Bulgarian umbrella
A Bulgarian umbrella is an umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism which fires a small metal pellet containing ricin into the victim from extremely close range. • Illustration — Speculative diagram of the device.
Bulgarian umbrella
- Field
- umbrella · secret weapon
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1933859 · wikipedia · Bulgarian umbrella
In this article
Recorded usage
Recorded usage
Such an umbrella was used in and named for the assassination of the Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov on 7 September 1978 (the birthday of the Bulgarian State Council chairman Todor Zhivkov, who had often been the target of Georgi Markov's criticism) on Waterloo Bridge in London. Markov died four days later. It was also allegedly used in the failed assassination attempt against the Bulgarian dissident journalist Vladimir Kostov the same year in the Paris Métro. The poison used in both cases was ricin. Both assassination attempts are believed to have been organized by the Bulgarian Secret Service of the time of the Cold War with the assistance of the KGB. Such an umbrella was intended to be used to assassinate Pallo Jordan and Ronnie Kasrils by the apartheid-era South African Civil Cooperation Bureau death squad.
Chronology
Dated record
Chronology
The full dated record · 1 entries
1988
The Bulgarian umbrella (1988) is digitised and catalogued by Open Library.
Cultural influence
These two cases inspired: • The episode "Hot Ice" of Quincy, M.E. (1979) • The Markov case was referenced directly, and a similar assassination method used, in the 1979 novel The Green Ripper by John D. MacDonald. • The French film Le Coup du parapluie (The Umbrella Coup) directed by Gérard Oury and starring Pierre Richard (1980) • The episode "At All Costs" of The Sandbaggers (1980) • Two episodes of the British political comedy series Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister, where in "The Death List" (1981) the titular Minister Jim Hacker is told of various risks by methods of assassination, and in "A Diplomatic Incident" (1987) a Bulgarian umbrella is suggested as a way to kill a French puppy that was intended as gift to the Queen, to prevent a diplomatic incident caused by quarantine regulations • Bulgarian writer Stefan Kisyov's novel The Executioner (2003) • The episode "Seven Thirty-Seven" of the American crime drama Breaking Bad (2009), which features a plan by protagonists Walter White and Jesse Pinkman to kill a drug lord with ricin. During the introduction of the substance, White highlights the assassination of Markov as a successful case of ricin poisoning. • The episode "I, Murdoch" of Murdoch Mysteries (2009) • The episode "Obsession" of NCIS (2010) • The episode "Marionette" of Fringe (2010) • The 96th episode "A x Lawless x Home" of Hunter x Hunter (2011) features a character Feitan whose umbrella could shoot a projectile. • The episode "The Clock" of The Americans (2013) • The video games Splatoon 2 (2017) and Splatoon 3 (2022) feature Brellas, a weapon class consisting of umbrellas that can shoot shotgun-like blasts of ink. • The Hindi-language film Raazi (2018) • The 2022 Steven Soderbergh thriller Kimi features a public injection of an unknown sedative using the tip of an umbrella.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Bulgarian umbrella”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1933859: Bulgarian umbrella
General reference · Wikidata
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Bulgarian umbrella, revision 1374508431 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Holdsworth, Nick. Prime suspect in Georgi Markov "umbrella poison" murder tracked down to Austria. The Daily Telegraph. 23 March 2013.
- 2.Richard Edwards. Poison-tip umbrella assassination of Georgi Markov reinvestigated. The Daily Telegraph. 19 June 2008.
- 3.Andrew Walker. How an assassin bungled a deadly umbrella plot. The Independent. 13 May 2000.
- 4.7 spy gadgets that will blow your mind. Gadgets Now. 2 November 2020.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 4
- The Bulgarian Umbrella: The Soviet Direction and Operations of the Bulgarian Secret Service in Europe by Vladimir Kostov, Harvester Press (1988)
- The Global Investigative Journalism Casebook edited by Mark Hunter for UNESCO (2012)
- A Spy's London by Roy Berkeley and Rupert Allason, Pen & Sword Books (1994)
- Communication in Eastern Europe: The Role of History, Culture, and Media in Contemporary Conflicts edited by Fred L. Casimir, published by Lawrence Erlbaum (1995)
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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