Cambridge Five
The Cambridge Five were a group of five people who worked for the British government during the 1930s and 1940s but secretly spied for the Soviet Union. Imagine if you were in a club with four of your friends and all of you promised not to tell anyone about your club's secrets. But then one of your friends secretly tells another group about your club's secrets without telling anyone else. That's what the Cambridge Five did. They shared secret government information with the Soviet Union without telling anyone else in the government.
The members of the Cambridge Five had all gone to the University of Cambridge, and they were recruited by the Soviet Union because they shared communist beliefs. Imagine if someone came up to you and offered you a lot of candy if you did something they wanted you to do, and you really liked candy, so you said yes. That's what happened with the Cambridge Five. The Soviet Union offered them things they wanted, like money and recognition, in exchange for sharing secret government information with them.
Some of the Cambridge Five worked for MI6, which is like a secret service that gathers information about other countries. Imagine if you were playing hide and seek with your friends, and one of your friends was really good at finding everyone because they always peeked around corners and looked under things. That's what MI6 does – they gather information about other countries and people to try and learn things that help their own country.
The Cambridge Five were caught in the 1950s, but it took a while for people to figure out who they were. Imagine if you were playing a game of "guess who" with someone and they kept giving you hints about who they were, but it was really hard to figure out. That's what it was like trying to catch the Cambridge Five – it took a long time and a lot of clues to finally catch them.
Today, the Cambridge Five are remembered as a group of people who betrayed their country by sharing secret government information with another country. This is considered to be a very serious thing to do, and is not allowed by law.
The members of the Cambridge Five had all gone to the University of Cambridge, and they were recruited by the Soviet Union because they shared communist beliefs. Imagine if someone came up to you and offered you a lot of candy if you did something they wanted you to do, and you really liked candy, so you said yes. That's what happened with the Cambridge Five. The Soviet Union offered them things they wanted, like money and recognition, in exchange for sharing secret government information with them.
Some of the Cambridge Five worked for MI6, which is like a secret service that gathers information about other countries. Imagine if you were playing hide and seek with your friends, and one of your friends was really good at finding everyone because they always peeked around corners and looked under things. That's what MI6 does – they gather information about other countries and people to try and learn things that help their own country.
The Cambridge Five were caught in the 1950s, but it took a while for people to figure out who they were. Imagine if you were playing a game of "guess who" with someone and they kept giving you hints about who they were, but it was really hard to figure out. That's what it was like trying to catch the Cambridge Five – it took a long time and a lot of clues to finally catch them.
Today, the Cambridge Five are remembered as a group of people who betrayed their country by sharing secret government information with another country. This is considered to be a very serious thing to do, and is not allowed by law.