Kim Philby was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. Born in 1912, he was educated at Cambridge University and became a key figure in the Cambridge Five, a group of spies who passed information to the Soviets during the Cold War. Philby worked for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and gained a reputation for his charm and intelligence. In the early 1960s, Philby's espionage activities were uncovered, leading to his defection to the Soviet Union in 1963. He lived in Moscow until his death in 1988, where he remained a controversial figure, admired by some for his commitment to communism and reviled by others for his betrayal.