to ingratiate himself with the British authorities,
0:25:40 > 0:25:45and persuade people, particularly in the intelligence services,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48that he had been falsely accused,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52that he was totally loyal - that I think was his ambition.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54I think there was a certain resentment
0:25:54 > 0:25:57that he'd been parachuted in, they felt, to the Corps, you know,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00rather than having earned his stripes on the way up
0:26:00 > 0:26:05because he had been parachuted in, by the friends.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Alan Munro, standing here behind the ambassador,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11was then press attache at the embassy.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Oddly enough, some years later I found the card which
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Kim Philby had given me.
0:26:16 > 0:26:22HAR Philby, The Observer, The Economist, Hotel Normandy Beirut,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27and on the back there, he's written this map, Rue Kantari,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30and so on, and how to find his block of flats.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35'Well, this is Rue Kantari today
0:26:35 > 0:26:42'and up there on the fifth floor is the flat where Philby lived.
0:26:43 > 0:26:48It was the end of the Christian quarter, overlooking the port,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51a quite sensational view of Beirut, there.
0:26:51 > 0:26:57It was very comfortable, attractive, and a good place for parties really.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59Parties.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Philby was famously charming when they started,
0:27:02 > 0:27:04often drunk by the time they ended.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07And we all said what Kim really needs to do is find a really
0:27:07 > 0:27:09nice girl who will keep him on the straight and narrow.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12And who he found was Eleanor,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16who had been the wife of Sam Brewer of the New York Times,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20who was the only woman in Beirut who drank much more than Kim did.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25They loved going down to the beach, often with a bag
0:27:25 > 0:27:29full of little tiny bottles of different sorts of drink
0:27:29 > 0:27:34which they would consume and then struggle to come up
0:27:34 > 0:27:38from the beach, often falling down, bruising themselves.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41It was hard to remember that back in England
0:27:41 > 0:27:44he still had a wife and five children.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50One afternoon, Dick and Moira Beeston met him out shopping.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52"I've had great news, dear," he said.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54"Come and we must celebrate.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57"Come and have a drink at the Normandy."
0:27:57 > 0:28:00And then he produced this cable saying his wife had died.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05We were very shocked about that
0:28:05 > 0:28:08but he said it was the best thing for everybody.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13He said, "You know, she's been terribly ill and hurting herself
0:28:13 > 0:28:16"and, you know, it was the best way out for everyone."
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Her ungrieving husband returned to normal business,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29and soon married Eleanor.
0:28:29 > 0:28:30For a few months or so,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33they seemed very much in love and not drinking very much
0:28:33 > 0:28:37and rather charming, and then gradually, it deteriorated
0:28:37 > 0:28:40and they both used to drink enormously.
0:28:42 > 0:28:48Yes, I think that is certainly true. Definitely. Yes.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Yes, indeed, yes.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54They were well suited on that line, yes. Certainly.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58Lorraine Copeland was Eleanor's best friend in Beirut.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01She was married to a man called Miles Copeland who did
0:29:01 > 0:29:03freelance work for the CIA.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05This brings it all back.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07It was a round of parties.
0:29:08 > 0:29:15We lived at La Vie Diplomatique and we lived a very pleasant life.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24Her son, also called Miles, was then at school in Beirut.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28The Philbys were often guests at his parents' house.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30The Philbys were always there, and he was always drunk
0:29:30 > 0:29:33and always stuttering, and I remember saying once
0:29:33 > 0:29:35to my father, "Why are we always with the Philbys?",
0:29:35 > 0:29:37and he said, "Shut up."
0:29:37 > 0:29:41He then told me later on why I should have shut up is
0:29:41 > 0:29:45because he was told by the CIA "Look, we don't trust this guy.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47"Since you're in Beirut, keep an eye on him."
0:29:47 > 0:29:50And it turns out, the best way to keep an eye on Kim Philby
0:29:50 > 0:29:52was to invite him to all the parties.
0:29:59 > 0:30:00At this point,
0:30:00 > 0:30:05a man called Nicholas Elliott took over as MI6 chief in Beirut.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Years later, he would make, for a spy,
0:30:08 > 0:30:12a rare appearance on television to talk about his work.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16I got involved in this sort of work before the war,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20and I think one of the attractions, from my point of view,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23was firstly, of course, one felt it was worthwhile,
0:30:23 > 0:30:24and secondly,
0:30:24 > 0:30:27it was a very pleasant atmosphere in which to work
0:30:27 > 0:30:30and an enormously high proportion of one's colleagues,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33male and female, were personal friends.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39Not least Kim Philby, whose charmed Mediterranean life
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Elliot had done much to engineer.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45And once in Beirut, he continued to favour him.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48I remember the head of the MI6 station
0:30:48 > 0:30:53coming to see me to say, "I just want to tell you about one of the
0:30:53 > 0:30:57"correspondents here, a very senior one, his name is Kim Philby and
0:30:57 > 0:31:01"he reports for the Observer and for the Economist,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03"and I just want to let you know
0:31:03 > 0:31:08"he used to be one of us and you can trust him with information."
0:31:08 > 0:31:10And so I did.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12'And who was that?'
0:31:12 > 0:31:13Who was the head of station?
