But people believed his new personas, and he began to enjoy the feeling. Express. MORE:Stonehouse star Matthew Macfadyen reveals concerns ahead of working with wife Keeley Hawes. Succession star Matthew Macfadyen leads the cast of new ITV1 drama Stonehouse as the titular politician who faked his own death in a bid to start a new life in Australia. I send him my undying love and respect.. He was utterly distraught and incoherent, she said. Its a classic case of truth being stranger than fiction.. But he provided the Czechs with information and got a lot of money from them. Barbara and Sheila met with the younger woman confessing shed been seeing John and admitting she was pregnant with his child. ' he wrote. According to the series, Stonehouse, a high-ranking official in Harold Wilsons administration, faked his death by swimming into the sea after disappearing from the beach of a lavish resort in Florida circa November 1974. I really just wanted to understand how someone could get themselves into this terrible mess. They also cost him his political career a year later. If theyd said, John, wed like you to spy for us, hed have said no. All rights reserved. One was Sheila Buckley, my father's secretary somebody we had known well for years. Barbara went Down Under on the understanding Sheila wasnt there, however, she was left dismayed when she found the other woman with him. WATCH:Keeley Hawes reveals what it was like to work with husband Matthew Macfadyen on Stonehouse. Leading the cast as John Stonehouse is Matthew Macfadyen (Pride & Prejudice), with his real-life partner Keeley Hawes (The Durrells) playing Stonehouse's wife, Barbara.. They're joined by Emer Heatley (Showtrial) as Stonehouse's mistress Sheila Buckley, Kevin R McNally (The Crown) as Harold Wilson, and Dorothy Atkinson (All Creatures Great and Small) as Betty Boothroyd. The struggle between the two was tearing me to pieces.'. 'Why do you do this to me?' Oblivious to all this, Mr Markham bought a ticket to Copenhagen. . Stonehouse was a member of Harold Wilsons cabinet as aviation minister and postmaster general, but his career crashed when he was named in 1969 as an agent of the Czech secret service. Ingested with alcohol, it can be fatal. It was just impossible,' he told her, according to great nephew Julian Hayes, the author of Stonehouse: Cabinet Minister, Fraudster and Spy. Stonehouse was released from prison in 1979 and two years later married his mistress, Sheila Buckley, who gave birth to their son the following year. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. She concluded: My father taught me something invaluable: that the world can be changed if people talk enough and work enough together. Required fields are marked *. 20:48 EST 10 Jul 2021. Stonehouse and Buckley stayed together following his arrest and sentencing, and Buckley would regularly visit him in prison. At no time did he use 'I', just 'he' or 'him'. he lamented. 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Later that afternoon my father was allowed to make a call to my mother. He underwent open heart surgery on 7 November 1978 which lasted for six hours. See also. None of the options was good, but as a huge police and coastguard search went on in Florida, we still clung on to hope. Sheila Buckley was the former secretary and mistress of the politician (Picture: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) She has claimed the politician made moves, but she had no interest. 'It's little wonder nobody has any respect or indeed any trust in the political establishment. I think I'm going to have his baby.'. Stonehouse is known for its bombed-out attempt to fake its own demise in 1974, which was discovered following gossip that Stonehouse was the last missing murder suspect, Lord Lucan. Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes and Emer Heatley. A look at what happened to the real John Stonehouse after his life was explored in new ITV smash-hit show. In 2010, classified Government papers were released showing that in 1980 Margaret Thatchers attorney general, Sir Michael Havers repeated the allegation. Sheila Buckley, and acted as a spy for the Czech Secret Service in the 1960s. On Christmas Eve that year, Mrs Mildoon read on the front page of her local paper that John Stonehouse had been found in Australia using the name Clive Mildoon. Sign up to our What to Watch newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. My father said nothing. At the time she thought he meant he couldn't take any more of the stress of endlessly travelling the globe trying to set up business deals. Stonehouse and Buckley were extradited and charged with conspiracy, fraud and theft. Maura Tierneys Affair: What Happened in the Show? Its side effects include depression, anxiety, paranoia, mental confusion, poor decision-making and an increased risk of suicide. 