Kim Philby
| Kim Philby | |
|---|---|
Portrait taken from a 1990 Soviet stamp
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| Allegiance | Soviet Union |
| Codename(s) | Sonny, Stanley |
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| Birth name | Harold Adrian Russell Philby |
| Born |
1 January 1912 Ambala, Punjab, British India |
| Died | 11 May 1988 (aged 76) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Buried |
Kuntsevo Cemetery, Ryabinova Ulitsa, Moscow |
| Nationality | British |
| Parents |
St John Philby Dora Philby |
| Spouse |
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| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 1912 – 11 May 1988) was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a double agent before defecting to the Soviet Union in 1963. He served as both an NKVD and KGB operative.
In 1963, Philby was revealed to be a member of the spy ring now known as the Cambridge Five, the other members of which were Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and, possibly, John Cairncross. Of the five, Philby is believed to have been most successful in providing secret information to the Soviet Union. His activities were moderated only by Joseph Stalin's fears that he was a Triple Agent providing Soviet intelligence to British authorities. Philby was an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from 1946 to 1965.
Philby was born at Ambala in the Punjab Province of British India. He was the son of Dora (Johnston) and St John Philby, who was a well-known author, orientalist and convert to Islam. His father was a member of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and later a civil servant in Mesopotamia and advisor to King Ibn Sa'ud of Saudi Arabia.
Nicknamed "Kim" after the boy in Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim, Philby attended Aldro preparatory school. In his early teens he spent some time with the Bedouin in the desert of Saudi Arabia "to be turned into a man". Following in the footsteps of his father, he continued to Westminster School, which he left in 1928 at the age of 16. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read History and Economics. He graduated in 1933 with a 2:1 degree in Economics.
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