He acted as a courier to transport top-secret information to London from Soviet agent Oleg Penkovsky. During their visits, Penkovsky and Wynne would get out on the town, visiting restaurants, nightclubs and shops under the cover of talking business, with each man proudly showing the other around his home country. Andrew and Sheila lived in Britain whilst Greville served his prison sentence in Moscow. Should you have information that conflicts with anything shown please make us aware by email. Wynne said after his release: I was never told I was coming home. This gave American officials a clearer picture of what the Soviets were doing in the region, bringing in medium-range ballistic missiles. Data security and recovery solutions. It was said he had been shot by a firing squad. They made an odd contrastthe short, energetic, and thinly mustachioed Wynne alongside the military bearing of Penkovskybut there seemed to be genuine affection between the two, and this friendship is a central focus of The Courier. Privacy Statement "Think about going back to life after that intense drama," Cooke says. 'The Courier' is currently lived by his son, Andrew, as he died in 1990 at the age of 70. Officials in London had also been aware of Penkovsky since he had approached two British businessmen and gave them his business card in hopes it would reach MI6. This time it's a true story:Wynne served as an unassuming go-between for British intelligence MI-6 and Russian spyOleg Penkovsky atthe height of the Cold War. "He started as a nave amateur. The burden of that is hard to imagine.. Greville Wynne is a legend in the history books and his family has also benefited from it. "But you have a responsibility to honor the essence of what happened," says director Dominic Cooke. Truth be told, he wasn't even aware he was talking to spies when the CIA and MI6 approached him. British spy Greville Wynne became one of Penkovsky's couriers, delivering information back to MI6 and the CIA. "He did make a life for himself, but Greville Wynne did pay a big price for his service. No question." The Courier is in cinemas now In February 1990, it was announced Wynne had died of. Starring Benedict Cumberbach as Greville Wynne and Merab Ninidze as Oleg Penkovsky, the film explores the Cold War spy story in its entirety and focuses a lot on the relationship held between British spy Wynne and Soviet militant Penkovsky. Wynne was a middle-classBritish businessman whose frequenttravelto Eastern Europe attracted recruitmentby MI-6 to serve as a liaison to high-ranking Soviet official Penkovsky. | READ MORE. In February 1990, it was announced Wynne had died of throat cancer at the age of 70 at the Cromwell Hospital, London. In November 1960, Greville Wynne, a 41-year-old British businessman, sat down for a lunch that would change his life. Terms of Use In an overcoat, wearing a trilby and carrying a briefcase, middle-aged travelling salesman Greville Wynne looked every inch a rather ordinary, unremarkable family man going about his daily life. Protect those closest to you with our phone monitoring solutions. 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Greville Wynne's former father in law was, Greville Wynne's former mother in law was. However, he was freed in 1964 in exchange for Soviet spy Conon Molody, or Gordon Lonsdale as he called himself in Britain. The moonlighting spy was arrested on a business trip to Budapest in November 1962 and taken to the Soviet Union. Wynne Andrew Greville Download Report Watch this director Reports Positions Charts Business areas History Similar name Reports Director Report with insolvency check, phone numbers and contact addresses (United Kingdom) It includes the current and past appointments and positions in companies, with relevant data about each company Assisting him in his role as "courier" is Oleg Penkovsky ( Merab Ninidze ), a far more experienced Russian agent. From online or printed sources and from publicly accessible databases. But a living Wynne was more valuable to the Soviets. Our collection of landline recorders and mobile phone monitoring devices. Even the official accounts put out by American and Russian authorities regarding the Penkovsky affair include disinformation and spin that he, or any historian, has to navigate through. So we got along a lot.. Penkovsky either was shot or killed himself in prisonthere are disputing accounts. Her Other Children Greville Wynne Bio Details Full name Greville Maynard Wynne Gender Male Age 70 Date of birth Wednesday 19 Mar 1919 Birth place Wrockwardine Wood, Shropshire, Wales, UK Date of death: 28 Feb 1990 Place of death Cromwell Hospital, South Kensington, London, England, UK Cause of death In researching The Courier true story, we discovered that in exchange for sharing restricted information, Soviet intelligence officer Oleg Penkovsky requested citizenship and military rank in either the U.S.A. or Great Britain. Reports suggest Prince Charles will live "in a flat above the shop" when he becomes king. The true story behind The Courierconfirms that some of the intelligence Wynne received from his Russian contact, Soviet military intelligence colonel Oleg Penkovsky, informed the United Kingdom about the Soviet emplacement of missiles in Cuba. Despite having no previous experience in intelligence work, Wynne was being recruited to serve as an MI6 agent. