Notorious British-Russian spy was born in Ambala

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 4

Britain’s ‘most infamous spy’ Kim Philby, who later crossed over to the Soviet Union and worked for Russia’s KGB during the Cold War, is back in the news almost three decades after his death.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) today released rare footage in which Philby talks about his life as a double agent and his betrayal with Britain. However, few people know that he was born in Ambala, which was then part of Punjab during the British rule.

According to the ‘The Central Intelligence Agency: An Encyclopaedia of Covert Ops, Intelligence’ edited by Jan Goldman, “Philby was born on January 1, 1912, in Ambala, the son of Harry St John Philby, and was nicknamed after Rudyard Kipling’s famous fictional character.”

Philby’s father, an officer of the Indian Civil Services, studied at Cambridge and was a classmate of Jawaharlal Nehru.

According to some online accounts, Philby was brought up by an Indian nanny and his first language was Punjabi.

While discussing Philby’s work, the encyclopaedia recorded that he was a member of the Cambridge group of spies. “His betrayals cost the lives of hundreds of agents and provided the Soviets with an enormous number of American and British secrets,” it said. The footage, shot in 1981, shows him giving tips on espionage to East German spies.