Talk:George Blake

Military history: Biography / British / European Start‑class

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history

Start

This article has been rated as Start-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has not yet been checked against the criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: not checked Coverage and accuracy: not checked Structure: not checked Grammar and style: not checked Supporting materials: not checked	To fill out this checklist, please add the following code to the template call: \| b1<!--Referencing and citation--> = <yes/no> \| b2<!--Coverage and accuracy --> = <yes/no> \| b3<!--Structure --> = <yes/no> \| b4<!--Grammar and style --> = <yes/no> \| b5<!--Supporting materials --> = <yes/no> assessing the article against each criterion.

Associated task forces:
/
	Military biography task force
	British military history task force
	European military history task force

Biography Start‑class

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Royal Navy Experience

During WW2 Blake served in the Royal Navy. As HMS Mauritius set off from Glasgow for the Normandy beaches in June 1944 she stopped in the Firth of Clyde and a tender came alongside and took off PO George Blake (newly promoted, still in seamans rig.

I removed this paragraph because, as written, I don't know what it means or why it's relevant to the rest of the article. Someone who understands should clarify the text and add this back to the article. mako (talk•contribs) 17:53, 1 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

huntley53 (talk) 17:09, 2 March 2008 (UTC)== Clean up == I have attempted to give the article some structure by introducing some headings. I have also rewritten some parts in order to give some clarity, and have removed several wrong assertions which could certainly not have been verified in any of the biographies:[reply]

He was not a Dutch/British spy, he worked for MI6 so just British will do
His father was born Turkish not Egyptian
His family was not an "eminent Jewish family of Amsterdam". It was his father's side of the family which was Jewish not the Dutch side. His mother's family were from Rotterdam not Amsterdam.
Henri Curiel was his cousin not his uncle, and while they did spend time together there is no evidence to back-up the assertion that he spent "most of his time" with Curiel
I have deleted the whole of the Iris Peake incident as it was chronologically inaccurate (it happened after the War) and seems irrelevant in this context. Most biographers only mention the incident in passing as a possible reason for Blake to have a grudge against the British establishment, and the idea that it sent Blake running back to his "uncle" in Egypt in order to join the KGB is just plain wrong. It was his incarceration by the North Koreans (and some would say "brain-washing") that led him to turn to Communism and to contact the KGB in Berlin.--77.97.173.114 15:46, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to add that the reference to Holland should be The Netherlands (Holland is not strictly a country)

Escape Section Needs Revision

The escape section is a word-for-word copy of the cited site: http://libcom.org/history/1966-the-blake-prison-escape. hodgetts 04:32, 10 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Order of Friendship

Blake was awarded the "Order of Friendship" in 2007 should that be mentioned. Last paragraph in this link. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012702378_pf.htm D.Mandalore (talk) 00:35, 15 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New Theory on Blake's Background =

Blake was a Soviet Illegal officer, sent by PGU to infiltrate British Intelligence. Konon Molody was his Illegal Resident. http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=10178FE5-3B51-4844-B295-B6E98FC3199F —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.112.136.226 (talk) 15:15, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

George Blakes. Great Escape.

When Mr Blake was in Prison just prior to his escape a 'Walkie Talkie' was smuggled to him to inform him of the plans for the escape. Eventually after being told to wait at the appointed place at the Prison Wall a rope was thrown over. He climbed up the rope and was over the other side when he fell a short distance to the ground. He had injured his ankle but still clambered into a waiting van to escape. After spending a short time in a safe house he was smuggled in a car via the Dover ferry to Europe. From Dover he was driven to East Germany. On his way to East Germany he played 'I Spy' with a child who was in the escape car. After passing through check points to drive to East Berlin, the car stopped at a side road and Mr Blake stepped out. As the car drove away the driver looked back and the last he saw of Mr Blake was him standing in the road, smiling and waving 'goodbye'. Asked why he helped Blake escape, one of the Desperadoes was so drunk during his interview by the Press he gave a slurred unintelligible reply. Another Desperado said he thought the sentence given to a good man was unjust. None of the escape team agreed with Mr Blakes crimes.Johnwrd (talk) 23:59, 23 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Recruitment by KGB

I have removed this unreferenced section: "He went to his uncle and confidant, Henri Curiel, who recruited him for the KGB." He was recruited while in Korea. Marshall46 (talk) 22:41, 10 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]