John Le Carre dies aged 89: Tributes to creator of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, and The Night Manager
direct to your inboxCold War espionage author David Cornwell, known by his pen name John le Carre, has died aged 89 after a battle with pneumonia.Among his 25 novels were acclaimed best-sellers including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, and The Night Manager.Cornwell drew on his experience working for the British intelligence services including MI6 during the Cold War in his writing, but later in life said he was irked at the extent to which his fiction was portrayed as representing real-world spying.His most well-known character was the career intelligence officer George Smiley – made even more famous by Alec Guinness in the TV series of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.Born in 1931, Cornwell was first educated at the