0:31:13 > 0:31:16The head of the station was Nicolas Elliott.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Elliott had been to Eton and Cambridge
0:31:19 > 0:31:21but he wore his expensive education lightly.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24I went one day to his flat for lunch.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28Vast flat, very much like an ambassadorial set-up.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31But he was not a man who people took very seriously,
0:31:31 > 0:31:33perhaps mistakenly so.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37He was very fond of telling rather risque jokes,
0:31:37 > 0:31:41and at lunch he was full of these stories
0:31:41 > 0:31:45and he gave the impression of a man who simply liked to enjoy himself.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48For two years, Philby was in clover.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54But just as Elliot's tour of duty in Beirut was coming to an end,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58a conversation took place 130 miles south in Israel
0:31:58 > 0:32:01which would turn Philby's life upside down.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03Philby became the focus of attention
0:32:03 > 0:32:08in a relatively casual conversation between Victor Rothschild,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12who had been an MI5 officer during the second world war,
0:32:12 > 0:32:16and a woman called Flora Solomon at a drinks party in Tel Aviv.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22'This is the marriage certificate of Kim Philby to his recently
0:32:22 > 0:32:24'deceased wife, Aileen.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26'Who is the witness?
0:32:26 > 0:32:28'Flora Solomon.'
0:32:28 > 0:32:31Flora Solomon complained
0:32:31 > 0:32:35about some articles which had been written by Kim Philby
0:32:35 > 0:32:41in the Observer. She felt that they were anti-Zionist
0:32:41 > 0:32:45and she remarked to Victor Rothschild that this was
0:32:45 > 0:32:48pretty rich coming from Kim Philby on the basis
0:32:48 > 0:32:54that Philby had approached her at the beginning of the war and had
0:32:54 > 0:32:59pitched her to join the Comintern, to, quote, "work for peace".
0:33:00 > 0:33:04Chapman Pincher, Harry to his friends, is approaching 100,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07and a legend among spy-hunting journalists.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10He knew Victor Rothschild well
0:33:10 > 0:33:13and says Flora actually went even further.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16She said, "Look, there's something I must tell you.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20"I know that Philby was a spy and I've known a long time
0:33:20 > 0:33:22"and it's been on my conscience
0:33:22 > 0:33:26"But I'd like you to know that I know he was working for the KGB,"
0:33:26 > 0:33:27is what she said.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39The popular myth about the elite secret services was that great
0:33:39 > 0:33:43decisions were taken over games of billiards in the clubs of London.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47All the main players in the drama that followed came from this world.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50Victor Rothschild left the security service
0:33:50 > 0:33:56but he was still in very close contact with several senior
0:33:56 > 0:34:00MI5 officers including Dick White, and he reported to Dick White
0:34:00 > 0:34:04that this conversation had taken place.
0:34:05 > 0:34:10By then, White, Philby's MI5 adversary in 1951,
0:34:10 > 0:34:13had been transferred to the top job at MI6.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17Sir Dick, and Hollis who was then the head of MI5,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21got their heads together and decided they'd have to do something.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28But what they would do - and this thing I think is terrible
0:34:28 > 0:34:32because it has happened so often - they decided under no
0:34:32 > 0:34:37circumstances would he be prosecuted in any way, whatever he might admit.
0:34:37 > 0:34:44But in return for a confession, they would give him total immunity,
0:34:44 > 0:34:48not only from prosecution but from publicity.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52In other words, the whole thing would be completely hushed up.
0:34:55 > 0:34:56But there were tensions between
0:34:56 > 0:34:59the two branches of British intelligence.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04SIS, as MI6 is officially called, is now over there across the Thames.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07The normal procedure was for them to hand a matter like this over
0:35:07 > 0:35:11to MI5, the spy-catching service, just down the road.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15Accordingly, MI5 were preparing one of their top
0:35:15 > 0:35:17interrogators for the confrontation.
0:35:19 > 0:35:25Arthur Martin was briefed and ready to go, and at that 11th hour
0:35:25 > 0:35:31Dick White decided that it should be an SIS officer who should make
0:35:31 > 0:35:35the approach to Kim Philby, not Arthur Martin.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39What had happened, it seems, is that Nicholas Elliott had
0:35:39 > 0:35:44returned from Beirut and got wind of what was going on.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48He put the case to his boss that he should be the person sent to
0:35:48 > 0:35:50confront Philby.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52Surprisingly, White agreed.
0:35:53 > 0:35:58His justification for this was that Arthur Martin would not
0:35:58 > 0:36:00really cut the mustard.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02At the end of the Second World War, he had been an NCO,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05he had never risen above the rank of sergeant
0:36:05 > 0:36:09and, in a very class conscious-world,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Dick White, who had ended up with the rank of brigadier,
0:36:12 > 0:36:18felt very strongly that Arthur would not impress Kim Philby.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27So they told Elliott
0:36:27 > 0:36:33and Elliott confirmed this to me that he had to say to Philby
0:36:33 > 0:36:39that they knew he had ceased to spy in 1949.
0:36:39 > 0:36:44And the reason for that was that... that was just before Philby
0:36:44 > 0:36:45had gone to America.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47So if they could get a statement from him
0:36:47 > 0:36:50saying he had ceased to spy in 949,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54the Americans could be assured that he had not given away any of their
0:36:54 > 0:36:59secrets because he'd ceased to be a spy before he went to Washington.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15So Elliott arrived back in Beirut to confront Philby.
0:37:15 > 0:37:16But when?
0:37:16 > 0:37:21The usual story is that he came back in January '63.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24But according to Eleanor Philby, in her book about these events
0:37:24 > 0:37:29Elliott actually came back in December, just before Christmas.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33He checked into a discreet hotel where he wouldn't be recognised
0:37:33 > 0:37:37and took Kim and herself out to an expensive meal.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41There was the usual fund of doubtful jokes from Elliott, she says,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44but the gaiety was false.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47And whatever was said privately between them made Kim
0:37:47 > 0:37:50so depressed that he wouldn't go out over Christmas
0:37:50 > 0:37:53and led to him drinking so much that he cracked his head open
0:37:53 > 0:37:57on a radiator in their bathroom on New Year's Day.
