Rimington, Stella

Dame Stella Rimington is a British author of spy novels. She is a former intelligence officer, she was the first female Director General of the British intelligence service MI5 and also the first director general who made her name publicly known. Stella Rimington was born Stella Whitehouse in South London. She moved with her family to Essex in 1939 to get away from the danger of living in London at the start of the Second World War. In 1941, they transferred to Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, where Rimington attended Crossland Convent School and later Chetwynde School.