Half-Life: The Divided Life of Bruno Pontecorvo, Physicist or Spy

by Close, Frank

  Such fantasies about the cloak-and-dagger world of spies were standard stuff for teenage boys in the 1950s, with the Cold War raging. For pupils at Roysse’s, who within the space of a few months would twice find themselves associated with intrigue (first with Fuchs, then Pontecorvo), such rumors could easily grow from very little. However, none of the former students I interviewed could recall why Barker had been singled out in this way.

  In any event the boys were remarkably prescient, as Barker subsequently had a stellar career in MI5, rising to become the director of section A, the branch “responsible for managing the Service’s operational capabilities such as its technical and surveillance operations,” also known as bugging.6 When he retired in 1984, Barker was honored by Margaret Thatcher for “conspicuous service to the Crown.”7

  Royd Barker had a peculiar loping stride, which made him rather noticeable. This is not helpful for an intelligence officer who wants to merge into the background, but has advantages for one who wishes to be welcomed and absorbed by a community. He was an extrovert, but also a disciplinarian. Some boys described him as a popular teacher, while others recalled that he always carried a stick, which he used to keep order.8

  The arrival of large numbers of clever, talented, highly educated people from around the world injected large amounts of creative energy into the sleepy country town of Abingdon. Theater and music societies thrived. Barker, the musician, took to these like a fish to water. A musician and schoolteacher in that singular community, where he could meet the sons of scientists during his day job and mingle with Harwell employees in choral societies during his leisure time, would be well placed to hear local gossip about “the Atomic.”

  As we saw earlier, Roysse’s headmaster, James Cobban, had joined the school in 1947 after a distinguished war career in the intelligence services. It is not known if Barker was already a spook, and was placed on the school staff as part of the national security effort, or instead was recognized as a potential recruit for the security services by Cobban. In those days, recruitment to MI5 still happened through the “old boy network,” so Cobban could have acted as a scout who recognized talent in one of his employees and recommended Barker to MI5.9

  One friend who knew Barker well for many years told me, “I wondered how he was recruited and thought it was [while a student] at Oxford.”10 If this is the case, it would seem that Barker’s teaching provided a cover for his MI5 role.11 Indeed, we now know that this would have been consistent with MI5 policy. In 1946, following Nunn May’s exposure, Guy Liddell had recommended that, for security purposes, it was “most important” that MI5 “should place informants” in the atomic energy laboratories, whose charge would be to know about “the general mode of living and political views of young scientists.”12

  Further adding to the intrigue, in 1952 Barker requested, and was granted, leave from the school for several weeks “in order to go off on a musical tour in Yugoslavia.” There is no record of any musical contacts between Abingdon and communist Yugoslavia in 1952. And indeed, former pupils insist that Barker’s link to MI5 was common knowledge at the time and not a later creation.13

  If this is correct, Barker’s presence at Roysse’s in 1950 is intriguing. As events would turn out, however, he seems to have had no forewarning of the Pontecorvo scandal, which was about to hit the community.

  THE GARDNER BROTHERS REMEMBER BRUNO AS A CHARMER, AN ADULT who had retained the gaiety of childhood and could relate to them. Letcombe Avenue sloped gently from one end to the other, and Anthony later recalled “Bruno riding his bicycle up the rise—backwards.”14 This was a favorite among Bruno’s many party tricks, and gave credence to his boast: “I could have been in a circus.”15

  The Gardners often went to Gil’s home for tea. In those days, houses tended to remain unlocked and the boys went in and out regularly. They remembered Marianne as “quiet, nice” and “elfin-like with a sweet face,” always happy to provide teas or, on the occasions when the two families met for dinner, plates of spaghetti—an exotic dish in the middle England of the 1940s.16

  Another friend, David Lees, recalled that he was often invited to the Pontecorvos’ home on Sundays. He remembered that the house was untidy, with children’s toys scattered around, and that Bruno would parade through the house in his pajamas, while speaking a strange language. David was informed that this was Italian, “the language we speak at home on Sundays.”17

  Bruno played tennis at the local club in Albert Park, where grass courts nestled among the trees and bushes. Large Edwardian houses fronted the park on three sides; the school completed the square. The entire area embodied the fantasy image of England as propagated in Agatha Christie novels. The grass courts didn’t open for the season until late April or May, so it must have been in the weeks immediately prior to the Pontecorvos’ departure that the following event took place.