0:37:57 > 0:38:03What I saw was a man who I thought was simply a drunk.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05He'd fallen down.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09He was wounded, he had a wound somewhere on his head, I think.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11He was weeping quite substantially.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16I had never seen a grown man weep as much as he.
0:38:16 > 0:38:17He was clearly frightened.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19I thought it was just drunkenness,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23it was only later that I understood that he was under tremendous
0:38:23 > 0:38:28pressure and was worried that the Russians would not save him in time.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30So if the official story is right
0:38:30 > 0:38:34and the actual confrontation with Elliott was in mid-January,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37did Elliott make an extra trip to warn his friend?
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Or did Eleanor get it wrong?
0:38:40 > 0:38:45Or did someone else deliver the news which ruined the Philbys' Christmas?
0:38:45 > 0:38:48Here's one possible answer.
0:38:48 > 0:38:54In December of 1962, I went to a reception
0:38:54 > 0:38:56given by my ambassador, Moore Crossthwaite,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00and one of the guests there, indeed I think the principal guest,
0:39:00 > 0:39:07was Sir Antony Blunt, who had apparently come out to
0:39:07 > 0:39:15Beirut on a rather unlikely quest for a frog orchid.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Blunt was then Keeper of the Queen's Pictures.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23Within 18 months, he would secretly confess to being one
0:39:23 > 0:39:28of the Cambridge spies, recruited at the same time as Kim Philby.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32But in December 1962, he was still a close friend
0:39:32 > 0:39:36of Victor Rothschild, whom he'd known since their Cambridge days.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39And both of them were friends of Dick White.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43The reception was, I think, given in his honour
0:39:43 > 0:39:46and he seemed perfectly relaxed
0:39:46 > 0:39:50and was obviously off to do a bit of hiking in the hills.
0:39:50 > 0:39:57Just what had brought him out at the time, in reality, I couldn't say.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Could it really have been that frog orchid?
0:40:00 > 0:40:04I went to see Andre Schuiteman a world orchid specialist.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06Here we have the orchid library
0:40:06 > 0:40:08There are so many orchids they have their own library in Kew,
0:40:08 > 0:40:10with thousands of books and journals.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19We have here the book Orchards Of Britain And Ireland,
0:40:19 > 0:40:21and here we have the frog orchid.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23It's relatively common throughout Britain.
0:40:23 > 0:40:24So you can see all the green.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28And you, as an expert, would say that the frog orchids
0:40:28 > 0:40:29simply don't grow in...?
0:40:29 > 0:40:31No, they don't grow in Lebanon.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33There's a book about orchids of Lebanon.
0:40:36 > 0:40:37There's an index.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39So it's not in Lebanon. It's not in Lebanon.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42So you're confident that if
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Anthony Blunt went to Lebanon it would not
0:40:45 > 0:40:47have been to see a frog orchid
0:40:47 > 0:40:49Definitely not. No. It was clearly a lie.
0:40:49 > 0:40:50Can't be true.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54This is the Ambassador's residence, where Blunt was
0:40:54 > 0:40:56staying as a private guest.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00Philby's flat was a short walk away.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06There's no independent evidence that they met, but...
0:41:06 > 0:41:12It seems inconceivable to me that Blunt would have travelled to
0:41:12 > 0:41:16Beirut at that time WITHOUT having seen Philby,
0:41:16 > 0:41:21knowing that they were old friends and with many friends in common.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Had Blunt picked up a clue in something those friends had said,
0:41:26 > 0:41:28and come to warn his fellow spy
0:41:36 > 0:41:38FOGHORN BLARES
0:41:43 > 0:41:47In early January, Philby got a call from the embassy.
0:41:47 > 0:41:48They said they wanted him to come
0:41:48 > 0:41:52to a private flat to meet the new local head of MI6
0:41:52 > 0:41:54- skiing fanatic Peter Lunn.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01When he arrived there, who should it be?
0:42:01 > 0:42:02Not Peter Lunn...
0:42:02 > 0:42:05..but Nicholas Elliott.
0:42:05 > 0:42:07According to Nicholas, his first words were,
0:42:07 > 0:42:09"I thought it might be you, Nicholas."
0:42:12 > 0:42:13In the next room,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17a tape had been set running to record the long-awaited confession.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22Nicholas said to him, "We've got absolutely top-flight information.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25"You were a spy, you betrayed us all,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29"you betrayed me, your old pal, and one thing and another.
0:42:29 > 0:42:34"But what we are prepared to do in return for a confession
0:42:34 > 0:42:38"that you did do that - and of course ceased to spy in 1949 -
0:42:38 > 0:42:42"we will guarantee you immunity from prosecution and publicity.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45His reaction was that he would. .
