All About History

CAMBRIDGE SPY RING APPREHENDED

Who were the Cambridge Five?

The Cambridge Five were five undergraduates recruited in Cambridge during the 1930s. They’re normally regarded as Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross, but this is a slight misnomer as there were many other students recruited by the Russians at Cambridge and other universities during the 1930s. The Russians called the group the Magnificent Five because they all knew each other and were very closely connected. Guy Burgess, for example, had affairs with both Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt at Cambridge, a bit like the Bloomsbury set, which I think is why everyone is so interested in them. There was a sort of romantic or sexual connection as well as a more public one.

What information did they pass on?

They all passed on enormous amounts of information because they all had extremely important roles. Burgess worked

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from All About History

All About History8 min readInternational Relations
Operation Unthinkable Had Become Reality?
In 1945, with Nazi Germany defeated, Britain was already planning World War III. Well not exactly, but Prime Minister Winston Churchill had become disturbed by the Soviet Union’s occupation of much of Eastern Europe. On his orders a plan was drawn up
All About History1 min readWorld
Clockwork Treasures
From as early as the 1580s, the commodity of clocks began to make their way from the Western world into China. These objects of both beauty and functionality, made in Europe, were given the name zimingzhong meaning “self-sounding bells” or “bells tha
All About History7 min read
Reviews
A profound exploration of the battle between art and ego, focusing on the fraught production of Richard Burton’s Hamlet Cert: 15 Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Johnny Flynn, Mark Gatiss, Tuppence Middleton Released: Out now In 1963 and 1964, two new prod

Related Books & Audiobooks