John Le Carre On John Bingham And The Inspiration For George Smiley

The British newspaper the Telegraph offers a piece on John le Carre's response to the claim that John Bingham, the MI5 officer le Carre based his character George Smiley on, despised le Carre's portrayal of British spies.

He is one of Britain’s most celebrated of literary characters of the twentieth century - a spymaster who personified the country’s Cold War intelligence battles. 
 

Now, his creator, John le Carré, has shed new light on the inspiration behind George Smiley, and defended himself against accusations that he had "hurt" his former mentor in the secret service, on whom the character was partly based. 
 

The author, who worked for both MI5 and MI6 during the 1950s and 1960s, has written to the Daily Telegraph to respond to accusations in Tuesday's newspaper which claimed that John Bingham, his former boss, had “deplored” the author’s portrayal of the intelligence services. The letter said Bingham had “not been treated as respectfully as he deserved by his protégé”. 
 

That intervention, from Lord Lexden, a Conservative peer and historian had, in turn, been prompted by revelations in last week's Daily Telegraph about Bingham’s achievements during the Second World War.     

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10676670/John-le-Carre-on-the-inspiration-for-George-Smiley.html

You can also read an earlier post on John Bingham via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/03/british-mi5-officer-who-inspired-george.html 

Letter To The Editor: John Bingham, The Wartime Spy Who Never Wanted To Be John Le Carre's Character George Smiley

In response to a piece in the British newspaper the Telegraph about MI5 officer John Bingahm, a reader sent the below letter to the editor:

SIR – John Bingham was one of our most remarkable Second World War spies. The M15 documents that have just been released (“Spy who turned Hitler’s British supporters into unwitting double agents”, report, February 28) show the scale of his achievement in neutralising the espionage of British fascists, who were more widespread than is supposed.
 

This modest hero, who was also the 7th Baron Clanmorris – an Ulster title without property – was not treated as respectfully as he deserved by his protégé, John le Carré, who immortalised him as George Smiley. He was hurt by the portrayal of his secret world in the novels.
 

The author, Bingham once said, “was my friend, but I deplore and hate everything he has done and said against the intelligence services”. No one cared more about his country and its institutions than John Bingham, to whom we owe so much.
 

Lord Lexden
London SW1

You can read the Telegraph piece on John Bingham via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/02/john-bingham-spy-who-turned-hitlers.html

Note: John Binham is also the subject of Michael Jago's book, The Man Who Was Smiley: The Life of John Bingham (Biteback) .