Anthony Blunt | History's Most Dangerous Spy

Listen to this episode from True Life Spy Stories on Spotify. Watch the full documentary on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qaiMhFpVgxw The art in espionage is the ability to hide in plain sight and the greatest of spies are the ones you never learn about. This statement rings true in the case of Anthony Blunt. His life seemed predestined for greatness. A Cambridge graduate with familial ties to the Royal Family, he was the very picture of establishment respectability. His brilliance as a polymath, fluency in multiple languages, and renown as a world-class art historian made him virtually untouchable, and he knew it. Beneath this veneer of aristocratic refinement lurked a secret that would shake Britain to its very foundations. For decades, Blunt operated as a Soviet spy as a member of the so-called Cambridge Five. His position in MI5 and then within the court of the British Royal family granted him unprecedented access to top secret information at the most critical junctures of World War 2. It took 34 years before Blunt’s treachery was finally revealed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. As shocking as his betrayal was to the British public, a new hypothesis suggests that he may also have been handing secrets to the Nazis which prolonged the war and cost thousands of Allied lives. Labelling Anthony Blunt as ‘the most dangerous spy in history’ as some have done may seem hyperbolic, but when considering the information he had access to, and thus the power he held to influence the strategic balance of power, it may indeed be true. |--------------------------------------------------------------| Ways to support my channel: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ https://bmc.link/philipthompson Donate via PayPal: 💸 paypal.me/PhilipT284 |--------------------------------------------------------------| Thumbnail design by Roderick Brydon of KLR Custom Book Covers & Illustrations: https://www.klrcovers.com/ #philipthompson #truespystories #anthonyblunt