David Spedding: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|UK chief of intelligence service (1943–2001)}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} | {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} | ||
{{Infobox | {{Infobox officeholder | ||
|honorific_prefix = | | honorific_prefix = Sir | ||
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG|CVO|OBE}} | | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG|CVO|OBE}} | ||
| name = | | name = David Spedding | ||
| awards = [[Order of St Michael and St George|KCMG]], [[Royal Victorian Order|CVO]], [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] | |||
| birth_date = 7 March 1943 | |||
| birth_place = | |||
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2001|6|13|1943|3|7}} | |||
| awards = [[Order of St Michael and St George|KCMG]], [[Royal Victorian Order|CVO]], [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] | | death_place = [[London]], [[United Kingdom]] | ||
| birth_date =7 March 1943 | | nationality = [[British People|British]] | ||
| birth_place = | | spouse = Gillian Kinnear | ||
| death_date ={{Death date and age|df=yes|2001|6|13|1943|3|7}} | | children = Two sons | ||
| death_place = | | occupation = [[Intelligence officer]] | ||
| nationality = [[British People|British]] | | alma_mater = [[Hertford College, Oxford]] | ||
| spouse = Gillian Kinnear | | office = Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service | ||
| children = Two sons | | order = 12th | ||
| occupation =[[Intelligence officer]] | | successor = [[Richard Dearlove]] | ||
| alma_mater = [[Hertford College, Oxford]] | | predecessor = [[Colin McColl]] | ||
| term_start = 1989 | |||
| term_end = 1994 | |||
| education = [[Sherborne School]] | |||
}} | }} | ||
'''Sir David Rolland Spedding''' {{post-nominals|size=100%|KCMG|CVO|OBE}} (7 March 1943 – 13 June 2001) was | '''Sir David Rolland Spedding''' {{post-nominals|size=100%|KCMG|CVO|OBE}} (7 March 1943 – 13 June 2001) was [[Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service|Chief]] of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Secret Intelligence Service]] (MI6) from 1994 to 1999. | ||
==Early life== | ==Early life== | ||
David Spedding was the son of a Border Regiment lieutenant colonel,<ref name="LATimesEWoo2001-06-16A">{{cite news |last=Woo |first=Elaine |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-16-me-11176-story.html |title=Sir David Spedding; Ex-Chief of British Spy Agency |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2001-06-16 |access-date=2020-11-02}}</ref><ref name="West2014B">{{cite book|author=Nigel West|title=Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKPmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA563|date=18 February 2014|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7897-6|pages=563–}}</ref> and grew up in the middle class.<ref name="LATimesEWoo2001-06-16B">{{cite news |last=Woo |first=Elaine |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-16-me-11176-story.html |title=Sir David Spedding; Ex-Chief of British Spy Agency |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2001-06-16 |access-date=2020-11-02 |quote="The son of a lieutenant colonel in the British Border Regiment, Spedding grew up in comfortably middle class surroundings. He went to Sherborne, a public school in Dorset remarkable for the fact that le Carre, the spy-thriller master, and Christopher Curwen, another future MI6 chief, also went there. At Oxford, Spedding listed as his chief interests walking, medieval history and golf. But he was a run-of-the-mill duffer, with a handicap, Adams noted, of 20." }}</ref> He was initially educated at [[Sherborne School]], then read history at [[Hertford College, Oxford]].<ref name=guardian> | David Spedding was the son of a Border Regiment lieutenant colonel,<ref name="LATimesEWoo2001-06-16A">{{cite news |last=Woo |first=Elaine |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-16-me-11176-story.html |title=Sir David Spedding; Ex-Chief of British Spy Agency |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2001-06-16 |access-date=2020-11-02}}</ref><ref name="West2014B">{{cite book|author=Nigel West|title=Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKPmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA563|date=18 February 2014|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7897-6|pages=563–}}</ref> and grew up in the middle class.<ref name="LATimesEWoo2001-06-16B">{{cite news |last=Woo |first=Elaine |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-16-me-11176-story.html |title=Sir David Spedding; Ex-Chief of British Spy Agency |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2001-06-16 |access-date=2020-11-02 |quote="The son of a lieutenant colonel in the British Border Regiment, Spedding grew up in comfortably middle class surroundings. He went to Sherborne, a public school in Dorset remarkable for the fact that le Carre, the spy-thriller master, and Christopher Curwen, another future MI6 chief, also went there. At Oxford, Spedding listed as his chief interests walking, medieval history and golf. But he was a run-of-the-mill duffer, with a handicap, Adams noted, of 20." }}</ref> He was initially educated at [[Sherborne School]], then read history at [[Hertford College, Oxford]].<ref name="guardian">{{Cite news |last=Norton-Taylor |first=Richard |date=2001-06-14 |title=Sir David Spedding |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jun/14/guardianobituaries.politics |access-date=2025-06-17 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> | ||
