Bulgarian umbrella Bulgarian umbrella A Bulgarian umbrella is an umbrella with a hidden pneumatic mechanism which injects a small poisonous pellet containing ricin. It has a hollowed stalk into which the pellet neatly sits. Such an umbrella was allegedly 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 three days later. It was also allegedly used in the failed assassination attempt against the Bulgarian dissident journalist
Waterloo Bridge (1940 film) in New York and shortly after in London to positive reviews. "It owed much to the dialogue of Robert E. Sherwood's original play, and to good, shrewd screen directing." The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: According to MGM records the film earned $1,250,000 in the US and Canada and $1,217,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $491,000. "Waterloo Bridge" was dramatized as a half-hour radio play on two broadcasts of "The Screen Guild Theater", the first on January 12, 1941 with Brian Aherne and Joan Fontaine and the second on September 9, 1946 with Barbara