0:42:45 > 0:42:47if Nicholas Elliott came back the next day,
0:42:47 > 0:42:49he would prepare a document in which
0:42:49 > 0:42:52he would set out the precise position.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06There is still no public record of this encounter, but the consensus
0:43:06 > 0:43:07of leaks and briefings is that
0:43:07 > 0:43:10Elliott and Philby then had further meetings,
0:43:10 > 0:43:14culminating in Philby handing over a written confession.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18Exactly what was in it I was never told, but it wasn't very long,
0:43:18 > 0:43:20but it did include the important fact
0:43:20 > 0:43:24that he had "ceased to spy" in 949.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Which they were able to tell the Americans.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31Elliott filed a report to London and flew on to Africa,
0:43:31 > 0:43:33telling Lunn that Philby was now ready to co-operate
0:43:33 > 0:43:36and didn't need special surveillance.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39The hope was that he would either come back to London
0:43:39 > 0:43:41and make himself available for interview,
0:43:41 > 0:43:45or alternatively he would remain in Beirut, and, again,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49MI5 would be able to interview him at length,
0:43:49 > 0:43:51and he would in effect become an asset
0:43:51 > 0:43:53of the intelligence community.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00On that basis Peter Lunn made an arrangement to see Philby later,
0:44:00 > 0:44:02and went off skiing in the mountains.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06WIND HOWLS
0:44:07 > 0:44:08THUNDERCLAP
0:44:10 > 0:44:13Five days later, a winter storm struck Beirut.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19BELLY DANCE MUSIC
0:44:19 > 0:44:23During the afternoon, Philby had left the flat to meet his KGB contact.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27He and Eleanor had been invited to dinner
0:44:27 > 0:44:29that evening by friends from the British Embassy.
0:44:31 > 0:44:32As the hours slipped by,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Kim phoned to say he'd meet her at the party.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38Malcolm Davidson was one of the other guests.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41It was rather like a little mansion block in West Kensington.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44It was a long dark corridor with rooms off either side,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46and sort of stained glass windows.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49And I remember it quite clearly going right through
0:44:49 > 0:44:52and then finding the dining room set at the end there,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55and we were sort of talking and drinking and hanging about.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58And it turns out that the spare girl there was Eleanor Philby,
0:44:58 > 0:44:59waiting for her husband.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07The first thought that crossed our minds was that he had
0:45:07 > 0:45:09been too heavy with the drink
0:45:09 > 0:45:12and therefore he'd just sort of collapsed on the street corner,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15and that somebody had taken him to hospital.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18Eventually people said "He's always late, it's ridiculous,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20"we'll start without him."
0:45:20 > 0:45:25I remember feeling upset for Eleanor, because she was obviously
0:45:25 > 0:45:29very upset herself, and I suppose she must have thought
0:45:29 > 0:45:31that something serious had happened.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37What had happened was that Kim Philby gone down to the port
0:45:37 > 0:45:39with a KGB guide...
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and by morning was on a Russian freighter
0:45:42 > 0:45:44bound for the Soviet Union FOGHORN BLARES
0:45:48 > 0:45:50MARCH PLAYS
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Some things don't change much in Moscow.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24The victory over Hitler was fresher in the mind then,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26the power of the state unarguable.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30Maybe Philby felt he was on the right side of history.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34But it was not a hero's welcome he was given.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37He arrived in Moscow - what he described as going home -
0:46:37 > 0:46:40to find that he was regarded with some suspicion,
0:46:40 > 0:46:43that everything that he had worked for was seen,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47on second thoughts, by the Russians, too good to be true.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51I mean, could British intelligence really be so slack that they allowed
0:46:51 > 0:46:56so much information to escape and be handed over to the Russians?
0:46:57 > 0:46:59It was just impossible to believe.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07He was given an apartment just a few hundred metres
0:47:07 > 0:47:08from where the parade rolled by.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11But it was more like house arrest than freedom.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17Mikhail Lyubimov was a KGB officer who became
0:47:17 > 0:47:18a good friend of Philby's.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Our service expected the British may kill him any time,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26even in Moscow, even in the Red Square,
0:47:26 > 0:47:32because at that time there was a magnified fear of killings,
0:47:32 > 0:47:34because under Stalin the traitors were killed.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40Stalin the man was long gone, but Stalin the mindset
0:47:40 > 0:47:42was alive and well.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45The KGB didn't breathe a word about Philby's arrival.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52The British Government line,
0:47:52 > 0:47:54in letters from the ambassador in Beirut,
0:47:54 > 0:47:57was that they didn't know where Philby was.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01"It is possible that he was either on a trip for journalistic purposes
0:48:01 > 0:48:03"or, being of somewhat irregular habits,
0:48:03 > 0:48:05"he had gone on a 'lost weekend'."
0:48:07 > 0:48:10It was March before the newspapers even mentioned his absence.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14We had the papers in bed,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18and there was a tiny little bit at the bottom of the Observer
0:48:18 > 0:48:19saying, "Our reporter's missing "
0:48:22 > 0:48:25I suppose in a way one sort of
0:48:25 > 0:48:28half believed he had gone, you know? To Moscow.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31I mean, what else was he doing?
0:48:31 > 0:48:36In July, some five months after his disappearance, the truth came out.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39It's quite difficult when it's your father.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42It took me a long time to sort of really come to terms
0:48:42 > 0:48:45with the idea that other people hated him,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48and I thought, "Well, you know he's a hero to the Russians."
0:48:49 > 0:48:51Not exactly.
0:48:51 > 0:48:55Philby found he was not allowed even to enter KGB headquarters.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Nor did he have any rank in the organisation he had served so long.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03No agent can be trusted completely.
0:49:03 > 0:49:09He had to be checked all the time, and Kim, still, though he was
0:49:09 > 0:49:14a very valuable agent and the pride of the Soviet intelligence,
0:49:14 > 0:49:21still his flat was controlled, he was forbidden to meet foreigners.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25Of course, nobody was afraid that he was going to spy
0:49:25 > 0:49:27for the Brits again.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29They were afraid that he might declare
0:49:29 > 0:49:31that he wants to go back, I think.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36This is the main menace, the main threat.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40To reduce that threat, they allowed his family to come
0:49:40 > 0:49:45and see him. Visiting Russia was rare in those days.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48You'd go to the embassy and say,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51"There's a visa been arranged for me by my father."
