WEBVTT - The Backstory: The charming spy who got away with it all 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.000 All right, What motivates somebody to completely turn on their 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:06.280 country to the point that they're willing to infiltrate deep 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.600 inside the government and share top secret info with an 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:14.480 enemy nation. What about a guy who has it all money, prestige, privilege. 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.200 He was one of the most dangerous double agents in 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.520 British history. Imagine a James Bond villain, and he got 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:26.160 away with it. I'm Patty Steele. Kim Philby charming everybody 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.280 in the room while stabbing them in the back. That's 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:36.600 next on the backstory. We're back with the backstory. Okay, 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.800 it's the middle of the Cold War, their serious tension 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:42.400 between the East and the West. In the heart of 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.600 British Intelligence is an agency known for its very British, 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:50.879 stiff upper lip demeanor and reliance on the old boys network. 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.440 Kim Philby is at the center of that network, but 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.320 unbeknownst to his longtime associatests, he's one of the most 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.760 dangerous double agents in his life. He's to blame for 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.720 massive security spills leading to the torture and death of 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.920 numerous British intelligence agents. But where did it all start, 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.920 How and why did Philby become such a master manipulator 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.520 that he was able to feed top secret info to 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:19.800 the Soviet Union, tipping the Cold War scales in their 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:24.880 favor for decades without being caught. First and foremost, Kim 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:28.199 Philby was a charmer. On top of that, he grew 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.959 up as the ultimate insider. His family were aristocratic intellectuals. 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:37.680 He was born Harold Adrian Russell Philby in nineteen twelve 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.520 in India, where his father, Saint John Philby, worked for 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.920 the British government as a specialist in the Arab world. 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.560 His dad had a reputation as an eccentric and a 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:52.200 bit of a rebel against the British establishment. That may 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.880 be where Kim began questioning British rule. He went to 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.520 an elite boarding school as a kid, and then on 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:02.520 to Cambridge University in the early nineteen thirties. It looked 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.440 like he was destined for a life of privilege and 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:09.440 prestige and easy life, but Cambridge was a breeding ground 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:13.400 for radical thought and the Great Depression further radicalized young 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:18.480 intellectuals there. Kim was studying history but became intrigued with Marxism. 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.760 He and his friends socialized with powerful people in the 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:25.800 British Communist Party, and those people introduced him to a 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.040 man who would change his life. Arnold Deutsch, a recruiter 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.440 for Soviet intelligence. He saw in Kim a chance to 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.239 infiltrate the British upper class long term. Kim, who was 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.200 ambitious and idealistic, was all in Who's nineteen thirty four, 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.000 He was just twenty two years old, and he pledged 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:47.760 his allegiance to the Soviet Union. Patience was key. Kim 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.880 now is told to keep his Communist beliefs under wraps 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.600 and to blend fully into British society. For years, he 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:59.320 completely avoids sharing his leftist beliefs and instead shows himself 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:03.239 to be the perfect image of a loyal, upper class Englishman. 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.160 By the late nineteen thirties, he becomes a journalist covering 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.880 the Spanish Civil War and at the same time gathering 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:15.280 intelligence for the Soviets. He becomes a valuable asset to them. 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:20.520 In nineteen forty he joins MI six, Britain's foreign intelligence service. 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.920 His charm, connections and credentials made him a rising star. 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:30.040 By nineteen forty four, he's running British counter intelligence in Iberia, 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:34.240 where he continues to pass secrets to Moscow, but he 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:38.400 did more than leak info, he sabotaged British efforts against 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.440 the Soviets. One of his most devastating betrayals came during 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:46.360 World War II, when he exposed Allied plans to infiltrate 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:51.160 German occupied Eastern Europe. Six and the CIA were training 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:55.520 anti Communist resistance fighters who were going to parachute into 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.040 the Balkan mountains, but thanks to Philby, the Soviets were 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.360 waiting for them, and most were captured or killed as 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.120 soon as they landed. He was also involved in a 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:09.160 British project that could decode Soviet encrypted messages. He warned 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.440 the Soviets, who tightened their security. None of it mattered. 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:16.719 Philbey's colleagues totally trusted him. Again. He was charming, self 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:21.960 deprecating and seemingly completely loyal, but of course he wasn't. 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:25.160 The more secrets he stole, the more deeply he had 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:29.320 embedded himself into MI six, becoming one of Britain's most 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.839 trusted spies. And there were others. They were part of 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:37.760 the infamous and very successful Cambridge five aspiring that included 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:42.240 four Cambridge classmates of kims By the early nineteen fifties, 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:46.280 though the group started to crumble as suspicions arose. Two 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.880 of the Cambridge Five were being investigated and eventually defected 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.560 to Moscow, but Kim managed to charm his way out 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.520 of trouble with no real evidence against him. He was 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.359 cleared of suspicion in nineteen fifty five and held a 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.599 press conference denying everything, but it didn't last. By the 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:09.560 early nineteen sixties, British authorities began to investigate Kim after 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.440 a Soviet spy defected and fingered him. So how did 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.320 he avoid arrest? By this time he was working in 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.520 Beirut Lebanon, and authorities from six came to speak with him. 