Espionage fiction is Australia’s unloved genre, but how we speak, write and think about Australia’s intelligence gathering and espionage activities matters.
Gary Oldman as George Smiley.
Jack English/Focus Features/AAP
Alexander Howard stumbled on spymaster John Le Carré soon after relishing a James Bond film. And he was instantly hooked on George Smiley, Le Carré’s unglamorous bureaucrat-detective – an unlikely hero.
John Le Carré in a scene from The Pigeon Tunnel.
Apple TV+
John le Carré and Ian Fleming, the world’s most famous spy novelists, share experience in UK intelligence and difficult childhoods. But their heroes, George Smiley and James Bond, are very different.
Daniel Craig as James Bond in the 2006 film adaptation of Casino Royale.
IMDB