Granny Was A Commie Spy

Melita Norwood is dead at 93. A quiet, unassuming widow who drank tea out of Che Guevara mugs and handed out a party newspaper to her neighbors, she also happened to spend nearly 30 years as a KGB spy. Though only a secretary, Norwood had full security clearance (despite the fact that the government knew she was a Commie-- imagine that happening in the pre-WW2 US. Ha!) at a company that was "deeply involved in the top-secret project associated with the building of Britain's atomic bomb." As a result, the documents she took pictures of were way more useful to the KGB than the ones to which your grandma might have access. Outed by a defector in 1999, the 88 year-old at first was subject to the righteous indignation of her poor, deceived homeland. The rage, however, didn't seem to bother sweet Melita too much. To wit:

As Ann Widdecome, the shadow home secretary, yammered on about Norwood's "40 years of sustained treachery," [the spy] herself laughed it off: "Oh gosh, oh dear. She sounds quite angry, doesn't she?" Norwood said of the secretary's vituperative outburst. "Oooh, she is awful, isn't she?"

Ultimately, despite the wishes of his shadow (and others) Home Secretary Jack Straw decided that it wasn't "in the public interest" to prosecute the old lady and left her to live in peace. Though he didn't say so, the real reason was clear: when you come right down to it, we all wish we had a feisty, unrepentant KGB spy in the family.

RIP, Melita.