Any secret agent walks a tightrope. You have to know when to keep going and when to jump off. This is the story of Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky, one of the West’s most valuable Cold War agents. It’s how he risked everything to avert a Third World War that would destroy civilisation. And how he left everything he knew and everyone he loved to attempt one of the most daring escapes of living memory. Damian Lewis: Spy Wars s1e1: The Man Who Saved the World, History 2019
Copenhagen 1996: Oleg Gordievsky was the son of a loyal KGB officer, an ambitious diplomat stationed in the consulate apartment of the Soviet embassy in Denmark. ibid.
By the summer of 1975 MI6 had their man … Gordievsky wasn’t to receive any payment in exchange for secrets. ibid.
Gordievsky’s early missions for MI6 involved smuggling top secret microfilm documents from the Soviet embassy and passing them to his British handlers in a classic brush past. ibid.
For Four years Gordievsky continued to provide top-secret Russian intelligence to the British. ibid.
Oleg Gordievsky had been posted back to Moscow. ibid.
Gordievsky was being posted to the one place where he could do the most damage to the KGB: London. ibid.
Gordievsky’s allegations against the leader of the opposition [Michael Foot] and prominent trades union leaders, including Jack Jones and Ron Brown, led to deep concern about the extent to which the British establishment had been penetrated by the KGB. ibid.
The CIA would seek out the source … [Aldrich Ames] realised the source must have been a high-ranking KGB man in London … Ames himself was a KGB spy. ibid.
From the boot of the car Gordievsky wouldn’t know if he had made it to freedom. ibid.
In a world of spies a cover story and an alias must be watertight. This requires more than just convincing paperwork. It’s how you look, what you say, from the way you act. And it means staying in character no matter what. This is the remarkable story of how one man used inspiration from Hollywood to school six frightened diplomats in the art of being someone else. Damian Lewis: Spy Wars s1e5, History 2019
Tehran, January 1980: Iran was in the grip of an Islamic revolution … CIA agent Tony Mendez entered Iran on a covert mission: his task to rescue a group of six American diplomats from almost certain death. ibid.
The Iranian hostage crisis had begun … 13 embassy workers made a break for it, but in the confusion they were forced to split up. ibid.
The Iranians brought in teams of carpet-weavers to piece together the fragments of paperwork. ibid.
The Canadian government had supplied the American diplomats with genuine Canadian passports. ibid.
Three convicts escaped last night. We’re No Angels 1954 starring Aldo Ray & Humphrey Bogart & Peter Ustinov & Joan Bennett & Basil Rathbone & Leo G Carroll & John Baer & Gloria Talbott & Lea Penman & John Smith et al, director Michael Curtiz, bloke at docks
I’ll say one thing for crooks – they give you an honest day’s work. ibid. shopkeeper
Murderers are best I think – they’re so polite. ibid. lady in shop
They’re prisoners too like us. ibid. Bogart
What I wanted was always against the law. ibid.
The only mistake I ever made was getting caught. ibid.
Beat their heads in, gouge their eyes out, cut their throats, as soon as we’ve washed the dishes. ibid.
We’re no angels. ibid.
I’ll say one thing for prison – you meet a better class of person. ibid.
He was an actor whose most famous role was assassinating a president. But was John Wilkes Booth also an escape artist? … Did John Wilkes Booth evade justice and live for decades after assassinating Abraham Lincoln? Did another man die in Booth’s place? History’s Greatest Mysteries s1e3: The Escape of John Wilkes Booth, History 2021
He was the greatest escape artist of all time. And his name was the embodiment of mystery and wonder … Key questions remain about his life … Houdini’s diaries kept under lock and key in New York City may answer some of those questions. History’s Greatest Mysteries s2e4: Houdini’s Lost Diaries
Narrator Laurie Allen was raised in the violent LeBaron polygamous sect. Laurie was kidnapped twice, kept as a child slave, and never finished the fourth grade. Escaping Polygamy s1e1: Leah/Hannah
A remote desert town still living in the nineteenth century. A town where women are chattel. ibid.
I was orphaned at age three and sent to live among the polygamists until I escaped aged sixteen. ibid.
Warren Jeffs holds the power. ibid.
Now Ruth lives in a field in a shanty she built from scavenged lumber. ibid.
Parents run their sons out of town so older polygamous men can have their pick of young brides. ibid.
My great uncle Ervil LeBaron received a Life sentence for murdering Fundamentalist polygamous rivals including his brother Joe and my cousin Rebecca. ibid.
‘Lost Boys’ Rally Salt Lake City Utah. ibid.
Warren Jeffs will stop at nothing to suppress rebellion. ibid.
Tighter control closed out the world, made women dress like little girls, and took away their right to choose a husband. ibid.
The Ephraim Bank failure cost taxpayers $13 million. ibid.
We were all victims of abuse. ibid.
Woman are supposed to be subservient to men. ibid.
Who is going to liberate the women and children of Colorado City? ibid.
Warren Jeffs was arrested in Las Vegas Nevada on changes of abusing young girls. ibid.
There are still no programmes in place to help Jeff’s victims. ibid.
Why then is the legislator enabling Fundamentalist polygamous sects? ibid.
Utah has not kept up their end of the bargain. ibid.
The Mormon Church spends millions fighting gay marriage. Why doesn’t the Mormon Church help victims of polygamy? ibid.
I witnessed his dying breaths because no-one would take him to a doctor. ibid.
The human wreckage is piling up. ibid.
When will Americans say enough is enough? ibid.
Leaving the order means leaving everything and everyone you know. Escaping Polygamy s1e2: Melanie
‘I am the youngest of eleven kids … I have been raped.’ ibid. Melanie
I got a frantic call from Melanie. Her family is on to her. ibid.
Leaving the Order is a huge betrayal in their eyes. ibid.
The Kingston Clan, known as The Order, is one of the most powerful polygamous cults in America. Escaping Polygamy s1e3: Kathy, caption
In polygamy the first wife is legally married to her husband. Every other wife is considered a celestial or spiritual wife with no legal ties. ibid.
There are an estimated 6,000 Kingston Order members. ibid.
According to former members The Order rules by fear and intimidation. Escaping Polygamy s1e4: Rachel, caption
While Rachel’s mother is at a meeting, Rachel is able to sneak away to meet her sisters. ibid.
I just got all these texts from Priscilla … ‘I have to get out now.’ Escaping Polygamy s1e5: Priscilla
Memory gems and meditations are similar teachings to the ABC order standards. ibid.
While visiting their mother, Kollene and Shanell receive a desperate sounding letter from their 13-year-old half-sister. Escaping Polygamy s1e6: Little Sister
That night the girl’s parents filed a missing person’s report. Without a protective order, by law, the police had to return the girl to her parents, Daniel Kingston and one of his 14 wives. ibid.
Martha has a 19-year-old sister who needs to escape polygamy. Escaping Polygamy s1e7: Yolanda
Colorado City Arizona has been making national news with their FLDS community. ibid.
They have their God-squad and their police force. ibid.
‘I would rather go to Hell than live there.’ ibid. Yolanda
‘Federal agents shut down businesses tied to the Kingston polygamous group.’ Escaping Polygamy s2e1: Father’s Wrath, television news, A&E 2016
From the day my sisters and I have been helping people get out of polygamy, there has been an insider who is still a member of the Kingston group that’s been helping us. ibid.
Jennifer wants to got out of Utah as soon as she can. ibid.
In the order you belong to your father until you belong to your husband. ibid.