  In the early summer of 1950, Bruno and John Gardner were in the middle of a tennis game when Bruno suddenly stopped. He had noticed someone standing among the trees. “I have to go and speak to that man,” Bruno exclaimed, and immediately left the court. A few minutes later, he returned and apologized, but gave no further explanation and carried on with the game. Anthony Gardner’s impression is that his father later mentioned this “because it was so odd.”18

  Clearly the stranger was not the Harwell security officer, Henry Arnold. There would be no need for Arnold to make such a secretive approach, and in any case Gardner would have recognized him. It might have been an innocent encounter, elevated in Gardner’s mind after Bruno’s disappearance, though why Bruno declined to provide an explanation is harder to understand. It’s also possible that the incident might have been embellished in the retelling.

  BRUNO’S YOUNGEST BROTHER, GIOVANNI, LIVED IN AMERSHAM, ABOUT thirty miles from Harwell, and they met in Amersham or Abingdon about once every three weeks. After Bruno disappeared, MI5 would become suspicious about these visits to Amersham: “In the event of him being contacted by an agent of a foreign power it is unlikely the contact would be near Harwell. It is therefore quite probable that some contact was made with Pontecorvo in this district.”19

  On one occasion, Giovanni and his fiancée went to see a play in London with Bruno. Bruno, who was in one of his usual extroverted moods, had acquired a jar of bubble solution and he proceeded to blow bubbles while they waited in line at the theater. Not everyone was amused, as Giovanni’s fiancée later described Bruno to MI5 as a “queer fellow” who was “very childish.”20

  Giovanni ran a poultry farm, and money was tight. In June 1950 he asked Bruno for a loan of thirty pounds. Bruno didn’t have the money on hand, but promised to stand as a guarantor for that amount. The brothers met for the last time at Bruno’s house at 5 Letcombe Avenue on July 7. On that occasion they discussed Bruno’s upcoming camping trip to France, Switzerland, and Italy, and Bruno promised Giovanni that on his return to England they would have a long talk about his poultry business. Bruno explained that he anticipated getting a significant amount of money from the neutron patents, which were currently being argued over by lawyers in the United States. “When my claim is settled we wont [sic] have to worry,” Bruno assured his younger brother. “I will set you up in business.”21

  IN JUNE BRUNO AND MARIANNE VISITED LIVERPOOL TO SEE THE university and decide where to live after his transfer, which was planned for January 1951.

  The head of the physics department at Liverpool, Professor Herbert Skinner, knew the Pontecorvos well, from both Canada and Harwell. He was enthusiastic that Bruno might join his department. He recalled that Bruno made an “obvious effort to sell the job to Marianne,” who disliked the city because it was “cold.” Skinner felt sure that Bruno’s acceptance of the post was genuine.22

  The University of Liverpool’s physics department was building the largest accelerator in Britain, or indeed Europe, at the time. Those of Bruno’s colleagues who knew him best agreed that the scientific possibilities at Liverpool would have excited him. B
runo himself told his brother Giovanni that the laboratories were wonderful. Guido, the eldest of the Pontecorvo siblings, visited Liverpool years later and remarked that the house where Bruno and Marianne planned to live was “very grand.”23

  Everything seemed on course for the move to Liverpool. On July 24, the day before the Pontecorvos left for their summer vacation, Bruno wrote to the vice chancellor of the university. He accepted the professorship, and declared that he looked forward to joining them.

  THE END OF GIL’S FIRST YEAR AT ROYSSE’S CAME ON THE SAME DAY that Bruno sent his letter. With his transfer to Liverpool arranged for the following January, Bruno and his family prepared for their summer holiday. The plan was to visit the continent by car, along with his sister Anna, who lived in London.

  One bonus of Bruno’s enforced departure from Harwell was that he had accumulated several weeks of leave time. He didn’t want to squander this bonanza so he planned the family’s vacation to last six weeks. They would camp, visit his parents and siblings in Italy, and return to England by ferry from Dunkirk on September 4, just in time for a physics conference in Harwell on September 7.24 Gil would start school again on the nineteenth.25 During the fall, Bruno planned to spend time in Liverpool, in preparation for his permanent move there the following year.

  Among the decisions that had to be made was whether Gil would stay at Abingdon as a boarder, or move to yet another new school in Liverpool. Of course, even as a day pupil, Gil’s education wasn’t free. The bill for the summer term, which he had just completed, totaled fourteen pounds, four shillings, and seven pence in the old British currency of the time (about £500, or $800, in modern values).26 The invoice arrived at 5 Letcombe Avenue after the family had left on their trip.

  The Pontecorvo family owned ducks. These birds were more than pets, serving primarily as a means to produce eggs to supplement their diet, as postwar rationing was still in force. The Gardners, who kept chickens, agreed to look after the ducks while the Pontecorvos were away.

  On July 25 the Pontecorvo family—now including Bruno’s sister Anna—crammed into Bruno’s precious Standard Vanguard car. With camping equipment, three adults, and three boys all crammed into the car, luggage was limited to essentials, and carried in collapsible canvas sacks. The group carried with them two army-surplus satchels, a floppy zip-up bag, which contained their underclothes and a few outer garments, and a small zip-up briefcase, which Bruno always kept close to him.27

  Paul Gardner later recalled, “They were driving up the Avenue in their pale-colored Vanguard car and I waved to say cheerio.” The car turned left onto Bath Street, and headed south and then east toward Dover and the overnight ferry to Dunkirk.28 That was the last Paul ever saw of them.

  THE PONTECORVOS CROSSED THE ENGLISH CHANNEL BY FERRY ON THE night of July 25. After arriving in France, they drove through Arras and Dijon, and arrived in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, on the twenty-eighth. On July 31 they reached the Italian town of Menaggio on Lake Como. There, they bumped into the wife of Professor Piero Caldirola—a nuclear physicist from Milan—who suggested they all meet her husband. Bruno invited Professor Caldirola to the physics conference in Harwell on September 7, gave him his address in Abingdon, and arranged to see him there in the fall. The family camped in Menaggio until August 4. Anna then left the group temporarily, taking a boat to the city of Como, while Bruno and his family went to the Dolomites for a couple of days.29

  The holiday continued to be idyllic as Bruno took his family to visit his parents in Milan, on or around the twelfth.30 Here, Anna rejoined the group as they prepared to complete the final leg of their journey, which would take them to Rome. Before Bruno left his parents’ house, he told them that, on his way back to England at the end of the month, he was due to visit the cosmic ray experiment near Chamonix. As this would be an opportunity for the family to be together again, and for his parents to visit the Alps, they arranged to meet in Chamonix on August 24.31

  Bruno’s mother’s letter to Guido, written after his disappearance, gives her view of the situation in Milan: “When Bruno and his family came here to see us . . . they were so happy, serene and normal. They could not have had such a great step in mind. They said goodbye, just as one says goodbye to someone one is going to see again very soon, which is what we had arranged.”32

  Bruno would never see his parents again.

  MISADVENTURES

  Around August 17, the group arrived at Ladispoli, a small seaside resort near Rome where Bruno’s sister Giuliana had rented a summer house. Bruno and Marianne then drove on to Circeo, another seaside town about two hours to the south. There they would camp, swim in the Mediterranean, and catch fish. However, they left their son Antonio at Ladispoli with Anna and Giuliana, as he appeared to be suffering from sunstroke. Anna and Antonio stayed on at Ladispoli until the twenty-first, when they accompanied Giuliana to her home in the San Giovanni district of Rome. Bruno’s brother Gillo and his wife, Henrietta, were there also.

