A Bulgarian umbrella is an
umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism which injects a small poisonous pellet containing
ricin. It has a hollowed stalk in which the pellet neatly sits.
Recorded usage
Such an umbrella was used in and named for the assassination of the Bulgarian dissident writer
Georgi Markov on 7 September 1978[1] (the birthday of the
Bulgarian State Council chairmanTodor 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.[2]
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
The episode "
Seven Thirty-Seven" of the American
crime dramaBreaking 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.[4]