0:49:51 > 0:49:53"Where does he live?" "I don't know."
0:49:53 > 0:49:55"What does he do?" "I don't know."
0:49:55 > 0:49:59And this woman on one occasion was getting very ratty,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02so I leant forward, looking round quite carefully,
0:50:02 > 0:50:04and I said, "He works for the KGB."
0:50:04 > 0:50:07SHE LAUGHS She scuttled off and we got our visa.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11Josephine came fairly regularly
0:50:13 > 0:50:17But the relationship with Eleanor - so fond in Beirut -
0:50:17 > 0:50:19withered in the gloom of the Soviet Union.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25I think her stay in Russia was not a success.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29For one thing she never learnt enough Russian even to be
0:50:29 > 0:50:31able to read the names of metro stations.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39I think she became a sort of burden to him.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45I don't really blame her for not liking it.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47And I think she was absolutely horrified
0:50:47 > 0:50:48at what Dad had done.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50And I don't think she had had any clue.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Cos otherwise she could have coped with it better.
0:50:53 > 0:50:54CLASSICAL MUSIC BY MAHLER
0:50:54 > 0:50:57His university friend Guy Burgess had died a few months
0:50:57 > 0:50:59after Philby's arrival.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01He was never allowed to see him again.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06A morose Donald Maclean and his wife Melinda were practically
0:51:06 > 0:51:08the limit of their social circle.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12The once loved Eleanor simply didn't fit in.
0:51:17 > 0:51:21He, in fact, I think, wanted to get rid of her, and started an affair
0:51:21 > 0:51:25with Melinda Maclean, which eventually of course drove her out.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27She once said, "What's more important - me or the Party?"
0:51:27 > 0:51:29And he said, "Don't be silly, the Party."
0:51:29 > 0:51:31And that did not go down well!
0:51:32 > 0:51:35And probably he might have said that to all of us too.
0:51:38 > 0:51:39That's the way he thought.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48Nicholas Elliott's brief trip to Beirut had turned decidedly septic.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52The public were asking - if Philby was a traitor,
0:51:52 > 0:51:53why hadn't he been arrested?
0:51:55 > 0:51:58As with everything else, there were theories, not answers.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03I'm convinced that this was a plot by White, Hollis
0:52:03 > 0:52:07and anybody else - including Nicholas - who might be interested
0:52:07 > 0:52:10to induce Philby to get the hell out of it,
0:52:10 > 0:52:14because the last thing they wanted was any kind of trial in England.
0:52:14 > 0:52:18There were people who said, "This is a disaster,
0:52:18 > 0:52:21"we ought to be ashamed of ourselves letting him go like that,
0:52:21 > 0:52:23"we should have roped him in a lot earlier
0:52:23 > 0:52:26"and put him in prison where he belongs."
0:52:26 > 0:52:28But I think an awful lot of people,
0:52:28 > 0:52:32certainly I thought, "Well, thank God he's buggered off.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34"We shan't be troubled with him again."
0:52:36 > 0:52:38But if that was a deliberate plan,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41some key people don't seem to have been party to it.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47The whole defection is a catastrophe.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51The security service EMPHATICALLY had never contemplated that
0:52:51 > 0:52:54Philby would take that course of action.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57That was simply not on the agenda.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01It could be just incompetence. Never underrate that possibility.
0:53:02 > 0:53:04HE LAUGHS
0:53:05 > 0:53:09To MI5, incompetence had been the hallmark of the whole operation.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13There was great frustration that this
0:53:13 > 0:53:16was the Secret Intelligence Service who had
0:53:16 > 0:53:23taken over quite a sophisticated, detailed operation,
0:53:23 > 0:53:26and planned interview, and that they had bungled it.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35In the first place, if there had been a confession,
0:53:35 > 0:53:37the recording of it was useless
0:53:39 > 0:53:41Since none of them were technicians
0:53:41 > 0:53:45and because it was a very hot day, the window had been left open,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48and when the recording was played back...
0:53:48 > 0:53:50TRAFFIC NOISES
0:53:50 > 0:53:52The noise of the traffic outside was so great...
0:53:55 > 0:53:58..you couldn't hear a thing on it!
0:53:58 > 0:54:01He was a great fellow for making a hash of everything,
0:54:01 > 0:54:03but always getting away with it
0:54:05 > 0:54:08And the typewritten confession Elliott got from Philby
0:54:08 > 0:54:10caused even more problems.
0:54:10 > 0:54:16When that document was examined in London it became clear
0:54:16 > 0:54:17that it was worthless.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21But it was very skilfully crafted,
0:54:21 > 0:54:26and the view was that this was not a spontaneous reaction to
0:54:26 > 0:54:29an offer of immunity, that it
0:54:29 > 0:54:33had been built up over a long period,
0:54:33 > 0:54:37that a lot of thought and planning had gone into it.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39By, of course, the KGB.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42All this was coordinated with Russians.
