Ivor Montagu
Encyclopedia
The Honorable Ivor Goldsmid Samuel Montagu (23 April 1904, London
, England
– 5 November 1984, London) was a British
filmmaker, screenwriter
, producer
, film critic, writer
, table tennis
player and apparent Soviet spy
. He has received some credit for the development of a vibrant intellectual film culture in Britain
during the interwar years.
. He attended Westminster School
and King's College, Cambridge
, where he contributed to Granta
. He became involved in zoological research. His directorial career began in the late 1920s with a short film about table tennis
.
With Sidney Bernstein he established the London Film Society in 1925, the first film club devoted to showing art film
s and independent film
s. Montagu became the first film critic of The Observer
and the New Statesman
. He did the post-production work on Alfred Hitchcock
's The Lodger
in 1926 and was hired to Gaumont-British in the 1930s, working as a producer on a number of the Hitchcock thrillers.
Montagu joined the Fabian Society
in his youth, then the British Socialist Party
and then the Communist Party of Great Britain
. This brought him into contact with Russian film makers. In 1930 he accompanied his friend Sergei Eisenstein
to New York
and Hollywood; later in the decade Montagu made a number of compilation films, including Defence of Madrid (1936) and Peace and Plenty (1939) about the Spanish Civil War
. He directed also the documentary Wings Over Everest
(1934) with Geoffrey Barkas. As a political figure and for a time a communist, much of his work at the time was on low budget, independent political films. By World War II
, however, he made a film for the Ministry of Information. After the war Montagu worked as a film critic and reviewer.
In 1933, Montagu was a founder member of the Association of Cinematograph and Television Technicians, holding various positions in the union until the 1960s. He also held post on the World Council of Peace. He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize
in 1959.
Montagu was identified as a World War II era spy for the Soviet GRU
, code name “Intelligentsia”, after the decryption in the 1960s of Venona
telegraphs from March 1940 through April 1942. A July 25, 1940 cable from Simon Davidovitch Kremer, Secretary to the Soviet Military Attaché in London specifically identified him as the head of the X Group spy ring “Ivor Montagu, the well known local communist, journalist and lecturer.”
His brother Ewen Montagu
was a Naval Intelligence Officer RNVR in MI6, during the Second World War, one of the masterminds of the highly successful deception Operation Mincemeat
, and author of The Man Who Never Was
.
player, representing Britain in matches all over the world. He also helped to establish and finance the first world championships
in London
in 1926.
In 1926 Montagu initiated the creation of the International Table Tennis Federation
, and served as its first president for 41 years until 1967. The ITTF began with four member countries, and grew to 160 national associations during his leadership. The constitution and laws of the sport of table tennis were adopted and the World Table Tennis Championships
established during a meeting at the family home of Lord and Lady Swaythling, Montagu’s parents.
At age 18, he was a founder of the English Table Tennis Association
(ETTA), and served as its chairman from 1923–29, from 1932–33, and again from 1936-58. He was also the ETTA’s president from 1927–31 and 1958-66.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
– 5 November 1984, London) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
filmmaker, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, film critic, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
player and apparent Soviet spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
. He has received some credit for the development of a vibrant intellectual film culture in Britain
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
during the interwar years.
Life and career
Montagu was the third son of the 2nd Baron SwaythlingLouis Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling
Louis Samuel Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling was a prominent British Jew, financier, and political activist. He was the son and heir of Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling....
. He attended Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
and King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
, where he contributed to Granta
Granta
Granta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real." In 2007, The Observer stated, "In its blend of...
. He became involved in zoological research. His directorial career began in the late 1920s with a short film about table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
.
With Sidney Bernstein he established the London Film Society in 1925, the first film club devoted to showing art film
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
s and independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
s. Montagu became the first film critic of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
and the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
. He did the post-production work on Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's The Lodger
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926 and released on 14 February 1927 in London and on 10 June 1928 in New York City. The film, based on a story by Marie Belloc Lowndes and a play Who Is He? co-written by Belloc Lowndes, concerns the hunt for a...
in 1926 and was hired to Gaumont-British in the 1930s, working as a producer on a number of the Hitchcock thrillers.