'From the newspaper accounts it was evident that some people and certain sections of the press themselves were not only dancing on the grave of the missing man, they were trying to dig up the corpse to tear it limb from limb,' he would later write. Stonehouses daughter Julia maintains that right-wing elements within MI5 made sure the rumour was spread to the press and politicians. A documentary, The Real Stonehouse, is on ITV1 at 9pm on 5 January, Stonehouse review Matthew Macfadyen is a brilliantly bad baddie in this fun, death-faking romp, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. It says its based on a true story, and thats really as far as it goes. The reporter mentioned a number of names including Sheila, whom Barbara and the family had known well because she was Johns secretary. She thought it would be dangerous to go against his wishes because of the chance he might attempt suicide. He was then extradited to Britain, all the while continuing to serve as one of Parliament's most colourful members. Stonehouse was eventually arrested in Melbourne and deported back to the UK, where he remained a Labour MP because the party did not expel him, owing to their narrow majority in the House of . So poor Sheila Buckley is thrust into the spotlight without her consent. Inspired by Frederick Forsyths thriller The Day of the Jackal, he had stolen the identity of a dead constituent, Joseph Markham, to get a passport in his name and intended to begin a new life in Melbourne. Being Mr Markham or Mr Mildoon was a safety valve, a release, a life-saver. Sheila Buckley was John Stonehouse MP secretary who disappeared with him when he faked his own death in 1974 and fled to Australia. 07, 1975 - Runaway Mp John Stonehouse is Remanded in Custody after Appearing at Bow street court today: Mr. John Stonehouse and his Secretary Mrs. Sheila Buckley, appeared before the Magistrate at Bow street Police Station today after he and Mrs Buckley had spent the night in the cells. What Happened To Sheila Buckley? According to the Daily Mail, James visits his elderly mother Sheila who is living a quiet life away from the spotlight and working as a chartered accountant. But why is everyone so enthusiastic about this series, and who was Sheila Buckley? After stealing the identities of two deceased . , updated Stonehouse underwent three days in the hospital after suffering a cardiac ischemia event on September 6, 1978. The ITV show stars the real-life married couple Matthew Macfadyen as Stonehouse and Keeley Hawes as Barbara, who was married to the disgraced Labour MP and former cabinet minister at the time of his disappearance. Julia wrote: He might have lived to the age of 83, when he could have used newly released files from the Czech secret service to prove that he was, in fact, innocent of the allegations of treason that never quite went away.. To flee the enormous debts he had accrued, Stonehouse started a new covert life using a deceased gentleman, called John Markhams passport, while authorities questioned his enigmatic death. His life was spiralling out of control, and to help cope he was using prescription drugs. It's so out of character for the John Stonehouse we knew. He arrived there on November 29 and wandered the streets for several days looking for British newspapers to find out what was going on back home. It's unbelievable to us, the family, that my father should do something as cold-hearted as having a conversation with two widows with a view to adopting their husbands' names. Most of Johns family is not in the spotlight, however, his daughter Julia has spoken and written prolifically about her father. To support herself after having lost Stonehouse, who has been over two decades older than her, it is said that she is an avid gardener and was employed as an auditor and bookkeeper. The partner of imprisoned MP John Stonehouse, Sheila Buckley discusses Stonehouse's declining health after he was declined parole. Inside his head he was silently exploding. He could walk down the street, go for a meal and conduct business without people having any opinion, good or bad, about him. We can only attribute it to madness, one symptom of which is that the person does mad things. He knew pilots, airport staff and airline executives. What really happened when West Midlands MP John Stonehouse faked his own death A new drama is currently being shown on ITV about the former Wednesbury MP who faked his own death amid the assertion that he was a Czechoslovak spy - here are 11 photos of the real John Stonehouse By Joe Forte 4th Jan 2023, 12:43pm ITVs scintillating three-part drama Stonehouse has gripped viewers this week. John had three children with his first wife Barbara Joan Stonehouse: Julia, Jane and son Mathew. The upcoming three-parter, written by John Preston, explores John. He was widely assumed to have died from suicide, with his wife saying: All the evidence that weve had points to the fact he was drowned.. At St. Peter of Alcantara Roman Catholic Church in Port Jefferson, L.I., Sheila Marie Buckley and John Mitchell Shaker were married yesterday by the Rev. 