29 Facts About Georgi Markov

Georgi Markov originally worked as a novelist, screenwriter and playwright in his native country, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, until his defection in 1969.

Georgi Markov was assassinated on a London street via a micro-engineered pellet that might have contained ricin.

Georgi Markov looked around and there was a man behind him who'd apologized and dropped an umbrella.

Georgi Markov was born on 1 March 1929, in Knyazhevo, a Sofia neighbourhood.

In 1962, Georgi Markov published the novel Men which won the annual award of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and he was accepted as a member of the Union, a prerequisite for a professional career in literature.

Georgi Markov started working at the Narodna Mladezh Publishing House.

Georgi Markov wrote a number of plays but most of them were never staged or were removed from theatre repertoire by the Communist censors: To Crawl Under the Rainbow, The Elevator, Assassination in the Cul-de-Sac, Stalinists and I Was Him.

Georgi Markov was one of the authors of the popular TV series Every Kilometer which created the character of the Second World War detective Velinsky and his nemesis the Resistance fighter Deyanov.

Georgi Markov was among the writers and poets that Todor Zhivkov tried to co-opt and coerce into serving the regime with their works.

In 1969, Georgi Markov left for Bologna, Italy, where his brother lived.

Georgi Markov moved to London, where he learned English and started working for the Bulgarian section of the BBC World Service.

Georgi Markov tried to work for the film industry, hoping for help from Peter Uvaliev, but was unsuccessful.

Georgi Markov's works were withdrawn from libraries and bookshops and his name was not mentioned by the official Bulgarian media until 1989.

Between 1975 and 1978, Georgi Markov worked on his In Absentia Reports, an analysis of life in Communist Bulgaria.

In 1978, Georgi Markov was killed in London, allegedly by an operative connected to the KGB and the Bulgarian secret police under Zhivkov.

On 7 September 1978, Georgi Markov walked across Waterloo Bridge spanning the River Thames and waited to take a bus to his job at the BBC.

Georgi Markov reportedly saw a man picking up an umbrella off the ground behind him.

Georgi Markov told at least one of his colleagues at the BBC, Theo Lirkov, about this incident.

Georgi Markov's grave is in a small churchyard at the Church of St Candida and Holy Cross in Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset.

Bernard Riley, the physician treating Georgi Markov, considered many possible causes of his illness, including that he had been bitten by a venomous tropical snake.

Georgi Markov cut a tissue sample from the area, with a matching sample from the other leg.

Regardless of whether the doctors treating Georgi Markov had known that the poison might have been ricin, the result would have been the same, as no antidote exists for ricin.

Kalugin said that Georgi Markov had been killed using an umbrella gun.

Georgi Markov's assassination is mentioned in season two, episode seven of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, by a character as he describes people poisoned with ricin to Gil Grissom.

The Georgi Markov assassination is the subject of a test in the first season of the show Mythbusters.

Georgi Markov's assassination is mentioned in the neo-Western crime drama series Breaking Bad, season two, episode one, "Seven Thirty-Seven" as Walter and Jesse think of plans to kill Tuco Salamanca.

Georgi Markov's assassination is used as the basis for an assassination story in the US drama series NCIS, season seven, episode twenty-one, "Obsession".

The character, Lt Hutton, is working on a classified program at the Naval Info-Ops Centre and is discovered to have been murdered using the same method as Georgi Markov, leading to a Soviet KGB plotline.

Georgi Markov's assassination is mentioned in season two, episode one from Slow Horses, where River Cartwright and Shirley Dander point to the possibility of the same technique being used to murder a former MI6 agent, who was following a former KGB agent, possibly "Cicada".