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b'Sir Anthony Blunt, esteemed art historian and a favourite of the Royal family, was publicly revealed as a Soviet spy on 15th November, 1979, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher confirmed he had been part of the "Cambridge Five", a group of double agents who secretly passed sensitive information to the Soviet Union.\\nDespite his confession to MI5 in 1964, Blunt continued his association with the royal household, working as a surveyor of the Queen\'s pictures until his retirement in 1972. The response in Parliament included disbelief and accusations of deliberate cover-ups to protect Blunt, leading, eventually, to his knighthood being rescinded.\\nIn this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider how Blunt\'s privilege facilitated his double-dealing at the very highest levels of British society; ask whether his homosexuality influenced his relationship with Guy Burgess and his willingness to betray the British establishment; and explain how a fictional work - and some trigger-happy lawyers - led to his downfall\\u2026\\nFurther Reading:\\n\\u2022 \\u2018Art historian who spied for the Soviet Union\\u2019 (The Guardian, 1979): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/17/anthony-blunt-spy-sentenced-1979\\n\\u2022 \\u2018Anthony Blunt: confessions of spy who passed secrets to Russia during the war\\u2019 (The Telegraph, 2009): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5889879/Anthony-Blunt-confessions-of-spy-who-passed-secrets-to-Russia-during-the-war.html\\n\\u2022 \\u2018Art historian, professor, writer, spy \\u2013 the extraordinary story of Anthony Blunt\\u2019 (The British Academy, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Z4lucQar0\\nLove the show? Join \\U0001f334CLUB RETROSPECTORS \\U0001f334 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!\\nPlus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.\\nJoin now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!\\nWe\'ll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors\\nThe Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.\\nTheme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.\\nCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.\\n\\n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices'