death_date death_place birth_place birth_date alt known_for image article_title name
06 march 1961 botley , oxfordshire , england smethwick , staffordshire , england 29 november 1888 sepia male with short , slicked-back hair and a centre parting monochrome . bust-length portrait of a clean shaven white mi6 agent supposedly shooting rasputin oswald rayner.jpg oswald rayner
 oswald theodore rayner
oswald rayner

oswald rayner -lrb- born 29 november 1888 , smethwick , staffordshire , england , died 6 march 1961 , botley , oxfordshire , england -rrb- was a british mi6 agent in russia during world war i .
he later went on to be `` the daily telegraph '' correspondent in finland .
oswald theodore rayner was born in smethwick , the son of thomas rayner , a draper in soho street and his wife florence .
between the 1907 and 1910 rayner studied modern languages at oriel college , oxford .
during his time at oxford , rayner formed a close relationship with felix yusupov , who was also enrolled at the university .
by the outbreak of the first world war , rayner was highly proficient in french , german , and russian , and so he was recruited by mi6 as an intelligence officer .
he is believed to have been involved in the final murder plot against grigori rasputin , and according to andrew cook he is supposed to have been the person who fired the shot that actually killed rasputin .
