T
Tim Stinchcombe
Guest
Yes, but it does _look_ the part!
did come to mind on reading this thread. I think he was stabbed by the
umbrella, rather than being 'shot'. I don't think anyone believed him at
first, but he got very ill and died a few days later (if I remember
correctly), and it must have taken a lot of searching to find the
smaller-than-a-pinhead bead that contained the tiny amount of ricin, sealed
into a little 'well' by some wax, which slowly dissolved, thus realising the
ricin (which is clearly very nasty stuff). But unlike the silly claims for
the gun, Georgi _was_ aware that something had been done to him, if only
like the prick from a hypodermic.
--
__________________________________________________________
Tim Stinchcombe
Cheltenham, Glos, UK
Yes, the Georgi Markov incident, remember it from the time, and it of courseThis piece of fiction probably owes some of its origin to the killing
of a Bulgarian spy in London back in about 1978. He was shot in the
thigh with a Russian-manufactured ' umbrella' that fired a tiny hollow
ball only a millimerte or so across laced with some powerful toxin or
other. Real life James Bond stuff.
His name was Georgi Markov and he was Bulgarian, but a dissident
rather than a spy. The poison was ricin.
did come to mind on reading this thread. I think he was stabbed by the
umbrella, rather than being 'shot'. I don't think anyone believed him at
first, but he got very ill and died a few days later (if I remember
correctly), and it must have taken a lot of searching to find the
smaller-than-a-pinhead bead that contained the tiny amount of ricin, sealed
into a little 'well' by some wax, which slowly dissolved, thus realising the
ricin (which is clearly very nasty stuff). But unlike the silly claims for
the gun, Georgi _was_ aware that something had been done to him, if only
like the prick from a hypodermic.
--
__________________________________________________________
Tim Stinchcombe
Cheltenham, Glos, UK