Spy who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union's KGB and MGB within England's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) during the Cold War. He was honored in Russia following his December 2020 passing, and received a tribute from Vladimir Putin.
He worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union between 1951 and 1961 before being discovered and imprisoned. He escaped from prison in 1966 and defected to the USSR.
He received the Russian Order of Friendship from Vladimir Putin in 2007. He published his first book, No Other Choice, in 1990.
He was married with three children prior to his 1966 defection. He later remarried and had more children with his second wife.
Alfred Hitchcock planned to make a film titled The Short Night about Blake's life story before the director passed away.