0:54:42 > 0:54:48It was a game, played by Philby with Elliott, and nothing else.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52It was a game to get as much information as possible,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55to take the right decision.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Whether that's just KGB propaganda or not,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02it was pretty much the conclusion that the bosses in London came to.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07This was fairly good evidence that Kim Philby had been expecting
0:55:07 > 0:55:12an immunity from prosecution, and that the approach that had been made
0:55:12 > 0:55:15by Nicholas Elliott had been anticipated because of a tip-off.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23The whole episode was a lethal blow to the values
0:55:23 > 0:55:24and attitudes which had underpinned
0:55:24 > 0:55:29the Secret Intelligence Service for more than a generation.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32Whoever had warned Philby in advance, it was clear that
0:55:32 > 0:55:34good breeding and good manners were
0:55:34 > 0:55:38no guarantee of loyalty to the nation.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42The entire case of the Cambridge spies was reopened
0:55:42 > 0:55:45as a major investigation,
0:55:45 > 0:55:53and there was a pursuit of a likely mole within MI5.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59It infected SIS, the whole British intelligence establishment,
0:55:59 > 0:56:03with the paranoia. In fact, they devoted the next 20 years
0:56:03 > 0:56:06to the wasteful pursuit of fellow officers that they
0:56:06 > 0:56:10considered might be spies, might be in the Philby mould.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12SIRENS WAIL
0:56:22 > 0:56:26MUSIC: "Sing Something Simple Theme" by the Cliff Adams Singers
0:56:26 > 0:56:30The "Philby mould" was now a sorry sight.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32Isolated, unemployed and unhappy,
0:56:32 > 0:56:35he might just as well have been in jail.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40What perked him up was another embarrassment to the British.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44REPORTER: Blake was completely missing.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46There was a search immediately with police dogs.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49Prison officers examined the wall and found a nylon ladder.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57Four years before, the man who'd escaped had been
0:56:57 > 0:57:00studying Arabic at the so-called "School For Spies."
0:57:01 > 0:57:04Like Philby, George Blake was a KGB agent
0:57:04 > 0:57:08who got a job inside British intelligence.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11No immunity offer for him - he was lured back to London,
0:57:11 > 0:57:12put on trial,
0:57:12 > 0:57:14and sentenced to 42 years in jail.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21In Moscow, the two spies became friends.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24By then, Philby was said to be drinking himself towards death.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29Though he was under protection of our directorate,
0:57:29 > 0:57:31they couldn't prevent him from drinking.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35And they decided to marry him.
0:57:37 > 0:57:42Well. And Blake ask his wife, Ida...
0:57:42 > 0:57:49to get Kim acquainted to some good girl, and by some chance,
0:57:49 > 0:57:51Ida was a friend of Rufina.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56Philby was invited to join Rufina on a blind date,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59to go to an ice-dancing show at the Luzhniki Stadium.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05Drink hadn't dulled his taste for romance.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27To tell you frankly, Rufina is a very charming, very beautiful
0:58:27 > 0:58:34and very clever woman, who, by the way, knew English quite...
0:58:34 > 0:58:37quite well to be a wife.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44This flat became, he said, his "island on the sixth floor".
0:58:46 > 0:58:49It's still stuffed with relics of an Englishman in exile.
0:58:50 > 0:58:53This shelf is all about him.
0:58:54 > 0:58:57English books written about the Cambridge Five and so on.
0:58:59 > 0:59:04Obviously very fond of Dick Francis, and up there PG Wodehouse...
0:59:05 > 0:59:08..the complete collection it looks.
0:59:09 > 0:59:11CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS ON RADIO
0:59:14 > 0:59:15The radio was his lifeline,
0:59:15 > 0:59:19as he settled into the routines of a domestic life.
0:59:19 > 0:59:21ON RADIO: This is London calling ..
0:59:21 > 0:59:23But one thing didn't change much.
0:59:51 > 0:59:54His children told me he missed kippers, marmalade,
0:59:54 > 0:59:56English mustard and good whisky.
1:00:10 > 1:00:17# We'll sing the old songs like you used to do... #
1:00:17 > 1:00:20Rufina told me how he hated her leaving his sight.
1:00:20 > 1:00:22Even to go and see friends for the afternoon.
1:00:39 > 1:00:41He became almost childishly devoted to her.
1:00:42 > 1:00:46The hardened master spy, in need of love.
1:01:17 > 1:01:21His isolated existence meant that the Moscow out there was not
1:01:21 > 1:01:23something he saw too much of.
1:01:23 > 1:01:26But he wasn't blind to the failures of the cause
1:01:26 > 1:01:27he'd committed his life to.
1:01:28 > 1:01:31# A room with a view... #
1:01:32 > 1:01:36He saw that the life here was not a paradise at all.
1:01:36 > 1:01:42He saw the secretiveness of life, he saw the power of the KGB,
1:01:42 > 1:01:46he saw the absence of the...
1:01:46 > 1:01:47of freedom.
1:01:47 > 1:01:50REPORTER: Solzhenitsyn spent much of his first day in banishment
1:01:50 > 1:01:53besieged by the world's press.
1:01:53 > 1:01:57'I remember after a good bottle of Scotch he said'
1:01:57 > 1:02:01"Why are you expelling Solzhenitsyn from Russia?"
1:02:01 > 1:02:04I told him, "Look, Kim, I am not responsible for this."
1:02:06 > 1:02:09"No", he said, "you are responsible!
1:02:09 > 1:02:14"You are responsible for this too, and I am responsible too."
1:02:14 > 1:02:17So, he was disillusioned, of course.
1:02:19 > 1:02:23As the years rolled by, he did venture out more often,
1:02:23 > 1:02:26and went on holidays around the Soviet empire.
1:02:26 > 1:02:30But contact with the life he'd left behind was a rare treat.
