Open Secret: The Autobiography Of The Former Director General Of Mi5

Author: Stella Rimington

Stock information

General Fields

  • : 29.99 NZD
  • : 9780099436720
  • : Penguin Random House
  • : Penguin Books Ltd
  • :
  • : 0.238
  • : June 2002
  • : 198mm X 130mm X 22mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 29.99
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  • :
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

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  • :
  • : Stella Rimington
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  • : Paperback
  • : New edition
  • :
  • : English
  • : 327.1241092
  • :
  • :
  • : 320
  • : Espionage & secret services; Biography & autobiography: general
  • : facsimiles, , portraits
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Barcode 9780099436720
9780099436720

Description

 The story of the woman who rose to be Director-General of Britain's Security Service, MI5, in a career that lasted from 1969 to 1996. Stella Rimington worked to Director level in all main fields of the Service's responsibilities, counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism.


During her time as DG she pursued a policy of greater openness for MI5, giving the 1994 Dimbleby Lecture on BBC TV and several other public lectures and publishing a booklet about the Service. She was made a Dame Commander of the Bath (DCB) in 1995 and has been awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by the Universities of Nottingham and Exeter.


Following her retirement from MI5 in 1996, she has become a Non-Executive Director of Marks & Spencer, BG Group plc and Whitehead Mann GKR. She is Chairman of the Institute of Cancer Research and a member of the Board of the Royal Marsden NHS Trust. She has two daughters and a granddaughter.

Promotion info

Consumer advertising: National press and magazines campaign. Track Record: A 34,000 sale achieved by the hardback. (Temporary)

Reviews

"Was she right to publish? Most certainly. If we are to have a mature attitude to our intelligence services, we need this kind of inside account - it is vital in stripping away mystique and building understanding" Daily Telegraph "Stella Rimington deserves our thanks for resisting the bullying of the cabinet office and many of her colleagues and associates in Whitehall, and pushing on to publication" New Statesman "She writes in a refreshingly self-deprecating style of juggling the roles of single parent and chief "spook" Independent on Sunday

Author description

Stella Rimington was educated at Nottingham Girls' High School, and Edinburgh and Liverpool Universities. In 1959 she started work in the Worcestershire County Archives, moving in 1962 to the India Office Library in London, as Assistant Keeper responsible for manuscripts relating to the period of the British rule in India. In 1965 she joined the Security Service (MI5) part-time, while she was in India accompanying her husband on a posting to the British High Commission in New Delhi. On her return to the UK she joined MI5 as a full-time employee. During her career in MI5, which lasted from 1969 to 1996, Stella Rimington worked in all the main fields of the Service's responsibilities - counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism - and became successively Director of all three branches. She was appointed Director-General of MI5 in 1992. She was the first woman to hold the post and the first Director-General whose name was publicly announced on appointment. During her time as DG she pursued a policy of greater openness for MI5, giving the 1994 Dimbleby Lecture on BBC TV and several other public lectures and publishing a booklet about the Service. She was made a Dame Commander of the Bath (DCB) in 1995 and has been awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by the Universities of Nottingham and Exeter. Following her retirement from MI5 in 1996, she has become a Non-Executive Director of Marks & Spencer, BG Group plc and Whitehead Mann GKR. She is Chairman of the Institute of Cancer Research and a member of the Board of the Royal Marsden NHS Trust. She has two daughters and a granddaughter.