This was an encounter that would propel Wynne into a dangerous shadowy world of espionage and on a breathtaking adventure that ultimately helped prevent World War III from breaking out. British officials have never officially commented on his accounts. There, he was reportedly subjected to severe beatings, malnourishment, and spent a great deal of his time locked up in solitary confinement. And he wrote two memoirs about his time as a spy The Man From Moscow in 1967 and The Man From Odessa in 1981. "Most experts agreethat what Penkovsky provided on the Soviet's capabilities was extremely useful during the Cuban Missile crisis," saysRobert English, director of Central European Studies at the University of Southern California. But do note that it is not possible to be certain of a person's genealogy without a family's cooperation (and/or DNA testing). Both men were arrested in November 1962, around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Oleg Penkovsky had his sights set on moving to the West and building a better life with his family and, therefore, he was keen to expose some of the Soviets most valuable military secrets. The almost universally accepted version of events is that Oleg Penkovsky was executed in 1963 for providing top-secret information to the United Kingdom. He passed away from throat cancer in London in 1990 at age 70. Even the official accounts put out by American and Russian authorities regarding the Penkovsky affair include disinformation and spin that he, or any historian, has to navigate through. Benedict Cumberbatch lurks in the shadows in The Courier, Greville Wynne in 1964 after being freed from a Russian jail, Greville Wynne when he was arrested for espionage in Budapest in 1962, Greville Wynne pictured at Northolt Airport surrounded by press and police, after his release from a Russian jail, Spy equipment taken from Soviet scientific worker Oleg Penkovsky when the Russians caught him, The Courier tells the true story of espionage behind Russian lines. Make way for his amateur,everyman spy Greville Wynne in "The Courier," now on premium VOD6. The UK's supply crisis puts extra pressure on Prime Minister Boris. His second wife, whom he married in 1970, was Herma van Buren, his constant companion, secretary and interpreter who spoke eight languages. 1. These guys were in the foxhole togetherthey each had a secret that only the other man knew, says OConnor. In declining health, he was released roughly two years later on April 22, 1964 in exchange for Soviet spy Konon Molody, who had called himself Gordon Lonsdale while operating in Britain. He began working for MI6 in 1960, making contact with Penkovsky. [8][9] Wynne was sentenced to eight years in prison. The information that Penkovsky was able to obtain and the position of Wynne enabled the British and Americans to receive crucial information about the Soviet Union. Hes such a nice character. Penkovsky gave a huge amount of details about what missiles the Soviets had, how old they were, how there were queues for foodit was an extremely vivid portrait of the country and the people within intelligence, says Duns. Some of the most advanced and very best spy cameras on the market. Assisting him in his role as "courier" is Oleg Penkovsky ( Merab Ninidze ), a far more experienced Russian agent. In an overcoat, wearing a trilby and carrying a briefcase, middle-aged travelling salesman Greville Wynne looked every inch a rather ordinary, unremarkable family man going about his daily life. This time it's a true story:Wynne served as an unassuming go-between for British intelligence MI-6 and Russian spyOleg Penkovsky atthe height of the Cold War. Not only was this account widely denied shortly after publication by members of the CIA and Kennedys staff, but it would have been against the way espionage is runkeeping heads of state a safe distance from the details of intelligence work. The pair first met in December 1960 and became close acquaintances, meeting up in London and Eastern Europe up until 1962. His dining . To top it off, it would have been physically impossible at the time. This marriage didnt last either and the couple separated several years before Greville Wynnes death in 1990. He just was an ordinary man who got thrust into this just extraordinary, life-altering situation that was going to define his existence forever, says OConnor. The films screenwriter, Tom OConnor, found Wynnes story of a nobody suddenly becoming a somebody compelling. Spy Greville Wynne with his son Andrew and wife Sheila outside of their London home after being released from the Soviet prison in April 1964. Like in The Courier movie, a fact-check confirms that KGB surveillance resulted in Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky both being arrested in October 1962, the same month the Cuban Missile Crisis was unfolding. Benedict Cumberbatch is known for bringing outlandish, extraordinary characters, from Marvel's "Dr. Devices such as phone chargers, watches and pens. However, that claim seems unlikely to be true. Wynne wrote about his time as a spy in a book entitled The Man from Odessa, first published in 1981. Stock Image ID: 1494267a Shelia Wynne Wife Of British Spy Greville Wynne Here With Son Andrew Wynne 1964. [4], After the Second World War, he traded in electrical equipment, travelling often through Europe and India. The true story behind The Courierconfirms that some of the intelligence Wynne received from his Russian contact, Soviet military intelligence colonel Oleg Penkovsky, informed the United Kingdom about the Soviet emplacement of missiles in Cuba. Includes devices appropriate for a variety of situations and to suit all budgets. Greville passed away. Wynne said after his release: I was never told I was coming home. Welcome to another edition of spy histories. Ideal for gathering evidence and remote monitoring. "The Courier" has compressed the real-life story and changed some facts. At the time, they were largely accepted at face value and sold well. The authors of The Spy Who Saved the World wrote, He [Wynne] had no previous intelligence experience or training.