Housewife Superspy

I think we all know and remember the the Boss lady M. (Judy Dench) in the James Bond film. But very few, maybe none of us know the name of the real veteran spy on whom Judy Dench's screen character was based. She is Stella Rimington, ex director of (MI5) the British Secret Service. A very elegant and intelligent lady, with great sense of humour, approachable, and her life story is definitely most interesting and fascinating. Retired at 73 years old, she was in Spain to promote her novel based on her own true life experiences.

For more than 20 years she had worked in divisions of the British National Espionage unit (Anti espionage, Anti subversion, and Anti terrorism), as general director of the intelligence services, being the 1st female in the history occupying such a position, permitted to access all secret information and world events first hand, and authority to act or intervene. With the MI5's later adapted more 'open' attitude, she told her amazing true life story in a novel through her alter ego, the secret agent Liz Carlyle.

Rimington's personal experience and her book assume greater degree of transparency and opens up the up to recently tightly closed doors of the MI5 secret services, although, all her chapters had been carefully reviewed and examined by the MI5, just in case she revealed something she shouldn't.

She started off as a typist, then in charge of filing important documents. In the old days, there's no offer of employment in such secret government offices. You didn't apply there for jobs; they would find you if they wanted you. Her husband was a diplomat and he was the only one that knew her identity as secret agent, not their 2 daughters. They were greatly surprised when they saw in the press that their mother was nominated general director of the MI5 and the press had called her 'Housewife SuperSpy'.

Tags:Superspy,MI5

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