Dame Stella Rimington's Legacy: Redefining MI5

0:00On April 27, Dame Stella Rhymington, MI5's first female director general from 1992 to 1996, passed away last August at age 90. Newly released probate docs show her a state top 2,081,000 pounds gross, netting over 2,064,000 after. Taxes. She left most of it in trust to her husband John and daughter's Harriet and Sophia, plus her literary earnings to the grandkids. She started her spy-life part-time as a clerk in India, back in the 60s, while tagging along on her husband's diplomatic gig, then went full-time. With MI5 in 1969, Rose to Deputy Director in 91, before taking the top spot, handling cold-war threats from the Soviets and later Russian moves. Folks remember her as the real-life blueprint for Judy Dench's M in the James Bond flicks, and she got called the Housewife Super Spy. After retiring, she dropped her memoir, Open Secret in 2001, then cranked out spy novels, but she always said the glamorous fiction didn't.

1:04Match the gritty reality. MI5 praised her for shaking up the agency, grabbing lead on fighting Irish Republican terror, shifting headquarters to Thames House, and pushing more. Openness. By releasing old files. Even had her books vetted by the service, tweaking names and spots were needed. Once dodged, a KGB recruitment try at a dinner party. Her? Legacy? Transforming a shadowy outfit into something more transparent while keeping threats in check. Proof one sharp mind can rewrite the rules of the game.