[6] Others have made similar assessments, stating that Wynne was a civilian at the time of his recruitment by MI6 in 1960. The loosely allied forces that made up the White Army favored capitalism and social democracy, which stood in contrast to the communist ideologies of the Red Army. The pair went on trial in Moscow in 1963 and Wynne was sentenced to eight years five in a labour camp and three in the citys chilling Lubyanka Prison after pleading guilty to espionage. They had to go through a show trial, basically, so on the stand Wynne accused MI6 of using him as a dupehe may have just been saying whatever he could say because he worried they might execute him, says Jeremy Duns, an author of several spy novels set during the Cold War as well as the history book Codename: Hero: The True Story of Oleg Penkovsky and the Cold Wars Most Dangerous Operation. While its standard for Hollywood films to take liberties with the facts, insert composite characters, devise imagined conversations, and smooth-out timelines to ensure a brisk pace, its less common for a based-on-a-true-story movie to have to be more truthful than the source material. He and his wife Sheila divorced not long after his release. By Did an Ancient Magnetic Field Reversal Cause Chaos for Life on Earth 42,000 Years Ago? After his release, Wynne revealed details about his espionage career. In researching The Courier true story, we discovered that in exchange for sharing restricted information, Soviet intelligence officer Oleg Penkovsky requested citizenship and military rank in either the U.S.A. or Great Britain. In a later interview Wynne said: It came out in my interrogation in the early days of my imprisonment that they suspected me of black marketeering. However, in real life, IRONBARK was the codename for the documents that Soviet double agent Oleg Penkovsky had been passing to the CIA. Wynne literally goes from being a charming businessman heading towards retirement, says the actor, to someone secreting Minox film cartridges in his case as he tos-and-fros to Moscow., He was an ordinary man doing an extraordinary thing. Historians question this account. The committee was dedicated to developing opportunities for foreigners in science and technology. But he reportedly committed suicide in a Soviet labor camp. Penkovsky either was shot or killed himself in prisonthere are disputing accounts. The engineer-turned-business man Greville Wynne was, in fact, recruited by the MI6 in November of 1960. GV.AIRPORT BUILDINGS. He acted as a courier to transport top-secret information to London from Soviet agent Oleg Penkovsky. He said he was motivated by patriotism and a dislike of the Soviet system. Greville Wynne was born on March 19 1919. [7], Wynne's and Penkovsky's espionage activities were discovered by the KGB. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Why did Wynne make up so much, when the truths of his 18 months as a spy are already filled with astounding details? But as he began researching Wynnes story, he learned that this ordinary man could also tell some extraordinary lies. OConnor makes clear that The Courier is not a documentary, even as he explains that he took pains to stick to the facts as much as they could be ascertaineddrawing on works such as Jerrold L. Shecter and Peter S. Deriabins The Spy Who Saved the World: How a Soviet Colonel Changed the Course of the Cold War and other accounts that could be trusted more than Wynnes own inventions. [14], Wynne struggled with depression and alcoholism in the aftermath of imprisonment. Greville Maynard Wynne (19 March 1919[2] 28 February 1990) was a British engineer and businessman recruited by MI6 because of his frequent travel to Eastern Europe. 113.23.219.119 Mr Andrew Greville Wynne. Recalling his first day on set, he said: At first I was really nervous, but the cast were all so nice, and I managed to sit next to Benedict for the read-through of the script. He was married twice. The wealthy businessman, who wrote The Man From Moscow and The Man From Odessa, worked for Britains MI6 Secret Intelligence Service. In this edition, we will be focusing on the remarkable life and story of British spy, Greville Wynne. Among the explanations are a desire for money or fame, a ruinous case of alcoholism, or perhaps even psychological scars left by his time in Soviet prison or the shame he felt for publicly turning against British intelligence during the trial. Penkovsky, who was tried with him, was sentenced to death for treason. [3] His father was a foreman in an engineering workshop. However, life wasn't always easy for Wynne after his imprisonment. LONDON (AP) _ Greville Wynne, who spied on the Soviet Union for Britain during the Cold War and who spent 18 months in a Moscow prison after being caught, has died of throat cancer, hospital officials said today. The film received rave reviews and, having seen it ourselves, we certainly recommend giving it a watch. The operation was the most productive classic clandestine operation ever conducted by the CIA or MI6 against the Soviet target, as Schecter and Deriabin put it, and key to its success was the mustachioed courier with no prior intelligence experience. Advertising Notice Truth be told, he wasn't even aware he was talking to spies when the CIA and MI6 approached him. Even though Wynne wasnt exactly a reliable narrator for what he did during his time as a secret agent, the materials he smuggled from behind the Iron Curtain were the real thing. Shelia Wynne Wife Of British Spy Greville Wynne Here With Son Andrew Wynne 1964. Greville Wynne had a wife, Sheila, and a son, Andrew. After his release from prison, he prospered as a property developer. It seems likely that Wynne did have an affair in the years prior to becoming a spy for MI6, though we found little evidence to verify this. Penkovsky had made earlier offers to spy for the West. Wynne was a well known character on the island in the 1980s and at one stage . His wife Sheila divorced him and he became estranged from his only son Andrew. Cumberbatch, whose mother is actress Wanda Ventham, is best known for playing Sherlock in the BBC drama and Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. The article also reveals other information about what happened on the day of sentencing and is well worth a read. In all, Penkovsky had provided Western intelligence with about 140 hours of interviews and 111 exposed rolls of film, contributing to some 10,000 pages of intelligence reports. They separated several years ago. Andrew and Sheila lived in Britain whilst Greville served his prison sentence in Moscow. Theres a fair amount of source material from all different kinds of authors, so by reading everybodynot just Wynnes books, but other historians, and the official history put out by the American side and the Soviet side I was able to try and work out what made the most sense and what seemed liked disinformation, says OConnor. The Courier is also not the first time that Greville Wynnes story has attracted attention over the years. Both economy and specialist counter surveillance devices. Important information Editorial Use Only. Computer monitoring devices to help you and your loved ones stay protected online. Destructive 'Super Pigs' From Canada Threaten the Northern U.S. With the foundations laid, Wynne was asked to arrange a meeting with a state committee in Moscow and report back on the conversations he had. 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