First Woman Director General of MI5
November 2015, at home in Norfolk
b.1935, South London
In 1992 Stella Rimington was the first woman to be appointed Director General of MI5, Britain’s Security Intelligence Service, founded in 1909. She was also the first Leader of any British intelligence service to have her name publicly announced on appointment and the first to give a public lecture on television. It was under her leadership that the Service adopted a more public face which it has maintained. Stella is now an author, having written her autobiography and ten Liz Carlyle novels.