Stella Rimington

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Stella Rimington, 2016

Dame Stella Rimington , DCB (born May 13, 1935 in London ) is a British writer and former director of the British domestic secret service MI5 .

Life and work

Stella Rimington, nee Stella Whitehous, was born in south London. In 1939 the family fled to Essex because of the German bombing raids. Stella Rimington went to school in Nottingham and studied English literature and archiving in Edinburgh and Liverpool. In 1963 she married John Rimington and moved with him to India in 1965, where he worked in the British High Commission in Delhi and she accepted a job as a secretary for the British secret service . In 1969, the couple returned to London and made careers in domestic intelligence. Stalla Rimington worked in three areas: national threat, espionage and terrorism . While she was working there in the anti-espionage department, the so-called Umbrella murder occurred in 1978 .

MI5 has been headquartered at Thames House in London since 1994

The early 1980s, she became head of the Department F2, particularly for the defense of IRA - attacks was responsible. In 1983 her department was given the task of infiltrating the British unions and spying on the disarmament movement. In 1992, she became the first woman to be appointed director of the MI5 domestic intelligence agency. She was also the first woman in the world to head a secret service. During her tenure, the main tasks of MI5 were counter-espionage .

Since her retirement she has been active as a writer and mainly writes thrillers . In 2001 her autobiography Open Secret was published , which became a bestseller in England .

In early 2009 it attracted public attention when it sharply criticized the general anti-terror strategy : “We live in fear and a police state . That is exactly what the terrorists wanted to do. ”“ The government intimidates the people into passing laws that restrict their freedoms. ” The UK government said it wanted to maintain the balance between surveillance and respect for the privacy of citizens .

Stella Rimington has two daughters and has been separated from her husband since 1984.

Template for movie character

Rimington served shortly after taking over the management of MI5 as a template for the secret service chief " M "; a film character in the James Bond - movies , which was from 1995, depicted as a woman and as a fictional head of British foreign intelligence service MI6 acted. James Bond's boss “M” was played from 1995 by the British theater and film actress Judi Dench .

Dench also initially took the real director, Stella Rimington, as a model for the acting portrayal of her role. This was made possible by the fact that the British government announced the name of the MI5 director for the first time in the history of the secret service in the early 1990s and there was even a photo publication of Rimington at her workplace in 1993.

Book publications (selection)

Autobiography

  • Open secret. The autobiography of the former Director-General of MI5 . Hutchinson, London 2001, ISBN 0-09-943672-8 . (English)

Novels

  • At risk . Reprint, Arrow Books, London 2005, ISBN 0-09-946139-0 . (English)
  • Silent peril . German First edition, Diana-Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-453-35008-1 . (German translation; English original title: At risk )
  • Quiet betrayal . German First edition, Diana-Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-453-43016-6 . (German translation; English original title: Secret asset )
  • Foray . German First edition, Diana-Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-453-35266-7 . (German translation; English original title: Illegal action )
  • Fear game . German First edition, Diana-Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-453-35461-6 . (translated by Usch Pilz, OT: Dead Line )
  • Present Danger . Quercus Publishing, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-84724-789-6 (not yet translated).
  • Rip Tide . Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-4088-2139-8 (not yet translated).
  • The Geneva Trap . Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2012, ISBN 978-1-4088-3218-9 (not yet translated).
  • Close call . Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-4088-4104-4 (not yet translated).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d What does…… Stella Rimington , Interview by Cornelia Fuchs u. Hans-Hermann Klare in Stern magazine on February 12, 2009, p. 146.
  2. ↑ a b Stella Rimington. Strictly confidential , article by Stephan Draf in Stern magazine on May 29, 2005 (accessed on February 12, 2009).
  3. ↑ Old lady warns of police state. London: Rimington was MI5 boss , report by Alexei Makartsev in the Weser-Kurier on February 18, 2009 (accessed February 20, 2009).
personal data
SURNAME Rimington, Stella
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British writer and director of the UK's MI5 domestic secret service
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH London