Donald Maclean was a British diplomat and a member of the Cambridge Five, a group of spies who passed information to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Born in 1913, he studied at Cambridge University and later joined the Foreign Office, where he gained access to sensitive government information. In 1951, Maclean defected to the Soviet Union, escaping the scrutiny of British authorities. His actions, along with those of his fellow spies, had significant implications for British intelligence and international relations during the era. Maclean lived in Moscow until his death in 1983.