The poison-tipped umbrella: the death of Georgi Markov in 1978 - archive
The Bulgarian dissident died after being jabbed by an assailant on Waterloo Bridge. Like the recently poisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, he was an acute irritant to his government. See how the Guardian reported events
Defector’s mystery death
by Lindsay Mackie and John Andrews
12 September 1978
A post-mortem examination is to be held today to determine what killed a Bulgarian playwright who defected to the West in 1969.
Georgi Ivanov Markov, aged 49, died yesterday in a London hospital of septicaemia, a form of blood poisoning. Before he died he claimed that he had been stabbed with an umbrella by a stranger who bumped into him last Thursday evening in the Strand.
Mr Markov was on his way from work with the BBC Bulgarian service at Bush House. Mr Peter Frankel, the head of the BBC East European Services, described Mr Markov as an “outstanding broadcaster and writer.” He had heard about Mr Markov’s
