THE MELIÁ WHITE HOUSE JOURNAL Nº008
ALBANY ST, LONDON NW1 3UP
APRIL 28, 2017
Did you know…? At The Height Of The Cold War, In The Late 50s And Early 60s, The White House Was Dramatically Drawn Into The Clandestine World Of East and West Espionage
It
all
started
with
an
English man, Harry Houghton, who was believed to be a Soviet spy and a member of the Portland Spy Ring. This affair was a Soviet spyring active in England from the late 1950s until 1961 who used spies who operated in a foreign country but without the cover of their embassy. Its members included Harry Houghton, Ethel Gee (Houghton’s wife), Gordon Lonsdale and Morris and Lona Cohen (AKA Peter and Helen Kroger). Houghton caught the attention of MI5, the UK’s intelligence and security agency (the “Watchers”), who began to suspect the existence of a possible spy-ring.
Harry Houghton in his Highland Light Infantry uniform
The Watchers saw Houghton meet a man on Waterloo Road, London, hand over a carrier bag and receive an envelope in return.
All attention immediately focused on the man Houghton had met. He was followed back to his car, and visually identified by the Watchers as a Polish Intelligence Officer stationed in London. But checks on the cars registration number showed it to belong to a Canadian man named Gordon Arnold Lonsdale, who ran a business leasing jukebox machines. The Watchers were sent to the Polish Embassy to recheck on the Polish Officer, and returned sheepishly, saying they had made a mistake.
Soviets spies Peter and Helen Kroger on flight after leaving Heathrow for Poland
Gordon Lonsdale Mr Lonsdale was then put under intensive surveillance. He had an office on Wardour Street, and a flat on the 6th floor of The White House (room 634). Both were bugged and visual observation was established. Apparently, Londsdale lived the life of a London playboy, travelling abroad frequently and pursuing a succession of glamorous girls attracted by his easy money. He was then later followed from The White House to the Midland Bank in Great Portland St, where he deposited a suitcase and a brown paper parcel. Shortly after, he disappeared. (To be continued)
IN THE NEXT ISSUE… MI5 MANAGE TO OPEN THE MYSTERIOUS PARCEL AND FIND OUT THE TRUTH ABOUT GORDON LONSDALE
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