Vasili Mitrokhin, a senior archivist in the KGB, smuggled documents out of the KGB archive, which, when published, were described by the FBI as constituting 'the greatest single cache of intelligence ever received by the West'. Intelligence expert Christopher Andrew publishes the second series of potentially explosive revelations from the archive - The KGB and the World. Paul Allen and guests assess the impact they will have on our understanding of the Cold War.
Programme Details:
Arnold Wesker's career began in 1958 with a trilogy of plays at the Royal Court Theatre in London . Now, at the age of 73 he's just written his first novel in which he takes up the story of Beaty, the central character of his play Roots. At the end of Roots she was left in her childhood home in Norfolk having been abandoned by her educated lover Ronny. Now she's been to university and is discovering what she wants to do with her life. In tonight's Night Waves Paul Allen talks to Arnold Wesker about why he decided to revisit Beaty, why he chose to write about her in a novel and his feelings on having a new book, a revival of his first play Chicken Soup with Barley and an adaptation of Dava Sobel's Longitude all happening within the next few weeks.
When the first Mitrokhin Archive was published six years ago it caused a sensation. The material smuggled out of the KGB's foreign intelligence archive by Vasili Mitrokhin led to the unmasking of Melita Norwood, an 87 year old great-grandmother from Bexleyheath as the longest serving Soviet spy in Britain . Now Christopher Andrew has written a second volume exploring the way in which the KGB attempted to win the Cold War by influencing opinion in the Third World .
Also in the programme, Channel 4's new production Elizabeth I starring Helen Mirren. Helen Hackett and Carol Rutter discuss the ways in which Elizabeth has been portrayed on screen from Glenda Jackson in the award winning BBC series to Miranda Richardson's comic queen in Blackadder. And Ismene Brown reviews the first night of The Forsythe Company, the American choreographer William Forsythe's newly formed ensemble at Sadler's Wells in London .
Night Waves , live at 9.30, tonight presented by Paul Allen here on BBC Radio 3.
Presenter: Paul Allen
Producer: Fiona McClean
Additional Information:
Honey by Arnold Wesker is published by Scribner
The William Forsythe Company is at Sadler's Wells in London until Saturday 24th September
Elizabeth I begins on Channel 4 on Thursday September 29 th at 9.00pm
The Mitrokhin Archive II by Chris topher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin is published by Allen Lane .