1:02:30 > 1:02:34My wife spotted him, we were just sitting down,
1:02:34 > 1:02:37and she spotted him sitting with his wife just across from us.
1:02:39 > 1:02:43I went up to him in the first interval. And he sort of...
1:02:43 > 1:02:47I tapped him on the shoulder, and he swished round,
1:02:47 > 1:02:49and he said,
1:02:49 > 1:02:51"As I live and breathe, Dick Beeston and Moira!"
1:02:51 > 1:02:52That sort of...
1:02:54 > 1:02:56I always remember that phrase,
1:02:56 > 1:02:59and immediately looked delighted to see us.
1:02:59 > 1:03:01Kim said, "How do you like it here?"
1:03:01 > 1:03:03And I said, "We've been here six months
1:03:03 > 1:03:05"and we're having a very difficult time."
1:03:05 > 1:03:07He said "Six months? "I've been here..."
1:03:07 > 1:03:09Well, I think it was 16 years.
1:03:09 > 1:03:11EXPLOSIONS
1:03:17 > 1:03:21The uncomfortable truth for Philby was that his value to Russia
1:03:21 > 1:03:23was more symbolic than personal
1:03:24 > 1:03:26KGB suspicion faded.
1:03:27 > 1:03:29They listened occasionally to his advice about
1:03:29 > 1:03:31the workings of British society
1:03:32 > 1:03:36But what mattered much more to them was that this old man was
1:03:36 > 1:03:39a living example of a signal victory over the West
1:03:39 > 1:03:42at a time when the skids were under the socialist dream.
1:03:47 > 1:03:51A biography of Philby was published recently in a Russian series
1:03:51 > 1:03:54called The Lives of Remarkable People.
1:03:54 > 1:03:57It was written by a trusted journalist called Nikolai Dolgopolov.
1:03:57 > 1:04:00He is here with Marcus Wolf, from Germany.
1:04:00 > 1:04:04He never met Philby, but came to this verdict...
1:04:04 > 1:04:06He was a kind of an icon.
1:04:06 > 1:04:12Especially in this difficult field of human activity
1:04:12 > 1:04:14called intelligence.
1:04:14 > 1:04:20Maybe he was one of the greatest, and remained one of the greatest,
1:04:20 > 1:04:24because of his 100% devotion to the country.
1:04:26 > 1:04:31Nevertheless, it was 14 years before the KGB allowed that icon
1:04:31 > 1:04:35even to visit the secret centre of their Foreign Intelligence Service.
1:04:42 > 1:04:45His job that day - to give a masterclass to the assembled spies
1:04:45 > 1:04:47on how to survive in the field.
1:04:52 > 1:04:57He started the whole thing in a very British way, with a joke.
1:04:58 > 1:05:02That he'd been to many, many intelligence services in the world...
1:05:02 > 1:05:05But for the first time he got to his own!
1:05:07 > 1:05:11He had a tip for them about interrogations.
1:05:11 > 1:05:13If ever you get hauled in, whatever the evidence,
1:05:13 > 1:05:17never admit any connection with Soviet intelligence
1:05:17 > 1:05:20and never sign a document implicating yourself.
1:05:22 > 1:05:23So was that a joke too?
1:05:23 > 1:05:26Telling them to do precisely the opposite
1:05:26 > 1:05:28of what he'd done in Beirut?
1:05:28 > 1:05:30Or was it a message to the friends in MI6?
1:05:32 > 1:05:36Once the news about his defection was public, they'd started
1:05:36 > 1:05:40leaking the confession story, to take the curse off letting him go.
1:05:40 > 1:05:43But, years later, Elliott may have let a different cat out of the bag.
1:05:46 > 1:05:50This was the question he was asked. And this was his answer.
1:05:50 > 1:05:53Well, gentlemen, the circumstantial evidence against me
1:05:53 > 1:05:55is very strong, I know one thing you don't know
1:05:55 > 1:05:58- I am not and never have been a KGB agent,
1:05:58 > 1:06:01so there is no point talking about the matter any more.
1:06:01 > 1:06:04And provided the person keeps his or her nerve,
1:06:04 > 1:06:08they will be all right. George Blake lost his nerve at the last moment.
1:06:08 > 1:06:11And that's what gave him away? That's what gave him away.
1:06:11 > 1:06:13Kim Philby didn't lose his nerve.
1:06:14 > 1:06:16When he was interrogated in 195 .
1:06:16 > 1:06:20But Elliott hadn't attended the '51 interrogation.
1:06:21 > 1:06:24Was he reliving his own encounter in Beirut,
1:06:24 > 1:06:26until he remembered the official line?
1:06:26 > 1:06:31Philby didn't lose his nerve. When he was interrogated in 1951.
1:06:35 > 1:06:38It's not surprising that we can't be sure.
1:06:38 > 1:06:42Spies of all stripes shield the truth with lies.
1:06:45 > 1:06:48Philby's own version was evasive.
1:06:48 > 1:06:51Probably he did give Elliott something.
1:06:51 > 1:06:52But what?
1:06:52 > 1:06:57One of the mysteries of... the Beirut confrontation.
1:06:59 > 1:07:0250 years have passed, and still they keep it secret.
1:07:04 > 1:07:06It's really deeply embarrassing.
1:07:06 > 1:07:08They're only human beings, You can't expect them
1:07:08 > 1:07:12to announce that they made fools of themselves for so long.
1:07:12 > 1:07:14Everything that happened happened so long ago
1:07:14 > 1:07:18that it's time it was told. And the lessons learned.
