{{Short description|Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (1925–2006)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Sir | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG|OBE}} | name = Colin Figures | image = File:Colin Figures.jpg | caption = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) | service_years = 1951 – 1985 | rank = Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service | battles = {{tree list/start}} *World War II *Cold War *Suez Crisis *Prague Spring *Falklands War {{tree list/end}} | awards = Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George<br />Officer of the Order of the British Empire | birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|7|1|df=y}} | birth_place = Birmingham, United Kingdom | death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|12|8|1925|7|1|df=y}} | death_place = Esher, United Kingdom | spouse = Pamela Ann Timmis | parents = Frederick and Muriel Figures | children = a son and two daughters | occupation = British intelligence officer | alma_mater = Pembroke College, Cambridge | office = Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service | order = 9th | predecessor = Dick Franks | successor = Christopher Curwen | term_start = 1982 | term_end = 1985 | education = King Edward's School, Birmingham | unit = Worcestershire Regiment }} '''Sir Colin Frederick Figures''' {{post-nominals|size=100%|KCMG|OBE}} (1 July 1925 – 8 December 2006) was Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (known as MI6) from 1981 to 1985. During this time he had oversight of the supply of human intelligence information, including Argentine positions and their stocks of Exocet missiles, to the UK Government during the Falklands War.<ref name=times/>
==Career== Figures was born in Birmingham, the son of Frederick Figures, an insurance executive, and his wife Muriel.<ref name=inde>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-colin-figures-430065.html Obituary: Sir Colin Figures] The Independent, 29 December 2006</ref> He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham<ref name="times">{{Cite news|date=15 December 2006|title=Sir Colin Figures obituary|page=78|work=The Times|issue=68884}}</ref> and served in The Worcestershire Regiment from 1943 until 1948,<ref name=times/> during which time he studied Russian via the Inter-Service Language Course at Cambridge, and served in Romania and Hungary.<ref name=times/> He read French and Russian at Pembroke College, Cambridge after being demobilised in 1948.<ref name="times" /> While there, he also founded the Woodpeckers, a combined Oxford and Cambridge touring rugby team.<ref name="inde" /> He joined the SIS when he graduated in 1951.<ref name=times/><ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Figures, Sir Colin Frederick (1925–2006), intelligence officer|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-97524|access-date=2021-08-05| year=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/97524| isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref>
After a period in London, he served in Germany, served in Amman during the Suez Crisis, in Warsaw, and in Vienna during the Prague Spring, before returning to London.<ref name=times/> He moved from Eastern bloc espionage in 1973 to supervise SIS activities in Northern Ireland.<ref name=times/> He became deputy head of SIS in 1979 and its ninth Chief in 1981.<ref name=times/> The following year, SIS was involved in the Falklands War, seeking to prevent Argentina obtaining stocks of Exocet missiles to be carried by their Super Etendard attack aircraft.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1537476/Sir-Colin-Figures.html Obituary: Sir Colin Figures] Daily Telegraph, 21 December 2006</ref> He received an OBE in 1969 and CMG in 1978, and advanced to KCMG in 1983.<ref name=times/>
He retired from SIS in 1985, and became Intelligence Co-ordinator at the Cabinet Office.<ref name=times/> He finally retired in 1989.<ref name=times/>
He married Pamela Ann Timmis in 1956.<ref name=inde/> He suffered from Parkinson's disease in later life, and died in Esher.<ref name=inde/> He was survived by his wife, and their son and two daughters.<ref name=inde/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * Figures' entry in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' {{s-start}} {{S-gov}} {{succession box | before=Sir Dick Franks| title=Chief of the SIS | years=1982–1985| after=Sir Christopher Curwen| }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Figures, Colin}} Category:Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Category:Cold War spies Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Category:1925 births Category:2006 deaths Category:People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham Category:Chiefs of the Secret Intelligence Service Category:Worcestershire Regiment officers Category:British Army personnel of World War II