An article about Penkovsky and declassified material (CIA)

The plan is to focus on an unusual friendship that developed in the most tense of situations, that between Soviet agent-in-place Oleg Penkovsky and British businessman Greville Wynne, who was acting as a liaison between Penkovsky and MI6 and the CIA. In the background: the growing Berlin crisis, the Wall going up, and finally the shadow of nuclear armageddon with the Cuban Missile Crisis.



The script is being written by Anton Diether, and the working title is Alex and Greville (Penkovsky liked to be called ‘Alex’ by Westerners, and it was even used as a codename for him at one point, rather unwisely). 

According to de Havilland, whose grandfather bought the house from Wynne, Penkovsky told the KGB that Wynne enjoyed ‘alcohol and women of negotiable virtue’ and that the bar would help him extract secrets from the agent as he would be able to talk to him when he was relaxed and more loose-lipped.



Wynne told MI6 a similar story, describing Penkovsky as a nervous type who would be more likely to betray sensitive information when under the influence of alcohol, and arguing that he would be able to ply the Russian with booze in the comfort of his own home.



Of the £1,000 the pair received, only £100 was spent on the construction of the bar – the rest went on alcohol and ‘other forms of entertainment’, according to de Havilland.