NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a spy novel by John le Carré, first published in 1974. Image File history File links JohnLeCarre_TinkerTailorSoldierSpy. ... John le CarrÃ© is the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born October 19, 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), an English writer of espionage novels. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The spy fiction genre (sometimes called political thriller) first arose just before the First World War, at about the same time, the first organized intelligence agencies were being formed. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... // Random House is a publishing house based in New York City. ... Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hodder Headline. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... â€œISBNâ€ redirects here. ... The Honourable Schoolboy, published in 1977, is the second novel of the Karla Trilogy, written by spy author John Le CarrÃ©. Although George Smiley has a major role, the eponymous protagonist is the Honourable Jerry Westerby, Esq. ... The spy fiction genre (sometimes called political thriller) first arose just before the First World War, at about the same time, the first organized intelligence agencies were being formed. ... John le CarrÃ© is the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born October 19, 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), an English writer of espionage novels. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ...

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the first book in a three-book series informally known as The Karla Trilogy. The series has been formally compiled in one volume titled The Quest for Karla. The two succeeding novels in this loose trilogy are The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. The Quest for Karla, by John le Carre is an omnibus edition of three novels concerning George Smileys fight against Karla, his counterpart in the Soviet KGB. The books contained are: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy The Honourable Schoolboy Smileys People ... The Honourable Schoolboy, published in 1977, is the second novel of the Karla Trilogy, written by spy author John Le CarrÃ©. Although George Smiley has a major role, the eponymous protagonist is the Honourable Jerry Westerby, Esq. ... For the article by Neal Stephenson, see Smileys people. ...

Plot introduction

In these novels, Le Carré sought, fictionally, to recreate from his personal experience the revelations of the 1950s and 60s that exposed many British Intelligence officers, including Kim Philby, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, as double agents in the employ of the KGB. Philby, the aforementioned double, was at one point responsible for betraying the MI-6 employed Le Carré, along with subordinate agents, to the Soviets.^{[citation needed]} This does not cite any references or sources. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), more commonly known as MI6 (originally Military Intelligence [section] 6), or Her Majestys Secret Service or just the Secret Service, is the British external security agency. ... Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell Kim Philby or H.A.R. Philby (OBE: 1946-1965), (1 January 1912 â€“ 11 May 1988) was a high-ranking member of British intelligence, a communist, and spy for the Soviet Unions NKVD and KGB. In 1963, Philby was revealed as a member of... Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 â€“ 30 August 1963) was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent who worked for the Soviet Union and was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed allied secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War. ... Donald Duart Maclean Donald Duart Maclean (25 May 1913 â€“ 6 March 1983) was a career British diplomat turned Soviet intelligence agent. ... A double agent pretends to spy on a target organization on behalf of a controlling organization, but in fact is loyal to the target organization. ... This article is about the KGB of the Soviet Union. ... The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6),[1] is the United Kingdoms external intelligence agency. ... â€œCCCPâ€ redirects here. ...

The set-up

George Smiley, the book's old, estranged, overweight, taciturn and sharp-minded protagonist, is called from his uneasy retirement to work an outside intelligence job for the integrity of the British Secret Intelligence Service. There is a mole still in a high-ranking position in the Service, referred to as "The Circus" for its supposed location at London's Cambridge Circus. Few people can be trusted to help, and the book fills up with the careful, gentle interrogation of those who can help to fill in the story of why Smiley was fired with so many others, and how, all of a sudden, the Circus was turned inside-out. Book cover showing Sir Alec Guiness as George Smiley. ... A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation and works within his nations government. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Cambridge Circus is a London traffic intersection (not actually a roundabout) at the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road. ...

Image File history File links Tinkerlg. ... Image File history File links Tinkerlg. ...

The title

The novel's title is from the children's rhyme "Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief." Some of the professions mentioned are used as code names assigned to the five mole-agent suspects: Tinker Tailor is a counting game traditionally played in England, similar to the American Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. ... A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. ...

