# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/john-vassall
# Generated: 2026-08-13T01:56:54.616Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/john-vassall"
name: "John Vassall"
slug: "john-vassall"
description: "William John Christopher Vassall was a British civil servant who spied for the Soviet Union, allegedly under pressure of blackmail, from 1954 until his arrest in 1962. Although operating only at a junior level, he was able to provide details of naval technology which were crucial to the modernising of the Soviet Navy. He was sentenced to eighteen years' imprisonment, and was released in 1972, after having served ten. The Vassall scandal greatly embarrassed the Macmillan government, but was soon eclipsed by the more dramatic Profumo affair."
tagline: "British civil servant who spied for the Soviet Union (1924–1996)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/John_Vassall_1984.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United Kingdom"
  isoCode: "GB"
birthDate: "1924-09-20"
deathDate: "1996-11-18"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           45.68
  momentum:             0.234718826405868
  historical:           4.875348
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     30
  profileCompleteness:  50
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vassall"
    title: "John Vassall"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84"
    title: "جان واسال"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vassall"
    title: "John Vassall"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vassall"
    title: "John Vassall"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BB%2C_%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D0%BD"
    title: "Вассалл, Джон"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6261842"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump