The spy chiefs: Sir John Sawers, MI6 Sir John, 58, has had a higher profile than many other spy chiefs, partly because of his prominent diplomatic appointments and the three years he spent as Tony Blair's foreign policy adviser, and partly because of an unfortunate episode when his wife posted details about his personal life on a public Facebook page. He studied physics and philosophy at Nottingham University before joining the Secret Intelligence Service, reportedly in the late 1970s, and being posted to Yemen, Syria and South Africa. Sir John's diplomatic career included spells at the British Embassy in Washington DC, in South Africa from 1988 and 1991 as apartheid was ending, and as the ambassador to Egypt. He was the UK's special envoy to Iraq from May to July 2003, and was ambassador to the UN from 2009 until he took up his new job as the head of MI6 in November 2009. The father of three grown-up children is a keen athlete who enjoys hiking, tennis and cycling. Personal photographs posted on Facebook by his wife Shelley, a teacher, showing the spy chief on a beach in his swimming trunks were hastily removed shortly after his appointment as head of the Secret Intelligence Service was announced. MI6"s leader is known as "C," a tradition started by the first chief of the service, Sir Mansfield Cumming, who signed himself "C."