Timeline Wednesday 23 January 1963

Events on Wednesday 23 January 1963 1

• 1963 Kim Philby defects to the Soviet Union British double agent flees Beirut for Moscow British intelligence officer Kim Philby, under suspicion as a Soviet mole, disappeared from Beirut and resurfaced months later in Moscow. He had spied for the Soviet Union for decades as part of the "Cambridge Five" spy ring. His defection was a major embarrassment for British intelligence.