For a moment, it looked as though she’d killed it too” “ for the salmon en croute, so she’d decided to tear it apart with two forks. There is an extraordinarily interesting account of a lunch party with then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher – he seems to have respected her as a person while not being any kind of natural Tory, and describes her splendidly: They plainly got on well, although elsewhere le Carré says “Guinness is having the vapours as usual – this time it’s the director who is too something & not enough something else”.

The letters le Carré sends Alec Guinness, who personifies Smiley for most people (above all in the TV series of Tinker Tailor), are another great joy. He created one truly memorable character in spymaster George Smiley. Le Carré, and the books such as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, held a special place in British life: he was revered and respected, able to go anywhere and meet anyone he chose. However the letters we do get make for good reading. And there is mention of certain letters from le Carré that were “lacerating” and indiscreet – about public figures, not about his love life – but they are not used. Publication of the letters was slightly pre-empted by the recent publication of a memoir by one of the women with whom he had an affair from the 80s, someone who is not referenced in this book.

Le carre spy alec guinness