Colin Figures
Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) | |
|---|---|
| Service years | 1951 – 1985 |
| Rank | Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service |
| Operations | Suez Crisis Prague Spring Falklands War |
Sir Colin Frederick Figures Secret Intelligence Service (known as MI6) from 1981 to 1985. During this time he had oversight of the supply of human intelligence information, including Argentine positions and their stocks of Exocet missiles, to the UK Government during the Falklands War.[1]
Career
Figures was born in
The Worcestershire Regiment from 1943 until 1948,[1] during which time he studied Russian via the Inter-Service Language Course at Cambridge, and served in Romania and Hungary.[1] He read French and Russian at Pembroke College, Cambridge after being demobilised in 1948.[1] While there, he also founded the Woodpeckers, a combined Oxford and Cambridge touring rugby team.[2] He joined the SIS when he graduated in 1951.[1][3]
After a period in London, he served in Germany, served in
He retired from SIS in 1985, and became Intelligence Co-ordinator at the Cabinet Office.[1] He finally retired in 1989.[1]
He married Pamela Ann Timmis in 1956.[2] He suffered from Parkinson's disease in later life, and died in Esher.[2] He was survived by his wife, and their son and two daughters.[2]