KGBook

The amazing true tale of a Newcastle-born KGB spy and his secret life is to be revealed in a new book by a University of Teesside lecturer.

Vin Arthey, Programme Leader in Media Production, has spent six years researching and writing Like Father, Like Son: A Dynasty of Spies which recounts the story of KGB Spy Rudolf Abel and his arrest in the late 1950s for spying in New York. Abel was subsequently tried and convicted of spying, and later returned to the USSR in exchange for a captured American military airman, all without his real identity being revealed – William Fisher, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Vin, a former television producer, first came across the incredible story while carrying out research for the Stranger Than Fiction television programme. Initially intending to bring the story to life as a television documentary, Vin was advised to write a book instead by one of his research contacts.

Vin said: “I was fascinated by the story – I just couldn’t find out enough about it. I can remember the newspaper accounts of Abel’s arrest in the 1950s and the swap for American airman Francis Gary Powers in 1962, but I was amazed when I found out that Abel was really William Fisher from Newcastle!

“Fisher’s father, Heinrich, was a German, born in Russia, but was a revolutionary and came into exile in England in 1901. Heinrich was involved in a notorious gun running scandal to Russia in 1907. In 1921, the whole family went to the USSR, where William quickly became involved in the KGB. And that’s where the story really begins.”

Book Signing

Vin Arthey will be signing copies of Like Father, Like Son: A Dynasty of Spies at the University of Teesside’s branch of Waterstone’s bookshop, Southfield Road, Middlesbrough, on Tuesday 22 February, from 12pm – 2pm.

Members of the public and media are welcome to attend.

Vin’s position at the University of Teesside is in the Media Production department, teaching students the skills and knowledge needed to work in today’s media industries. Part of the School of Arts & Media at Teesside, Vin sees one of the school’s main strengths as the opportunity to work alongside historians and experts in other humanities academic disciplines.

Like Father, Like Son: A Dynasty of Spies is published by St Ermin’s Press, a division of the Time Warner Book Group, and is available from Thursday 3 February from bookshops and from online retailers, priced £25.

Vin Arthey is available for interview about his book – please contact him direct on 01642 384056 or email: v.arthey@tees.ac.uk.

---