George Blake
| George Blake | |
|---|---|
| Born |
George Behar 11 November 1922 Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Spy |
| Known for | Double agent |
George Blake (born George Behar 11 November 1922), is a former British spy who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union. He became a Communist and decided to work for the KGB while a prisoner during the Korean War. Discovered in 1961 and sentenced to 42 years in prison, he escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1966 and fled to the USSR. He was not one of the Cambridge spies, although he associated with fellow double agents Donald Maclean and Kim Philby after reaching the USSR.
Blake was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 1922, the son of a Protestant Dutch mother, and an Egyptian Jewish father who was a naturalised British subject. He was named George after King George V of the United Kingdom. His father, Albert Behar, served in the British Army in the First World War. While he received the Meritorious Service Medal, he embellished his war service when recounting it to his wife and children, and also concealed his Jewish background up until his death. The Behars lived a comfortable existence in the Netherlands until Albert's death in 1936. The thirteen-year-old Blake was sent to live with relatives in Egypt, where he continued his education at the English School in Cairo. While in Cairo, he was close to his cousin Henri Curiel, who was later to become a leader of the Communist Democratic Movement for National Liberation. In 1991, Blake said that his encounter with Curiel, who was a decade older and already a Marxist, shaped his views in later life.
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