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a10a13b9bbf427a Greville Wynne had a wife, Sheila, and a son, Andrew. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Benedict Cumberbatch lurks in the shadows in The Courier, Greville Wynne in 1964 after being freed from a Russian jail, Greville Wynne when he was arrested for espionage in Budapest in 1962, Greville Wynne pictured at Northolt Airport surrounded by press and police, after his release from a Russian jail, Spy equipment taken from Soviet scientific worker Oleg Penkovsky when the Russians caught him, The Courier tells the true story of espionage behind Russian lines. His wife Sheila divorced him and he became estranged from his only son Andrew. We hope you have enjoyed our insight into the story of British spy Greville Wynne and that you have learned about this Cold War story. Find featured products, our latest blog posts, spy laws, information about the UK's biggest and best spy shop and much more all in one place. Wynne wrote about his time as a spy in a book entitled The Man from Odessa, first published in 1981. He loves his mum too. They were all short and thickset and wore trilby hats at the same angle. Penkovsky's real-life codename was HERO. Wynne was a British businessman who, from 1960 and 1962, smuggled thousands of pieces of intel out of Russia before he was captured, imprisoned, and tortured for two years by the KGB. Alex Palmer is a travel and culture writer who lives in Brooklyn. Keir, who is from London, doesnt have acting classes but enjoys drama at school. This incredible story is the focus of a new movie called The Courier starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Wynne a role that clearly excites him. Greville Wynne showed concern about Penkovskys slightly outlandish notions, but nonetheless went along with it. He said the double agent also told him Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev had allowed important guidance equipment to be sent with Soviet missiles being installed in Cuba. Greville Wynne's son is Andrew Wynne. They separated several years ago. "And Greville played a big part in that.". Herma van Buren Bio Details. "His clothes were sort of shrink-wrapped around this skeleton," says Cumberbatch, who spent three months losing weight and physically preparing to portray Wynne's final months of ordeal. A British businessman accused of spying for the West has been sentenced to eight years' detention by a Moscow tribunal. But as he began researching Wynnes story, he learned that this ordinary man could also tell some extraordinary lies. Among the smuggled photographs and documents was evidence of what became the chilling Cuban Missile Crisis in October, 1962, with secret Soviet rocket sites on communist leader Fidel Castros island bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Greville Wynne was born on March 19 1919. They had to go through a show trial, basically, so on the stand Wynne accused MI6 of using him as a dupehe may have just been saying whatever he could say because he worried they might execute him, says Jeremy Duns, an author of several spy novels set during the Cold War as well as the history book Codename: Hero: The True Story of Oleg Penkovsky and the Cold Wars Most Dangerous Operation. This was an encounter that would propel Wynne into a dangerous shadowy world of espionage and on a breathtaking adventure that ultimately helped prevent World War III from breaking out. After months of negotiations, the British government was eventually able to arrange a trade of Wynne for the Soviet spy Gordon Lonsdale, whod been arrested the year before and was serving a 25-year sentence in England. (March 18), Battled mystery flu, fake crew cut facing Jodie Foster in 'The Mauritanian', Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. It involved a lot of foreign travel, including trips to Soviet bloc countries, and thus provided ideal cover for spying. While Angus Wright's character, MI6 agent Dickie Franks, was indeed a real person who worked for Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, according to his 2008 obituary in The Independent, he had nothing to do with the recruitment of civilian Greville Wynne and the claim that he did is based on incorrect reports in the press. The two then visited the White House where President John F. Kennedy personally thanked them for their servicethen the two returned to the U.K. just 18 hours later. Wynne was born in Shropshire, England, and raised in Ystrad Mynach, South Wales. Then after your service, when you havent even told your family or friends about this, youre told, thank you very much, indeed. He was flown to Moscow, imprisoned, and tried alongside Penkovsky, who it would later be learned had been arrested the week before Wynne entered Hungary. 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