Dame Stella Rimington, the pioneering first female director general of MI5, has died aged 90, her family announced.
Dubbed the "housewife superspy" upon taking the role, she was widely credited as the inspiration for Dame Judi Dench’s M in the James Bond films.
Born in South Norwood on 13 May 1935, Dame Stella passed away on Sunday night.
In a statement, her family shared: "She died surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath."
She became director of each of the service’s operational branches before she was appointed to deputy director general in 1991 and then director general a year later.
During her tenure in the top job, between 1992 and 1996, there were threats from the IRA and Russia, while the Islamist terror threat was also emerging.
She was the first to be publicly identified when appointed and when a newspaper published a photo of her house, she and her family had to move to a covert location for their own protection.
Mrs Rimington used her time as director general to bring gradually bring the service out of the shadows, dispelling some of the myths and misconceptions built up around it.
After leaving MI5 in 1996, Dame Stella began a career as a novelist.
Alongside her post-MI5 writing and business commitments, she even found time to chair the judging panel for the Man Booker Prize for literature, although her comment that they were looking for “readability” found her once again in the firing line from critics who accused her of “dumbing down” the award.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, she reconciled with her husband in 2020 and later moved in together during lockdown. The pair had separated in 1984 but never divorced.
“It’s a good recipe for marriage, I’d say,” she said. “Split up, live separately, and return to it later.”
