Facebook Pixel THE SPIES WHO LOVED ME | Daily Express - newspaper - Lee esta historia en Magzter.com
Vuélvete ilimitado con Magzter GOLD

Vuélvete ilimitado con Magzter GOLD

Obtenga acceso ilimitado a más de 9000 revistas, periódicos e historias Premium por solo

$149.99
 
$74.99/Año

Intentar ORO - Gratis

THE SPIES WHO LOVED ME

Daily Express

|

May 30, 2025

From an early age, Alistair Wood knew his family was different... he was raised in an M16 training camp, his mother stashed cyanide in her underwear drawer and his father once kidnapped his brother en route to Canada. Now, 50 years on, he has revealed all in a brilliant new memoir

- By Charlotte Heathcote

THE SPIES WHO LOVED ME

ASA child, Alistair Wood had been aware that there was something unusual about his parents. In a small attic space above the garage of their family home in Woking, Surrey, he and his brother found shotguns hidden under the lagging. His mother showed him the cyanide pill she hid in her underwear drawer. And, while digging a vegetable patch in the back garden, he found buried radio parts.

Alistair's father had left when he was just a baby but, when he was 13, the family went to live in a Secret Intelligence Service training camp, which is where he spent his formative years. However, amid a culture of secrecy and subterfuge, it took Alistair years to piece together his parents' startling stories of SIS spy craft. "And when something's not talked about, it makes you more curious," he says.

John Bryan Wood, or JBW as even Alistair called his father at their occasional out-of-the-blue meetings spent the Second World War tracking Nazi agents in Argentina. During the Cold War, he was integral to MI6's secret project to dig a tunnel beneath Berlin for the interception of KGB communications.

It was also in Berlin that he met Alistair's mother Margaret Miller, an SIS secretary. She was despatched into enemy territory, on one occasion acting as a double for a spy whose cover had been blown, and on another, assessing sites for excavating the top-secret tunnel.

Then in 1956, a mole leaked the existence of the Berlin tunnel to the Soviets, which sparked fears that JBW was a double agent. JBW was also spotted entering the KGB office in Helsinki. So he was duly ejected from SIS, under the guise of resignation, although it was George Blake who was later unmasked as the KGB mole.

"He was booted out of SIS quite rightly, but on a technicality," says Alistair. "He was innocent of the reason why they booted him out."

MÁS HISTORIAS DE Daily Express

Daily Express

Daily Express

THINKIN'S BACK ON GOLD TRAIL

INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN is back on course to defend his crown in the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup two weeks today.

time to read

1 min

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

Daily Express

CLOSE CALL FOR FOREST

Hudson-Odoi KO's Fener fightback

time to read

1 mins

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

Jessie electric as monstrous bride

JESSIE Buckley is a woman in demand as she promotes her new movie The Bride! just days after her Bafta win for Hamnet.

time to read

1 min

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

WOLVES SUPPORT TOLU

ROB EDWARDS says Wolves have supported Tolu Arokodare after the Nigeria striker was subjected to racist abuse.

time to read

1 min

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

PULL UP A CHAIR FOR YOUR FILL OF SHOWBIZ

In that chat-showy way, Table for Four is a welcome excuse to promote tours, books, podcasts and projects, but while chewing on one-pot paneer curry pie and self-saucing Jaffa pudding.

time to read

1 mins

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

BUTTLER STILL A KEY FIGURE

Jos’ record commands respect as Black Caps ignore form book

time to read

2 mins

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

PALACE HAVE MAX FACTOR

MAXENCE LACROIX and Evann Guessand scored to see Crystal Palace reach the Conference League last 16 in their first season in Europe.

time to read

1 min

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

Daily Express

Princess hair for necklace gift

PRINCESS Catherine moves her hair to help seven-year-old Leman Wetti clip in place a necklace made by her and other children as the Waleses went walkabout in wet Wales.

time to read

1 min

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

'NO BACKBONE' TO SOLVE ILLEGAL MIGRANT CRISIS

Senior Tories attack Labour for only removing 6% of Channel boat arrivals

time to read

4 mins

February 27, 2026

Daily Express

Daily Express

AI fight is not man vs machine but between open and closed minds

I AM often asked if artificial intelligence will wipe out white-collar jobs?

time to read

3 mins

February 27, 2026

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size