English civil servant and spy John Vassall was BOTD in 1924. Born in London, the only son of a vicar, he was educated at a private boy’s school. He worked as a photographer for the Royal Air Force during World War Two, and became a clerk for the Admiralty after the war. In 1952, he was assigned to a clerical role at the British Embassy in Moscow, where he claims to have been socially isolated by the snobbish diplomatic community. He befriended Embassy employee Sigmund Mikhailski, who introduced him to Moscow’s underground gay scene. In 1954, he attended a gay party where, according to his memoir, his wine was drugged and he was gang-raped by several men. The KGB, who had arranged the party as a “honeytrap”, subsequently blackmailed Vassall with the photographs, threatening to expose him unless he agreed to spy for the Soviet Union. Vassall agreed, returning to Britain where he worked in the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty, and later in the office of Conservative politician and Civil Lord of the Admiralty Tam Galbraith. During his eight years as a spy, he provided the Soviets with thousands of classified documents, including details of British radar, torpedoes and anti-submarine equipment. Vassall lived lavishly on his secret payments from the Soviets, taking an apartment in London’s fashionable Dolphin Square, holidaying and buying bespoke Savile Row suits, explaining to friends that he had inherited money from an aunt. British security forces identified him as a potential spy in 1961, and he was arrested the following year. He made a full confession, and was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment. His case became a national scandal, and he was vilified by the press as a scheming pervert whose criminal sexuality made him a natural spy. In 1963, a public inquiry was convened to investigate how Vassall had avoided exposure for so long, including rumours that he and Galbraith had been lovers. Vassall gave evidence at the inquiry denying a relationship with Galbraith. The inquiry largely exonerated the government from blame, but the scandal, followed by the revelations of the Profumo Affair in 1963, resulted in the collapse of Harold Macmillan’s Conservative government. After serving ten years of his sentence, Vassall was released on parole in 1972. He published a memoir Vassall: the autobiography of a spy in 1975, which was savaged by the press. After changing his surname to Phillips, he lived quietly in London, working as a clerical administrator. Little is known about his personal relationships. He died in 1996, aged 72. Biographers and historians continue to debate Vassall’s culpability for his crimes. Initially viewed as a naïve subordinate who was a victim of Cold War intrigue and sexual entrapment, others have argued that Vassall was a highly competent and resourceful spy, motivated by ambition and contempt for his social superiors. Vassall’s case was referred to in John Le Carré’s novel The Spy Who Came In from the Cold and the James Bond film From Russia With Love. He was played by John Normington in the 1980 TV docudrama Spy!