Background
As the tension of the Cold War is peaking in 1973, George Smiley, former senior official in Britain's … See more

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the fifth of le Carré's spy novels to feature the character of George Smiley (the first four being: Call for the Dead, A Murder of Quality, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and The Looking Glass War) and the fictionalized intelligence agency … See more

• George Smiley – Formerly a senior officer in the Circus, who was pushed out at the same time as Control, his mentor. Smiley's timid nature … See more

In a review for The New York Times written upon the novel's release in 1974, critic Richard Locke called Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy "fluently … See more

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is set against a theme of decline in British influence on the world stage after the Second World War, with the USSR and the USA emerging as the dominant … See more

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy employs spy jargon that is presented as the authentic insider-speak of British Intelligence. Le Carré noted that, with the exception of a few terms like mole … See more

Television
A TV adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was made by the BBC in 1979. It was a seven-part serial … See more