  August 22 was Bruno’s thirty-seventh birthday. Gillo was rather annoyed, as Bruno had passed by Rome en route from Ladispoli to Circeo without making the small detour to see them. So Gillo, Henrietta, and Anna drove to Circeo for Bruno’s birthday, which they spent scuba diving in the warm waters of the Mediterranean. They spent the night, and drove back to Rome on the twenty-third. Bruno and Marianne stayed in Circeo.

  Up to this point, everything appeared normal. Then events become strange, and the exact timeline becomes hazy. On the evening of August 23, Bruno sent a telegram from Circeo to his parents, canceling his visit to Chamonix. He gave no reason for the change but promised to expand in a letter.33 In the letter he reported that he had gotten into an accident in his car, “which bent its mudguard and smashed a front light.” However, none of his siblings in Rome seems to have noticed the damaged car. The location and date of the accident are also confused. It seems to have happened somewhere between Circeo and Rome, on August 23. As it happened, Bruno’s temporary car insurance for mainland Europe expired that day.34 Unless this is the sole clue that he never intended to return, it would seem that Bruno was planning to drive back to England uninsured.

  This oddity pales into insignificance, however, given what was about to transpire. The circumstances of this accident, if there was one, seem connected with Bruno’s decision to flee. They certainly reveal deception on Bruno’s part. As we shall see, Bruno’s parents—as well as MI5—would identify inconsistencies in his version of events.

  BRUNO, MARIANNE, AND THE BOYS WERE DUE TO MEET HIS PARENTS in Chamonix on August 24.

  Here we see the first hints of duplicity. Only a week earlier Bruno had made the arrangements. Some event must have happened on the twenty-third that forced an urgent change of plans. The journey to Chamonix in 1950 would have required a full day in the car.35 Yet on August 23, Bruno was alone in his car, and had an accident. At least, that is what he told his parents later. On the day of the alleged accident, in the telegram sent at 6:40 p.m. from Circeo, he bluntly stated, “Very upset to have put off visit to Chamonix definitely. Please go yourselves, will do you lot of good. Letter follows.”36

  The full text of Bruno’s letter, which he sent on August 25, is presented below. It implies that some time has elapsed since he sent the telegram, which he tries to excuse. First, he refers to his telegram of yesterday, whereas two days have actually passed. He also refers explicitly for the first time to an accident, and gives details about it. Furthermore, he claims that the children have become ill, which is another reason for the cancellation.

  This letter follows my telegram of yesterday from Circeo. I had not written before because I had hoped to be able to come to Chamonix, but with the children as they are, it was impossible. Yesterday [August 24] I returned from Rome to have the car mended and saw your cards saying you had left just when I had sent the telegram. Well finally we had trouble with the car having had a fairly serious car accident happily without consequences for us though with consequences for the car. In tr
ying to avoid a cyclist who ran across in front of the car I hit a tree. I was not injured (I was alone at the time) but the car was seriously damaged and is now having repairs. On the other hand the children and I benefited a lot from the sea and they were well until the 23rd but they are now in bed with tummy trouble. We think that one day we caught the sun too much or that they have eaten something. Now we have left Gil [sic] at Ladispoli where he is enjoying himself no end and we are in Circeo which is a delightful place and where we have taken a room. As soon as the children are well enough we shall return to England. It is not possible to come to Chamonix as we shall have no time and it would tire the children. I am very sorry not to have been able to meet you or to warn you in time but there was no means. I am slightly consoled that even without us at Chamonix would do a lot of good [for you]. I would hope you don’t mind too much. Again a thousand excuses.37

  Bruno’s mother realized immediately that something was amiss. Bruno never saw his parents’ reply, which they sent a few days later. This letter arrived at his home in Abingdon, where it remained unopened in the empty house until MI5 found it in October. His mother had noticed an inconsistency in Bruno’s claim that a sudden indisposition of the children had played a role in his change of plans, and admonished him appropriately: “But is this REALLY what happened? Because there is something that is not clear to us. Antonio was already ill at Ladispoli [on August 17]. Pitiful lies Bruno is not a good policy.”38 This letter is an important clue in our attempt to disentangle the chronology of Bruno’s sudden decision to flee.