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:23.680 They were preparing to bring him back to London for questioning, 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.840 but he simply vanished into the night. Eventually he moved 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.279 to Moscow. How did he get away? Was it class 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:34.760 privilege or as some believe, maybe the Brits let him 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.920 escape rather than drag him into court and have to 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.239 explain how they let him get away with so much 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.840 for so long. But why did they miss it? It 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:48.679 was totally a scene out of early James Bond. Six 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.760 wasn't just a spy agency, it was an elite gentleman's club. 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:58.520 Recruitment often came through personal connections, not aptitude or background checks. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.359 The assumption was if you came from the right family, 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:06.080 went to the right schools, and spoke with the right accent, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.680 you were trustworthy. How embarrassing for the establishment when that 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.160 very business model is what allowed Kim Philby and his 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:18.640 cohorts to be double agents for so long. Philby fit 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.440 this mold perfectly. After all, he went to Westminster School 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.479 in Cambridge University, where he mingled with the sons of 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.320 Britain's ruling class. He had the manners, the charm, and 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:33.040 the confidence of someone born into privilege. His upper class 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:37.640 pedigree was like a shield, deflecting suspicion even when evidence 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.960 of his betrayal began to surface. In a lot of ways, 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.599 Kim was the perfect spy precisely because he didn't seem 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.360 like a spy. He was known as a hard drinking 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:52.240 man's man, a loyal patriot who despised communism. His charm 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:56.880 wasn't just disarming, it was disorienting. Even when his colleagues 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.800 at MI six began to suspect there was a mole 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:01.960 in the in their midst. The idea that it could 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.640 be Philby was unthinkable. On top of that, there was 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.880 a deep reluctance within Six to acknowledge such a huge 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.920 breach of trust. Admitting that one of their own, one 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.680 of the best, was working for the enemy, would have 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.640 been devastating not just a morale but to the agency's reputation. 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:24.240 Some even believed that Six deliberately allowed him to escape 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:28.280 to Moscow in nineteen sixty three to avoid the embarrassment 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.600 of a public trial. So what about his later life 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.760 in Moscow? Was it the hero's welcome he thought he'd get, 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:39.480 or maybe something not so glamorous. Think about it, ever, 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:41.800 had a friend who you found out had talked about 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.440 you behind your back, or maybe they bad mouthed a 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.760 mutual friend, You know they're doing the same thing to you, 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.120 and you never really trust them, right well, believe it 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.240 or not. That happens in the world of espionage too. 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.160 Once you're labeled a traitorous type, you don't now grow it. 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.320 When he arrived in Moscow nineteen sixty three, he was 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.120 greeted as a hero, but the reality of life in 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:08.200 exile was far from the romanticized vision he had imagined. 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.680 He was given a small apartment, a small pension, and 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:15.960 occasional public recognition by the Soviets. They talked about him 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.560 as one of their greatest assets, a guy who had 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:22.160 crippled Western intelligence and helped secure their position in the 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:25.800 Cold War. But in reality, Philby's life in Moscow was 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:30.160 lonely and unsatisfying. He'd been promised a position in the KGB, 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.440 but it turned out they didn't want him. He struggled 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:37.079 with alcoholism, a problem he'd had during his time in six, 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:39.720 and it was tough for him to adjust a life 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:43.880 in a society he'd idealized from Afar. He discovered the 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:48.040 Soviet Union was no worker's paradise, but instead a bureaucratic, 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.960 oppressive regime, and he was just a cog in its 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:55.120 propaganda machine. He realized the Soviets did very little to 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:59.040 lift their own people above poverty and terrible living conditions. 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:02.080 Later in life, his interviews made it clear that he 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.640 missed being an mi I six insider, the social life 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.160 among London's elite, and the thrill of playing both sides. 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:12.480 In Moscow, he was an outsider, a guy who had 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.880 betrayed his homeland but was never fully trusted by his 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:21.200 adopted country, even his personal life was disappointing. Despite her shock, 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.480 his wife had followed him to Moscow, but their relationship 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.760 fell apart under the weight of his drinking and isolation 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.640 in exile. She went home and divorced him. Eventually he 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:35.200 got married again to a Russian woman named Ruffina. She 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.840 says he was disappointed by his life in Russia and 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.600 that he attempted suicide by slashing his wrists, but was unsuccessful. 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.480 Kim published his memoirs in England in the late sixties, 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.400 but the Soviets wouldn't let him publish them there until 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:53.280 nineteen eighty. He died in nineteen eighty eight. So there 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.920 are a few unanswered questions. Was Kim Philby a principled 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.840 idealist to sacrificed everything for what he believed or was 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.120 he basically a narcissist who loved the deception and betrayal 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:08.760 of his friends and country and had no remorse. And 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:12.520 there's the question about how England, a society so steeped 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:16.160 in privilege and tradition, could fail to see the danger 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.320 in its midst Why because Kim Philby was one of 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:34.960 the insiders. Hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele. 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.040 I would love it if you would subscribe or follow 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:42.240 for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.120 free to dm me if you have a story you'd 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.160 like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:53.359 on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.559 a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks, the Elvis Duran Group, 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:01.400 and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.560 writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.160 Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.160 even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.240 on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:19.000 Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:20.160 know you needed to know.