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He left a pile of clothes on a hotel beach in Miami to fake his own death in 1974. But the net was closing in. Sharp-eyed officials had spotted him coming and going and made a note that he should be treated with extreme caution. They said a girl lived there, and read out some names. Sheila Buckley. As the Czech defector had also not provided any evidence to back up his claim, he said, they should let the matter rest. Unforgotten can survive without Nicola Walker, Sanjeev Bhaskar on the return of Unforgotten, Banning actors like Emma Corrin from working-class roles won't fix acting's posh problem, Do not sell or share my personal information. My mother felt sick. My handsome, generous and brilliant father had seemed in good spirits that night, and my mother was relieved. ITVs latest three-part drama Stonehouse tells the true story of Labour MP John Stonehouse, played by Successions Matthew Macfayden, who faked his death to set up a new life in Australia with his secretary Sheila Buckley (Emer Heatley). My father booked into an expensive hotel and that afternoon and the following day made several visits to two banks, withdrawing and depositing large sums of money using the names of both Markham and Mildoon. On 20 November 1974, he rolled his clothes into a bundle, left them on a beach in Miami to go for a swim, and then vanished. But on other occasions the conflict between his various personas left him emotionally exhausted. Jane is said to have written in her diary how John had flipped his lid given his mistress Sheila was 28 while she was 25 and Julia was about to turn 24 at the time. He loves children.' The discovery left his wife Barbara devastated after learning of his betrayal. But she told Sheila: 'If John does turn up and you've got rid of it, it will make him very upset. Stonehouse is streaming ITVX now and The Real Stonehouse will be airing on ITV1 tonight at 9pm. A honeytrap executed by the Czech secret services has been substituted for the real-life slow insidious grooming of the Labour MP for Wednesbury and Walsall North, he said. 'But who was screaming was it Stonehouse or was it Markham? By Patrick Hollis. How To Watch Trigun Stampede Episodes? Two days later, while my mother was trying to contact her, Sheila arrived at Copenhagen airport to find my father sitting in the arrivals lounge looking pale, thin and nervous. After a heap of his garments was abandoned on Miami Beach, the government and press assumed the 49-year-old congressman who was committed to his family had perished at sea. You can know what transpired to the actual John Stonehouse when the defunct Labour MP abandoned his devoted spouse for a mistress and staged his demise during this weeks episode of the ITV series Stonehouse. A committed supporter of developing nations, he had in 1971 helped set up the Bangladesh Fund a way of allowing Bengali citizens living in the UK to support their government in exile. It must have been a terrible shock to her, and to Mrs Markham, to find their husbands' names being used in this way. Again, the rumours were utterly unfounded. James Swaider. Read More on. 'He betrayed everybody - his family, his constituents, his party, the country.'. Mrs Stonehouse visited her husband without Ms Buckley and agreed to return to Australia with the kids so long as Sheila stayed away, but when she returned, there Sheila was. Stonehouse, who faked his own death before fleeing to Australia with Buckley, was imprisoned for fraud in 1976. She only found out John had been having an affair after he went missing and she was contacted by a newspaper reporter asking about a rented flat in Westminster. Sheila asked whether she should let the family know he was alive, and he'd said 'no'. But after reviewing hundreds of documents released by both Czech and British authorities years later, he said there is 'no question' Stonehouse was a foreign agent. John Stonehouse, pictured in August 1975, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to seven years in prison for fraud, theft and deception. Facing Charges of alleging fraud, forgery and conspiracy involving 70,000. he was refused . According to the Daily Mail, Buckley lives in a 700,000 detached home in the small town and is known to be a keen gardener and is understood to have worked as an accountant or book-keeper to support herself and her son following Stonehouses death. In 1988, he died after a heart attack, aged 62. As she sat across the restaurant table from him that evening, my mother had no idea that this would be their last ever anniversary dinner together. Julia has stated not only has she, her mother Barbara and her siblings had previously been hurt by the spy claims, but Sheila and her son too were left upset. On telling a story about the lives of real people, he said: "I never wanted to judge Stonehouse or hold him up to ridicule or anything like that. Stonehouse was sentenced to seven years in prison, and Buckley received a suspended sentence of two years. The series starred Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes and was directed by Jon S. Baird from a script by John Preston . Sheila, the former Labour cabinet member who faked his own death, and was sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud, stayed by him till the end. To pre-order a copy for 14.44, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193 before July 25. 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