Sir Percy Alleline is a fictional character in British novelist John Le CarrÃ©s work. ... Bill Haydon is a fictional character created by John Le CarrÃ©. He was played in the television version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by Ian Richardson. ... In the fictional novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Roy Bland is in charge of Eastern bloc spying for MI6 and known to Prideaux and Smiley by the codename Soldier. He is suspected of being a mole inside The Circus who has been selling top secret material to the Soviets. ... Not to be confused with the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement about airlines financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ... Toby Esterhase is a character in John Le Carres George Smiley novels. ... Book cover showing Sir Alec Guiness as George Smiley. ...

Plot summary

Witchcraft

"Witchcraft" is the codename for the information obtained from source Merlin, supposedly comprising a high-ranking Soviet defector named Viktorov (known as Polyakov) and a number of other advantageously-placed disloyal Soviets. The information is very profitable and greatly impresses those permitted to share its content. Witchcraft's success results in the undermining of Control (head of service) by a number of senior officers Percy Alleline, Bill Haydon, Roy Bland, and Toby Esterhase. However, Merlin is in fact orchestrated by Karla as a means towards controlling both British and U.S. Intelligence. Karla is the small, snowy-haired Soviet Intelligence half-legend antagonist who loves to pull the strings of Western nations in le Carré's novels. One choice anecdote we are given concerning him is that once, in the second world war, Karla had run a disinformation campaign so well that German artillery shelled its own troops. This is the sort of thing we are to expect of Karla's character, but on much grander scales. A defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. ... Sir Percy Alleline is a fictional character in British novelist John Le CarrÃ©s work. ... Bill Haydon is a fictional character created by John Le CarrÃ©. He was played in the television version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by Ian Richardson. ... In the fictional novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Roy Bland is in charge of Eastern bloc spying for MI6 and known to Prideaux and Smiley by the codename Soldier. He is suspected of being a mole inside The Circus who has been selling top secret material to the Soviets. ... Toby Esterhase is a character in John Le Carres George Smiley novels. ...

Operation Testify

A major part of the background story, not revealed until late into the novel, is 'Operation Testify'. A blown one-man espionage operation near Brno, Czechoslovakia, Testify was mounted in secret by Control (the anonymous Head of British Intelligence, the name reflects that the head of the Secret Intelligence Service, SIS, otherwise known as MI6., was referred to as "C") to determine the identity of the unidentified Soviet mole in the Circus. The plan is that Jim Prideaux, a recurring character in le Carré's novels, would meet with a Czech General named Stevcek in a remote cabin in the woods near Brno, close to the Czech-Austrian border. There, the identity would be revealed, sure to be one of the five highest ranking British agents next to Control, following which Prideaux would get the name back to Control by pre-arranged code: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Poor Man, or Beggar Man, corresponding to Alleline, Haydon, Bland, Esterhase, and Smiley, respectively. Control had also explained why some of the occupations from the original rhyme were not used: Sailor sounded too much like Tailor and may be misheard if Prideaux could only squeeze out a single word, even if Prideaux had to "make it to Prague and chalk it on the Embassy door or ring the Prague resident and yell it down the phone at him". Richman seemed inappropriate (as it sounded like a name that would be used in a fraud operation), whereas the use of Poor Man for Esterhase and Beggar Man for Smiley seemed more than fitting. Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region South Moravia Founded 1146 Area - city 230. ...

As secret as the mission was supposed to be, however, the Soviets lie in wait for Prideaux, who is shot in the back, interrogated, and broken, by Karla, and eventually returned to England as a living example of the failure of Control, to compound the rout of Control, where he is told by Toby Esterhase to keep quiet. The failed mission makes the news and causes a big stink, ensuring that Control is de-throned, and that those loyal to him, including Smiley, are discredited, discharged, and disavowed, along with any others who might throw any light on the failure such as Connie Sachs (the Head of Soviet Research - modelled on Millicent Bagot) and Sam Collins who Control had drafted in as Duty Officer on the night of the potential rendez-vous between Prideaux and Stevcek. Millicent Jessie Eleanor Bagot, CBE (28 March 1907-26 May 2006), was a British intelligence agent, and the model for the character Connie Sachs, the eccentric Soviet expert who appeared in John le CarrÃ©s Smileys People and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. ...

