Trivia Overload

'M' has provided the following very astute and esoteric observation:

An archived article in The Guardian by Keith Harper dated Monday 24 October 1966 reads in part, "George Blake, sentenced to 42 years' imprisonment for spying for the Russians, has by now probably made good his escape. The chances of his being recaptured seemed very remote last night, 24 hours after he had been missed from Wormwood Scrubs... Blake's escape was almost in the manner of a James Bond. It was learned yesterday that only one bar covering a second storey window in 'D' block, where he was housed, had been forced, but this would have been sufficient to allow him to drop the 20 ft. to the ground. Then he would cross the prison road to the outer wall, which is nearly 20 ft. high. The rope ladder later found hanging inside the prison wall was home-made. Each of its 20 rungs consisted of a knitting needle. The needles were covered with grey plastic, with a number 13 at the top. They were manufactured in Britain... There were three theories last night as to how Blake managed to escape: 1. That he got away by himself with the aid of his fellow prisoners. In spite of the home-made rope - ladder, this seems unlikely since the escape was too well organised. 2. He could have been allowed to escape by the British to be employed as a double agent against the Russians. 3. His escape was engineered indirectly by the Russians, and he is now well on the way to, if not yet behind, the Iron Curtain. This is the most likely one... At his trial at the Old Bailey he admitted to having passed all official documents to which he had access to the Russians over 9 1/2 years."

Could this possibly explain the "Where is Blake?" headline that pops up at the newsagent's little stand? If indeed it is a joke referring to George Blake, it's apt, given the premise of the episode!

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