On This Day.
1963: British businessman Greville Wynne was charged in Moscow with spying: Born in 1919, Wynne graduated from Nottingham University in 1938 and served in British intelligence during World War II. Later, during the Cold War, he became a businessman and travelled with his trade show throughout Eastern Europe. In 1960, Wynne arranged a visit of a Russian trade delegation to London. This arrangement placed him opposite the high-ranking KGB spymaster Oleg Penkovsky, who had offered his services to the West as a double agent, and Wynne became Penkovsky's contact in Moscow and London. Even though they met secretly in public places and restaurants to exchange information, both men were arrested and tried in Moscow in 1963. Penkovsky was sentenced to death and secretly executed. In contrast, Wynne spent eight years in prison before being exchanged for Soviet agent Gordon Lonsdale.Also On This Day: 1421: The sea broke throughdykes at Dort in Holland and an estimated 100,000 people were drowned;1521: Martin Luther was excommunicated by the Diet of Worms; 1956: Premium Savings Bonds were introduced; 1961: The disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles failed to overthrow the island's Marxist government; 1975: The surrender of the capital Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge forces ended the civil war in Cambodia.
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| Title Annotation: | Features |
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| Publication: | The Birmingham Post (England) |
| Date: | Apr 17, 2002 |
| Words: | 213 |
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