Whatever happened to …

BORIS PASTERNAK

After Doctor Zhivago was published in Italy in 1957, he faced a wave of criticism from Soviet authorities. Despite the official disapproval, thousands of admirers attended his funeral. His family continued to be persecuted until the late 1980s.

PADDY COSTELLO

After the Moscow legation was closed, Costello took up a post at the New Zealand legation in Paris in October 1950. As Cold War hysteria peaked and with the New Zealand Government under pressure from Britain and the US over fears he was a spy, Costello resigned in 1954. He became head of the Russian studies department at Victoria University of Manchester the next year. He died in 1964.

RUTH LAKE

In response to negative articles about the Soviet Union written by Jean Boswell, wife of legation head Charles Boswell, printed in New Zealand newspapers, Lake published a pamphlet in 1950. Saying Jean Boswell’s articles were full of “mis-statements, distortion and inaccuracies”, Lake gave a rosier view of the Soviet Union and condemned the developing Cold War. She died in 1991.

DOUG LAKE

Back in New Zealand, Lake continued to work for External Affairs, but his wife’s pamphlet led to his being sidelined. He was investigated by New Zealand’s security agencies and resigned in 1954, returning to journalism. He died in 1995.

DAN DAVIN

He was awarded a DLitt from the University of Otago. In the 1987 New Year Honours, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to literature. He died in 1990.