There are three of them, and Alleline

Shortly after Operation Testify, Control, who had already been suffering from heart disease, dies. Ambitious, political and not totally successful in the field, although good in India and Latin-America, and disliked and humiliated by Control who thought him a "show horse", Percy Alleline succeeds him. The entire organization goes through re-organization. "Centralism" is out, "Lateralism" is in - everything operational now goes through London Station, headed by Bill Haydon.

Witchcraft is the main bread-winner now, bringing with it all the good favour of the diplomats who fund the Circus. But it's actually a very sticky situation. Source Merlin, Polyakov, meets very often, with much reliability. To reduce the risk of his being caught, Polyakov creates the alibi of talking to a British defector. He arranges trades of information, and gives Moscow Centre some information back, to cover it up. He can meet freely with high members of the Circus, with reduced worries of being caught.

Yet the Brits seem to give out only "chicken feed," while he gives them real sensitive information. There is nothing which the Circus willingly gives Merlin which would make a free exchange worthwhile for his comrades in Russia, implying that he must be getting more out of them from another source. This is where the mole comes in -- the unknown Gerald, the real defector, is giving Russia extra information.

Six months after Operation Testify, Ricki Tarr, a maverick and discredited Far Eastern agent, turns up in London with a story claiming that there was a mole (a deeply concealed double agent) in the Circus (ie S.I.S/M.I.6) HQ, located at Cambridge Circus. Smiley -- who finds in Tarr some confirmation of his own long-held suspicions -- is enticed out of retirement to investigate the claims; he is formally albeit tangentially backed by Sir Oliver Lacon of the Cabinet Office. Smiley is aided by Peter Guillam, a former protegé, who has, in the interim, been passed over for promotion and exiled to manage an emasculated bunch of Circus operatives, the 'Scalphunters', in Brixton. A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation and works within his nations government. ... Cambridge Circus may be a reference to: Cambridge Circus, the junction of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road in London. ... Oliver Lacon is a Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office in John Le Carres George Smiley novels: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smileys People. ... Peter Guillam is a fictional character in John le CarrÃ©s series of espionage novels. ... Brixton is an area of South London, England, part of the London Borough of Lambeth. ...

Smiley takes an hotel room in then early 1970s downmarket London's Paddington Station environs from which the hunt for Gerald (the codename for the mole revealed by Tarr) begins. He needs help, and asks Lacon for "Control's man, Mendel" (formerly of Special Branch) who then organized security and facilities for Smiley at the Islay Hotel. Special Branch is the arm of the British, Irish and many Commonwealth police forces that deals with national security matters. ...

Smiley gradually pieces together the story by analyzing files, interrogating witnesses and trawling through his own memory and those of other retired Circus personnel until he finally unmasks the mole "Gerald" at the heart of the Circus. "Gerald" is arrested, interrogated and when all is finished, he is to be flown to Moscow in exchange for some of his imprisoned victims, at which point Jim Prideaux appears, with revenge in mind. Smiley is temporarily appointed as acting Circus Head, and a major reshuffle of operations and personnel is to be expected.

Television adaptation

The novel was dramatized as a seven-part television series, featuring Alec Guinness as George Smiley, for the BBC in 1979. It was shown in 1980 in America on PBS on their Great Performances series with introductions by Robert MacNeil to help explain the workings of the British Secret Service. Later American showings edited the seven episodes into six, and it is this format that is currently available on DVD in the US. Image File history File links Tinkertailor. ... Image File history File links Tinkertailor. ... Sir Alec Guinness CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 â€“ August 5, 2000) was an Academy Award and Tony Award-winning English actor who became one of the most versatile and best-loved performers of his generation. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ... Great Performances was a television series devoted to the performing arts which ran on the US television station PBS from 1972. ... Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, sometimes called by his nickname Robin, (born January 19, 1931) is a television news anchor and journalist who paired with Jim Lehrer to create The MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1975. ... Size comparison: A 12 cm Sony DVD+RW and a 19 cm Dixon Ticonderoga pencil. ...

