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I decided to look that up... The result is curious indeed. It appears that Kim Philby's father, St John Philby, was a senior civil servant, but not an aristocr
by pcrh 11y ago
I decided to look that up...
The result is curious indeed. It appears that Kim Philby's father, St John Philby, was a senior civil servant, but not an aristocrat. He was what was called in those days an "Arabist" and had converted to Islam.
He does seem, however, to have passed onto his son a love of intrigue...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_Philby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_Philby
- fiftyacorn 11y agoBut St John Philby also betrayed Britain. His official role was to protect British interests with the House of Saud, being Ibn Sauds right hand man. Instead he was also on the payroll of Standard Oil, and sold out to the Americans. This alone should have been a warning to the establishment
- cmdkeen 11y agoKim Philby was also mixed race - his mother was Indian. In British society at the time that very much didn't make him part of the Establishment, and he did face prejudice from senior officials because of it.
- knight17 11y agoDo you've more information on this? Wikipedia says his mother is Dora Johnston, that doesn't sound like an Indian name.
- draugadrotten 11y agoPicture of Dora: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00528/3424237_a_528244j.jpg http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00528/34242... Dora's parents: https://www.geni.com/people/Dora-Philby/6000000013566932381 https://www.geni.com/people/Dora-Philby/6000000013566932381
- cmdkeen 11y agoLooks like I was led astray by a newspaper article today, thanks for the correction. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/04/kim-philby-was-a-bad-liar-his-true-talent-lay-in-self-mythology/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/04/kim-philby-was-a-...