The Hampstead Spies – the KGB in NW3
Belsize Park tube station, London
Guided by
Stewart Purvis CBE
Walk Times
| Day |
Walk Type |
Start Time |
End Time |
|
|
| 18 August 2024 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Summer |
|
| 7 September 2024 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Summer |
|
| 15 September 2024 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Summer |
Reserve Online
|
| 5 October 2024 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Summer |
Reserve Online
|
| 20 October 2024 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Summer |
Reserve Online
|
| 17 November 2024 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Winter |
Reserve Online
|
| 15 December 2024 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Winter |
Reserve Online
|
| 19 January 2025 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Winter |
Reserve Online
|
| 16 February 2025 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Winter |
Reserve Online
|
| 16 March 2025 |
Tour du Jour |
10.45 am |
12.45 pm |
Winter |
Reserve Online
|
Psssssst: on September 15 and October 5 Stewart will be joined by a very special guest: a woman whose parents got involved in an extraordinary KGB spy story. In short, someone with direct, personal, lived experience of the world of espionage. (It also all comes down to the contacts: Stewart’s got ’em in spades.)
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
“My information mostly comes from MI5 files of the period”
SITREP
This sitrep was filed by London Walks’ “intelligence gatherer” himself, the distinguished newsman Stewart Purvis CBE. Writing in the third person, Stewart says, “Thousands of pages of MI5 files are clogging up Stewart Purvis’s computer as he pursues a strange ambition; to work out how many KGB spies and helpers lived in the Borough of Hampstead between the 1930s and 1960s. So far, Stewart, a former Editor of ITN and Ofcom regulator, has found a dozen and he’s still counting. He’s even got all their names and addresses and has turned his research into an updated guided walk around the spy homes of NW3. The route is in chronological order so step by step and stop by stop he can reveal the previously untold story of the Hampstead connection between the Cambridge Spies, the Oxford Spies and the Atomic Spies. Eventually there will be a book but be among the first to hear the tale by joining one of the monthly walks.”
Action Now Sitrep
“New files from MI5 reveal even more about the KGB in NW3 so there’s a new route around spy homes.” Stewart Purvis CBE
Guided by spy author and broadcaster Stewart Purvis CBE.
Some broadcaster. Stewart Purvis was the eagle in the nest at Independent Television News. He was the Editor at ITN and ultimately the CEO. As an American friend who knows this country well and had read Stewart’s book put it to me, “you got Stewart Purvis to guide Hampstead Spies for London Walks! That’s like getting Dan Rather to guide Dealey Plaza.”
GLAD TO HEAR IT
Meet your guide – here’s a little podcast Stewart did about his Hampstead Spies tour
And here’s another ‘un
The video is a short extract from the recent BBC Four Storyville production Toffs, Queers & Traitors – The Extraordinary Life of Guy Burgess. Stewart Purvis – who created and guides the Spies of Hampstead walk – had a major role in the programme.
Short read: The KGB in NW3
Sitrep Backgrounder
In October 2022 the UK’s spy-catchers, the Security Service known as MI5, did a giant dump of previously secret files into the National Archives. It meant an early Christmas present for our own spy-catcher Stewart Purvis. There were hundreds more documents about the KGB agents and helpers he’s been tracking for a decade. So Stewart rushed out a Christmas special of his own: an updated ‘Hampstead Spies’ walk with a new route around more spy homes. Those who’ve been on the walk before will find plenty that’s new and those who haven’t will be surprised to find that there were once so many KGB spies in Hampstead that some lived just a few doors apart. Stewart, a distinguished UK Newsman (former Editor and CEO of ITN), spy author and broadcaster worked out from MI5 files who lived where during the 30s,40s and 50s and the links between them. The best-known was West Hampstead’s Kim Philby. Stewart’s new route reveals how the KGB plan to recruit him and the other ‘Cambridge Spies’ was born in Belsize Park Gardens but executed from Haverstock Hill. And how the KGB’s route to the West’s atomic secrets began in Lawn Road. And how MI5 raided a house in Parliament Hill and arrested the man who gave radar secrets to the Russians. The route ends with the story of the ‘Oxford Spies’ who lived in Well Walk. Along the way there are stops for the Hampstead writers who knew a thing or two about spies: John Le Carre, Ian Fleming and George Orwell. But the real thing is better than any spy thriller.
“For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.” – Hampstead resident John le Carré
The walk is guided by Stewart Purvis co-author of Guy Burgess, The Spy Who Knew Everyone, which the New York Review of Books called “an excellent read”. Stewart and the walk were featured in a BBC TV spy documentary ‘Toffs, Queers and Traitors’ in November 2017.
