In the Litfest Marquee

Alex Grant’s Sex, Spies and Scandal is the story of John Vassall, a civil servant who was unmasked as a Soviet spy in 1962. Having been photographed in compromising positions while working at the British Embassy in Moscow in 1954, Vassall was blackmailed into handing over secrets from the British Admiralty to his Soviet handlers for more than seven years.

The story of Vassall, who was responsible for far more serious intelligence breach than Profumo, has the lot – a honeytrap, spying on an industrial scale, accusations of gay affairs with two Tory MPs, journalists jailed for not revealing their sources, and the first modern tabloid witch-hunt, which resulted in a ministerial resignation and almost resignation and almost brought down Harold Macmillan’s government.

Grant uses newly released MI5 files and interviews with people who knew Vassall from the 1950s until his death in 1996, to shed new light on the neglected spy scandal. Despite having been drugged and raped by the KGB in Moscow, as a gay man Vassall was shown no mercy by the British press or courts. Sentenced to 18 years in jail, he served 10 years. After leaving prison Vassall changed his name to avoid the press and lived quietly in London. Grant shares this explosive tale of sexual violence, betrayal, cover-up, homophobia and hypocrisy that blows open some of the British establishment’s darkest secrets.

Tickets: £15.00 pp

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