The opening credits have a matrioshka doll that progressively reveals one doll more irate than the next, with the final doll having no face whatsoever. This is reminiscent of Churchill's description of Russia as being "A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." but is more directly based on a passage in the novel. A Matryoshka doll (Cyrillic матрёшка or матрешка) is a Russian nesting doll. ... â€œChurchillâ€ redirects here. ...

The series' first showing in 1979 coincided with the announcement that Anthony Blunt, Keeper of the Queen's pictures, had also spied with Burgess et al for Moscow. Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 â€“ 26 March 1983) was an English art historian and the Fourth Man of the Cambridge Five, a group of spies working for the Soviet Union during the Cold War. ...

Cast

Music - Geoffrey Burgon - 1979 Ivor Novello Award Sir Alec Guinness CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 â€“ August 5, 2000) was an Academy Award and Tony Award-winning English actor who became one of the most versatile and best-loved performers of his generation. ... Michael Jayston (born 29th October, 1935 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire) is a British actor. ... Anthony Bate (born 31 August 1929 in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, England) is an actor. ... Bernard Hepton (born October 19, 1925 in Bradford, England) is a British actor. ... Ian William Richardson CBE (7 April 1934 â€“ 9 February 2007) was a Scottish actor best known for playing the Machiavellian politician Francis Urquhart in the House of Cards trilogy for the BBC. // Born in Edinburgh, Richardson was educated at Balgreen Primary School and Tynecastle High School in the city,[1... Ian Bannen (June 29, 1928 - November 3, 1999) was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man. ... Hywel Thomas Bennett (born 8 April 1944) is a Welsh actor, born in Garnant, Carmarthenshire, Wales. ... Michael William ffolliott Aldridge[1] (9 September 1920 â€“ 10 January 1994) was an English actor. ... Terence Rigby (born 2 January 1937 in Birmingham, England) is an actor with a number of film and television credits to his name. ... Alexander Knox (January 16, 1907 _ April 25, 1995) was a Canadian actor. ... George Sewell (31 August 1924 â€” 1 April 2007), was an English actor, the son of a florist family in Tottenham, London. ... Beryl Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in industrial Manchester, England. ... Joss Ackland CBE (born Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland on February 29, 1928 in North Kensington, London) is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films in his career. ... SiÃ¢n Phillips (pronounced IPA: ), CBE is a Welsh actress who was born Jane Elizabeth AilwÃªn Phillips in Betws, Carmarthenshire, Wales, on May 14, 1933. ... Nigel Stock (actor) Nigel Stock was a veteran British actor of stage, screen, radio and TV, known as a character actor in particular. ... Patrick Stewart OBE (born July 13, 1940) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated English film, television and stage actor. ... Sir John Standing, 4th Baronet (born John Ronald Leon 16 August 1934 in London, England) is an actor. ... Thorley Walters was a British film and TV character actor born in 1913 and dying in 1991. ... Warren Clarke (b. ... Alec Sabin is a British actor. ... Hilary Minster (1945(*) â€“ 24 November 1999) was an English actor. ... George Pravda (born 1918 in Prague, Czechoslovakia-died 1985) was an actor. ... Geoffrey Burgon (16 July 1941 - ) is a British composer, famous for television and film themes. ... The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards awarded for songwriting and composing. ...

External links

Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since April 2007 | 1974 novels | Spy novels | Books by John le Carré | BBC television dramas | British television miniseries | Espionage television series | Television programs based on novels | Television shows set in Oxford | 1979 television program debuts | John le Carré Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...

Contents

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