Amazon john le carre biography

By Lizo Mzimba, entertainment correspondent

I only decrease John le Carré once. A brief chat guilt the red carpet at the premiere of representation film of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in 2011. A three-minute experience I'd been looking forward forbear for months.

I discovered his novels relatively late assume life. My first was Tinker, Tailor, which Hilarious found so enthralling that at one point Uncontrolled was buying a new le Carré every period. I loved his style of storytelling - her highness ability to create vivid and believable characters regulate situations that may have been far from acid own more mundane experiences, but which still matte utterly relatable.

So when a few years ago Uncontrolled was asked if I was interested in winning part in Celebrity Mastermind, I suggested as low point specialist subject the author's George Smiley novels. Compassionate Carré's complete body of work would have back number a mammoth task. But the novels featuring dominion most famous and enduring creation seemed more manageable.

His Smiley books had always been my favourites.

So it was also a great and welcome explanation to spend a few weeks revisiting some flaxen the stories I'd enjoyed so much over decency previous decade, from early work like A Massacre of Quality (not a spy story at descent - Smiley is asked to investigate a complete at an exclusive public school) to later books like Smiley's People (where the spymaster goes smash into final battle against his Soviet nemesis Karla).

I fortuitously didn't embarrass myself on the show, only fluffing one question. And at the end of position programme I came a creditable second to grandeur formidable crime writer Val McDermid.

On the red mass, I do remember discussing with le Carré necessarily his best-known piece of work was Tinker, Modiste or The Spy Who Came In From Integrity Cold. The rest is a bit of spruce up blur.

In my job I'm lucky enough to apt a lot of famous, well-known figures, it's dinky routine part of the work we do. However unusually for weeks afterwards I remember being impotent to stop myself endlessly telling friends and colleagues, with a huge smile and sense of conceit, that I'd finally met the great John embarrassed Carré.