Original version of the Long Read: There were once so many KGB spies in Hampstead that some lived just a few doors apart. Distinguished UK Newsman (former Editor and CEO of ITN), spy author and broadcaster Stewart Purvis has worked out from MI5 files who lived where during the Cold War and the links between them. The tour starts at Belsize Park tube station where one of the KGB’s top men in Britain notched up his first piece of espionage and it ends at a block of flats near Hampstead station where the same spy hid out while on the run from the police. In between ‘The Hampstead Spies’ takes you to the home of the KGB recruiter who first spotted the potential of Hampstead boy Kim Philby and also the home of his KGB minder. You’ll stop outside the home of a whole family of spies who between them recruited the Atomic Spy Klaus Fuchs. Then come the Hampstead folk who knew and sometimes suspected the spies: George Orwell, Ian Fleming and John le Carre.
“For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.” – Hampstead resident John le Carre
Even Brad Pitt gets a walk-on part from a spy movie he made in Hampstead. But the real thing is better than any spy thriller. The walk is guided by Stewart Purvis co-author of Guy Burgess, The Spy Who Knew Everyone, which the New York Review of Books called “an excellent read”. Stewart and the walk were featured in a BBC TV spy documentary ‘Toffs, Queers and Traitors’ in November 2017.
THE SPIES OF HAMPSTEAD – THE PRACTICALS
To go on the walk meet Stewart just outside the exit of Belsize Park Tube
MORE VIDEO
Here’s Stewart giving a quick preview of the walk.
LONDON WALKS PRIVATE WALKS
If you can’t make one of the regularly scheduled, just-turn-up, The Hampstead Spies – the KGB in NW3 it can always be booked as a private tour. If you go private you can have the The Hampstead Spies – the KGB in NW3 walk – or any other London Walk – on a day and at a time that suits your convenience. We’ll tailor it to your requirements. Ring Fiona or Mary on 020 7624 3978 or email us at [email protected] and we’ll set it up and make it happen for you. A private London Walk – they’re good value for an individual or couple and sensational value for a group – makes an ideal group or educational or birthday party or office (team-building) or club outing.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LONDON WALKS
A private London Walk makes a fab gift – be it a birthday or anniversary or Christmas present or whatever. Merchandise schmerchandise (gift wrapped or not) – but giving someone an experience, now that’s special. Memories make us rich.
LONDON WALKS – STREETS AHEAD!
Don’t just take it from us.
OTHER TOURS YOU MAY LIKE
Lauren –
Really enjoyed this walk and thoroughly recommend it. Mr. Purvis has curated a detailed and interesting tour about the lives of the Hampstead spies. I came away having learned a great deal from an expert story teller. Thank you!
David Mears –
I’ve been interested in espionage stories for many years and thought I was pretty well up to scratch that was until I went on this walk.
Stewart was super knowledgeable and delivered the stories with humour and a passion.
Can honestly say it was a wonderful experience I didn’t want it to end.
Fantastic value now to book another one.
baukjen and geoff –
Absolutely wonderful! Stewart is such a great story teller and has a wealth of knowledge. We loved every minute of it and will recommend this walk to friends. Thank you!
Imelda Shanahan –
We had an engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable walk with Stewart today. A brilliant and entertaining storyteller, Stewart kept us all engrossed, engaged and entertained with his stories and knowledge. And we had a surprise lesson in living history from a special guest whose mother and father featured in the stories. Absolutely not to be missed probably the best walk we have ever done and hope to do it again sometime.
Sue Catch –
What a wonderful few hours we spent with Stewart. A brilliant raconteur who kept us all engaged for the entire walk on such an interesting subject! Will recommend it to all!
Sarah Finlayson –
Did this walk yesterday, Thoroughly enjoyed every moment. Stewart is a very engaging & entertaining guide whose passion for his subject shines through. He tells the fascinating history of KGB & Communist spies lurking in the very picturesque Hampstead village before, during and after WW2. He held the attention of a group of 40 people for over 2 hours & I’m sure they would all agree with me that we could have followed him listening for much longer. Thank you so much Stewart. I can highly recommend this walk.
Kathryn Shiels –
We thoroughly enjoyed this informative and eye opening walk with Stewart through beautiful parts of Belsize Park and Hampstead full of hidden secrets. Stewart’s thorough research and skillful storytelling telling are second to none.
Judith Phillips –
This walk is extremely informative as well as entertaining. I was impressed with the amount of facts that Stewart had complied about Russian spies who lived in this Hampstead area, and he was also knowledgeable about Melita Norwood, an 87 year old great grandmother who was also a Soviet spy and involved with the spies who lived in this area [Norwood is mentioned in the IWM’s Spies, Lies, and Deception exhibition.]. I highly recommend this walk.
Simon Bucks –
Stewart has created a brilliantly informative and entertaining walk, full of remarkable and fascinating detail – the result of a huge amount of research. He delivers it with verve and panache. A tour de force. Don’t miss.
Frances –
Stewart is a natural storyteller! His passion, sense of humour, and depth of knowledge gave us an eye-opening glimpse into the KGB’s shady actions in a lovely, leafy part of town. To see the homes of people who changed the course of history was a fantastic experience. Thoroughly recommended!