Born on this day in Poole, England, David Cornwell, who would later be recognized as the spy novelist John le Carre.
The father of Le Carre, a charismatic yet dishonest con artist, accumulated millions in debt, duped friends and family with fictitious schemes, and served time in prison for embezzlement.
Ron Cornwell, known for his charm and delightful presence, maintained a lavish façade of wealth and enrolled both of his sons, Anthony and David, in an elite boarding school.
At the age of 16, David ventured abroad to learn German. He became part of the British intelligence service in Austria prior to his time at Oxford. Following his studies at Oxford, he taught French and Latin at Eton before joining the British Foreign Service in West Germany in 1959. During this period, he also got married, became a father to three sons, and chronicled his foreign service experiences through writing.
In 1961, he released his debut spy novel, Call for the Dead. This novel, alongside his subsequent work, A Murder of Quality (1962), introduced the character of spy George Smiley. Following the success of his third novel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1963), which was adapted into a film in 1965, Cornwell decided to leave his governmental position to pursue writing full time.
His 1974 bestseller, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, began a trilogy that continued with The Honorable Schoolboy (1977) and Smiley’s People (1980), all featuring George Smiley. The 1986 release, A Perfect Spy, was the first of his works that did not require submission to the British government for approval and potential censorship, a stipulation that had been obligatory due to his previous ties with intelligence.
Notably, this novel most closely mirrored Cornwell’s own life, as its storyline included a charismatic con man as the father of the protagonist.
