The first female MI5 Director General Dame Stella Rimington has died aged 90, her family has announced.
Known as the "housewife superspy" when she assumed the role, Rimington is said to have inspired the role of Dame Judi Dench's M in the James Bond films.
The former Director General was born on May 13, 1935 in South Norwood, south London.
She died on Sunday night and in a statement, her family said she was "surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath".
Dame Stella Rimington died on Sunday night
|GETTY
Rimington joined the MI5 in a full-time capacity in 1969.
She was recruited as a part-time clerk typist by its office in New Delhi's British High Commission after she followed her husband who was on a diplomatic posting there four years earlier.
She became director of each of the service's operational branches.
Later she became Deputy Director General in 1991, and then the following year, Director General.
During her time as head between 1992 and 1996, there were threats from Russia and the IRA. It was also at a time when the Islamist terror threat was rising throughout the country.
She was the first leader to be publicly identified when she was appointed with a newspaper publishing a photo of her house.
Her family then moved to a covert location so they could be protected.
After leaving MI5 in 1996, Rimington became a novelist.
Following her retirement, she was embroiled in a row with former Whitehall colleagues about writing her memoirs.
"It was quite upsetting," she said.
"Suddenly you go from being an insider to being an outsider and that's quite a shock."
“I’ve never been one to retreat at the first whiff of gunshot," she at the time.
During her time as leader, Rimington admitted that the MI5 checked files on prospective MPs.
The move was to see if "there is anything in there of importance ... so the Prime Minister can take it into account when he forms his Government."
She insisted that individuals who the MI5 had files on, shouldn't be allowed to see them.
Rimington did, however, acknowledge that the MI5 was "overenthusiastic" during the cold war, saying it opened files on people who were not "actively threatening the state".