Montagu joined the Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
in his youth, then the British Socialist Party
British Socialist Party
The British Socialist Party was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw the defection of its pro-war Right Wing...
and then the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
. This brought him into contact with Russian film makers. In 1930 he accompanied his friend Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Hollywood; later in the decade Montagu made a number of compilation films, including Defence of Madrid (1936) and Peace and Plenty (1939) about the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. He directed also the documentary Wings Over Everest
Wings Over Everest
Wings Over Everest is a 1934 short documentary film directed by Geoffrey Barkas and Ivor Montagu. It won an Academy Award in 1936 for Best Short Subject .-External links:*...
(1934) with Geoffrey Barkas. As a political figure and for a time a communist, much of his work at the time was on low budget, independent political films. By World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, however, he made a film for the Ministry of Information. After the war Montagu worked as a film critic and reviewer.
In 1933, Montagu was a founder member of the Association of Cinematograph and Television Technicians, holding various positions in the union until the 1960s. He also held post on the World Council of Peace. He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize
Lenin Peace Prize
The International Lenin Peace Prize was the Soviet Union's equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize, named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel indicated had "strengthened peace among peoples"...
in 1959.
Montagu was identified as a World War II era spy for the Soviet GRU
GRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
, code name “Intelligentsia”, after the decryption in the 1960s of Venona
Venona project
The VENONA project was a long-running secret collaboration of the United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies involving cryptanalysis of messages sent by intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the majority during World War II...
telegraphs from March 1940 through April 1942. A July 25, 1940 cable from Simon Davidovitch Kremer, Secretary to the Soviet Military Attaché in London specifically identified him as the head of the X Group spy ring “Ivor Montagu, the well known local communist, journalist and lecturer.”
His brother Ewen Montagu
Ewen Montagu
Captain The Hon. Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu, CBE, QC, DL, RNR was a British judge, writer and Naval intelligence officer....
was a Naval Intelligence Officer RNVR in MI6, during the Second World War, one of the masterminds of the highly successful deception Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat was a successful British deception plan during World War II. As part of the widespread deception plan Operation Barclay to cover the intended invasion of Italy from North Africa, Mincemeat helped to convince the German high command that the Allies planned to invade Greece and...
, and author of The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was is a nonfiction 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 Second World War war film, based on the book and dramatising actual events...
.
Table tennis
Montagu was a champion table tennisTable tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
player, representing Britain in matches all over the world. He also helped to establish and finance the first world championships
World Table Tennis Championships
The World Table Tennis Championships are held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Seven events were included in the Championships. The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000. The Team Championships are held in...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1926.
In 1926 Montagu initiated the creation of the International Table Tennis Federation
International Table Tennis Federation
The International Table Tennis Federation is the governing body for all national table tennis associations.-Founding history:The ITTF was founded in 1926, the nine founding members being Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, India, Sweden and Wales...
, and served as its first president for 41 years until 1967. The ITTF began with four member countries, and grew to 160 national associations during his leadership. The constitution and laws of the sport of table tennis were adopted and the World Table Tennis Championships
World Table Tennis Championships
The World Table Tennis Championships are held since 1926, biennially since 1957. Seven events were included in the Championships. The World Team Table Tennis Championships, which include men's team and women's team events, were first their own competition in 2000. The Team Championships are held in...
established during a meeting at the family home of Lord and Lady Swaythling, Montagu’s parents.
At age 18, he was a founder of the English Table Tennis Association
English Table Tennis Association
The English Table Tennis Association is the national governing body responsible for table tennis in England and has been affiliated to the ITTF since the formation of the ETTA in 1927.- Events/Tournaments :...
(ETTA), and served as its chairman from 1923–29, from 1932–33, and again from 1936-58. He was also the ETTA’s president from 1927–31 and 1958-66.