==Career== | ==Career== | ||
Spedding joined the Secret Intelligence Service in 1967,<ref name=guardian/> while a postgraduate student at Oxford.<ref name="West2014B"/> He then attended the Middle East Center for Arabic Studies in [[Beirut]], becoming a specialist on Middle East affairs.<ref name=guardian/> He also served in [[Santiago]] and [[Abu Dhabi]].<ref> | Spedding joined the Secret Intelligence Service in 1967,<ref name=guardian/> while a postgraduate student at Oxford.<ref name="West2014B"/> He then attended the Middle East Center for Arabic Studies in [[Beirut]], becoming a specialist on Middle East affairs.<ref name=guardian/> He also served in [[Santiago]] and [[Abu Dhabi]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-06-14 |title=Sir David Spedding |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1309010/Sir-David-Spedding.html |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> | ||
In 1971 Spedding was named as the local SIS station commander in Lebanon, and was later posted to Abu Dhabi in 1977.<ref name="West2014B"/> Following his Middle East Directorate appointment in 1983, he was made the Amman Jordan station head,<ref name="West2014B"/> and was subsequently commended in that position for uncovering an Abu Nidal plan to assassinate the Queen during an upcoming Jordan visit.<ref name="Thomas2010B">{{cite book|author=Gordon Thomas|title=Secret Wars: One Hundred Years of British Intelligence Inside MI5 and MI6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAqjMjs09P0C|date=16 February 2010|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4299-4576-9}}</ref> For this he was made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.<ref name="Thomas2010B"/> | In 1971 Spedding was named as the local SIS station commander in Lebanon, and was later posted to Abu Dhabi in 1977.<ref name="West2014B"/> Following his Middle East Directorate appointment in 1983, he was made the Amman Jordan station head,<ref name="West2014B"/> and was subsequently commended in that position for uncovering an Abu Nidal plan to assassinate the Queen during an upcoming Jordan visit.<ref name="Thomas2010B">{{cite book|author=Gordon Thomas|title=Secret Wars: One Hundred Years of British Intelligence Inside MI5 and MI6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAqjMjs09P0C|date=16 February 2010|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4299-4576-9}}</ref> For this he was made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.<ref name="Thomas2010B"/> | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928141231/http://www.bondmovies.com/images/spedding.jpg Photograph] | *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928141231/http://www.bondmovies.com/images/spedding.jpg Photograph] | ||
{{s-start}} | {{s-start}} | ||
{{S-gov}} | {{S-gov}} | ||
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}} | }} | ||
{{s-end}} | {{s-end}} | ||
{{authority control}} | {{authority control}} | ||
Latest revision as of 09:16, 22 October 2025
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Sir David Rolland Spedding Template:Post-nominals (7 March 1943 – 13 June 2001) was Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1994 to 1999.
Early life
David Spedding was the son of a Border Regiment lieutenant colonel,[1][2] and grew up in the middle class.[3] He was initially educated at Sherborne School, then read history at Hertford College, Oxford.[4]
Career
Spedding joined the Secret Intelligence Service in 1967,[4] while a postgraduate student at Oxford.[2] He then attended the Middle East Center for Arabic Studies in Beirut, becoming a specialist on Middle East affairs.[4] He also served in Santiago and Abu Dhabi.[5]
In 1971 Spedding was named as the local SIS station commander in Lebanon, and was later posted to Abu Dhabi in 1977.[2] Following his Middle East Directorate appointment in 1983, he was made the Amman Jordan station head,[2] and was subsequently commended in that position for uncovering an Abu Nidal plan to assassinate the Queen during an upcoming Jordan visit.[6] For this he was made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.[6]
In 1993, Spedding became Director of Requirements and Operations. In 1994 he became Chief of the Service,[4] becoming the first chief to have never served in the armed forces, and the youngest to have held the position to that date.[7] During his tenure the SIS faced some degree of negative publicity due to unauthorized disclosures in the wake of Richard Tomlinson's dismissal.[8]
Spedding died of lung cancer on 13 June 2001, aged 58.[4]
References
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External links
Categories:
- Pages with script errors
- 1943 births
- 2001 deaths
- Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford
- Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order
- Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
- Chiefs of the Secret Intelligence Service
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- People educated at Sherborne School
- Post–Cold War spies
- 20th-century spies