1:07:20 > 1:07:21But don't bank on it.
1:07:21 > 1:07:25One unglamorous possibility is that the evidence
1:07:25 > 1:07:28- embarrassing or not - no longer exists.
1:07:28 > 1:07:30I think that's perfectly possible.
1:07:30 > 1:07:35There is a common complaint from the very few people
1:07:35 > 1:07:39who are aware of what is in SIS s registry.
1:07:39 > 1:07:41The common complaint is there's nothing there!
1:07:43 > 1:07:45But there is a bigger barrier.
1:07:46 > 1:07:50Spies may have good causes, but few things they do could be called good.
1:07:52 > 1:07:57They want to know our secrets, but don't want us to know theirs.
1:07:57 > 1:07:58Ever.
1:07:58 > 1:08:01What the secret intelligence service does, frankly,
1:08:01 > 1:08:04is employ case officers who are skilled
1:08:04 > 1:08:06at persuading people to betray.
1:08:06 > 1:08:09To betray their family, their friends, their nationality...
1:08:09 > 1:08:13And therefore, if you wish to continue in
1:08:13 > 1:08:16the clandestine information collection business, you are
1:08:16 > 1:08:21going to have to say, "Some material is never going to be disclosed."
1:08:23 > 1:08:27FUNERAL MARCH PLAYS
1:08:30 > 1:08:33In death, the KGB piled on the praise for the man
1:08:33 > 1:08:35they had persuaded to betray his country.
1:08:37 > 1:08:41There was George Blake among the stream of top KGB officers
1:08:41 > 1:08:46as the Englishman they'd once left to drink himself close to oblivion
1:08:46 > 1:08:49was recast as a hero of the dying Soviet Union.
1:08:50 > 1:08:54We were in sort of in a pew, as it were, and all the mourners were
1:08:54 > 1:08:58going round and round, all of the people in Moscow paying homage.
1:08:58 > 1:09:03It was an horrific occasion, I found that. Well, it was an open coffin!
1:09:03 > 1:09:05I mean, you know, it was...
1:09:05 > 1:09:07SHE SHIVERS AND LAUGHS
1:09:10 > 1:09:12It's just not my scene at all. I just can't bear that.
1:09:14 > 1:09:16I loved him dearly, but I wasn't going to kiss his body.
1:09:18 > 1:09:20He was a romantic. He was a romantic.
1:09:20 > 1:09:25He really believed in Marx.
1:09:25 > 1:09:30Not officially, like Brezhnev for instance, "We're Marxists!"
1:09:30 > 1:09:31and so on.
1:09:31 > 1:09:35But he really...it was part of his life,
1:09:35 > 1:09:41and he fought for Communism all his life, since Cambridge.
1:09:42 > 1:09:47Suddenly these four men in gumboots, dungarees and
1:09:47 > 1:09:51big brown aprons came up with hammers and nails,
1:09:51 > 1:09:55and nailed the coffin down.
1:09:55 > 1:09:58And he was buried, and then they had a gun salute,
1:09:58 > 1:10:00and that was quite special.
1:10:00 > 1:10:04That end bit was the best bit as far as we were concerned.
1:10:04 > 1:10:05GUNSHOT
1:10:09 > 1:10:11He still divides opinion.
1:10:14 > 1:10:18Does his hatred of fascism in the '30s excuse the betrayal
1:10:18 > 1:10:22of his countrymen, or lessen the blame for deaths he may have caused?
1:10:24 > 1:10:27He was a British citizen, and he betrayed British secrets.
1:10:27 > 1:10:30However marvellous he thought the reason was,
1:10:30 > 1:10:32it still doesn't excuse them in the law.
1:10:33 > 1:10:36So he was, by proper definition, a traitor.
1:10:36 > 1:10:39There's no other way of describing him.
1:10:39 > 1:10:42I think he was almost two people in a strange way.
1:10:42 > 1:10:46He did actually feel quite strongly about friendships on one side,
1:10:46 > 1:10:49and on the other side, of course, he was a sort of
1:10:49 > 1:10:54desperate traitor who would betray his family or his friends
1:10:54 > 1:10:56if necessary.
1:10:56 > 1:10:59He said, "To betray, you have to first belong,
1:10:59 > 1:11:01"and I didn't belong, I never belonged."
1:11:01 > 1:11:04"I was a straight penetration agent," he said,
1:11:04 > 1:11:06"and if the other side" - in other words, the British -
1:11:06 > 1:11:11"were foolish enough to believe my spiel, then that's on them.
1:11:11 > 1:11:13"It was their failure, not mine "
1:11:17 > 1:11:19I ended up at the place where he's buried,
1:11:19 > 1:11:21crammed in among soldiers and patriots.
1:11:24 > 1:11:27They all have their titles and their uniforms,
1:11:27 > 1:11:31and they seem to have flowers on Memorial Day.
1:11:31 > 1:11:35But when you get to Kim Philby's, it does have flowers,
1:11:35 > 1:11:37if a little tired.
1:11:39 > 1:11:45But no title, no description, just his name.
1:11:49 > 1:11:51Well, he was just Dad.
1:11:51 > 1:11:54In a way, he's always been just my father.
1:11:57 > 1:11:59We all loved him enormously.
1:12:00 > 1:12:03What is the question you never asked him and wished you had?
1:12:06 > 1:12:08I don't think, I couldn't actually say...
1:12:12 > 1:12:14You know, "Why did you do it?"
1:12:15 > 1:12:17MUSIC: "The Great Pretender" by The Platters
1:12:19 > 1:12:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd