Greville Wynne: Difference between revisions

Greville Wynne
Born	Greville Maynard Wynne 19 March 1919 Ystrad Mynach, Wales, UK
Died	28 February 1990(1990-02-28) (aged 70) South Kensington, London, UK
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Nottingham
Occupations	Electrical engineer businessman
Criminal charge	Espionage
Criminal penalty	8 years; served 18 months
Criminal status	Released in exchange deal.
Espionage activity
Country	United Kingdom
Agency	Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)
Service years	November 1960 – October 1962

Greville Maynard Wynne (19 March 1919 – 28 February 1990) was a British engineer and businessman who was recruited by MI6 because of his frequent travel to Eastern Europe. He became known for acting as a courier to transport top-secret information to London from Soviet agent Oleg Penkovsky.

They were both arrested by the KGB in October 1962, coincidentally at a moment when some of the information their endeavours produced was instrumental to the West during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and convicted of espionage. Penkovsky was tried and executed the following year and Wynne sentenced to eight years at Lubyanka Russia prison. Struggling with deteriorating health, he was released in 1964 after the British arranged an exchange of Soviet spy Konon Molody.

Early life

Wynne was raised in Ystrad Mynach, South Wales. His father was a foreman in an engineering workshop. He struggled with dyslexia and quit school at 14 to work for an electrical contractor. He then worked at a telephone factory as an apprentice.

Following the Second World War, he traded in electrical equipment, travelling often through Europe and India. Wynne was married to Sheila, with whom he had a son, Andrew, born around 1952. His business extended into Eastern Bloc countries beginning in 1955.

MI6 and later life

In November 1960, Wynne was recruited by MI6 and asked to make a sales trip to Moscow, where he made contact with Oleg Penkovsky, a high-ranking GRU officer. Penkovsky had made earlier offers to spy for the West. Wynne later became an intermediary and courier for Penkovsky, smuggling top-secret Soviet intelligence to London following his frequent trips to the USSR.

Wynne and Penkovsky's espionage activities were eventually discovered by the KGB. Both men were arrested in October 1962, around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Wynne and Penkovsky pleaded guilty on 7 May 1963 and were sentenced four days later. Wynne was sentenced to eight years in prison. Penkovsky was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad, though Wynne believed he died by suicide in prison.

Wynne was held at the Lubyanka. In April 1964, amid British concerns for his deteriorating health, Wynne was released in exchange for the Soviet spy Konon Molody (also known as Gordon Lonsdale).

Following his release, Wynne returned to his business career. In 1966, he appeared as himself on the 23 May episode of the American television series To Tell the Truth, receiving two of four possible votes. Wynne struggled with depression and alcoholism in the aftermath of imprisonment. He died of throat cancer at the Cromwell Hospital in London on 28 February 1990, aged 70.

Questions over pre-Penkovsky MI5 work

Later in life, Wynne wrote two books about his work for British intelligence: The Man from Moscow (1967) and The Man from Odessa (1981). In these books, Wynne claimed to have been recruited by MI5 as early as World War II, long before his work with Penkovsky. Historians question this account. The authors of The Spy Who Saved the World wrote, “He [Wynne] had no previous intelligence experience or training.” Others have made similar assessments, stating that Wynne was a civilian at the time of his recruitment by MI6 in 1960.

Portrayal in popular culture

• Wynne was portrayed by David Calder in the 1985 BBC television serial Wynne and Penkovsky.
• He was portrayed by Peter Lindford in the 2007 BBC Television docudrama Nuclear Secrets.
• He was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in the 2021 film The Courier.

Further reading

• Duns, Jeremy (2014). Dead Drop: The True Story of Oleg Penkovsky and the Cold War's Most Dangerous Operation. London: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781849839297.
• Durie, William (2012). The British Garrison Berlin 1945 - 1994: nowhere to go ... a pictorial historiography of the British Military occupation/presence in Berlin. Berlin: Vergangenheitsverlag (de). ISBN 978-3-86408-068-5. OCLC 978161722.
• Schecter, Jerrold L; Deriabin, Peter S; Penkovskij, Oleg Vladimirovic (1992). The Spy Who Saved the World: How a Soviet Colonel Changed the Course of the Cold War. New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 978-0-684-19068-6. OCLC 909016158.
  • "Nonfiction Book Review: The Spy Who Saved the World: How a Soviet Colonel Changed the Course of the Cold War by Jerrold L. Schecter, Author, Peter S. Deriabin, With Scribner Book Company $25 (0p) ISBN 978-0-684-19068-6". Publishers Weekly. March 1992. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
• Wynne, Greville (1967). The Man from Moscow: The Story of Wynne and Penkovsky. London: Hutchinson & Co. OCLC 923453949.

Also published as: Contact on Gorky Street and Wynne and Penkovsky.

• Wynne, Greville (1981). The Man from Odessa. London: Hale. ISBN 978-0-7091-9537-5. OCLC 7990042.

External links

• Greville Wynne Picture
• BBC: Account of Wynne's trial
• "Soviet Propaganda Film 14 (53234)". PeriscopeFilm. Los Angeles: Periscope Film LLC. 1963. Retrieved 23 May 2021 – via Internet Archive. Highlights: 00:09 Criminal case against Penkovski O.V. and Wynne G.M. concerning unlawful acts described by Articles 64, Article 65 of the USSR's RSFSR Criminal code. Article 64 is Treason, Article 65 is Espionage. This is the 30th of November 1962.