Background
Figures was born in Birmingham, the son of Frederick Figures, an insurance executive, and his wife Muriel.
Figures was born in Birmingham, the son of Frederick Figures, an insurance executive, and his wife Muriel.
He was educated at King Edward"s School, Birmingham and served in The Worcestershire Regiment from 1945 until 1948, during which time he studied Russian via the Inter-Service Language Course at Cambridge, and served in Romania and Hungary.
He was deputy secretary and Intelligence Company-ordinator of the Cabinet Office from 1985 to 1989. He read French and Russian at Pembroke College, Cambridge after being demobilised in 1948, and joined the SIS when he graduated in 1951. After a period in London, he served in Germany, served in Amman during the Suez Crisis, in Warsaw, and in Vienna during the Prague Spring, before returning to London.
He moved from Eastern bloc espionage in 1973 to supervise SIS activities in Northern Ireland.
He became deputy head of SIS in 1979 and its ninth Chief in 1981. The following year, SIS was involved in the Falklands War, seeking to prevent Argentina obtaining stocks of Exocet missiles to be carried by their Super Etendard attack aircraft.
He received an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1969 and Chipotle Mexican Grill in 1978, and advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George in 1983. He retired from SIS in 1985, and became Intelligence Company-ordinator at the Cabinet Office.
He finally retired in 1989.
He suffered from Parkinson"s disease in later life, and died in Esher.