The New York Times: John le Carre
- #news
- #headline
Figure timeline
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell, known by his pen name John le Carré, was an English author. Many of his espionage novels have been adapted for film or television. He has been described as a "sophisticated, morally ambiguous writer", and is considered one of the greatest novelists of the postwar era. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked for both the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence S…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
entertainment · Irish-British novelist and former spy (1931–2020) · novelist · screenwriter · film producer · actor · spy · writer · also John le Carré, David John Moore Cornwell, David Cornwell, John le Carre, Carré
Born 19 October 1931 · Died 12 December 2020 · Q209641
66 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
1 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Award
- Award
2026· 1 entry
2025· 6 entries
The Guardian: Le Carré with a cocktail, not a cuppa: the glamour and escapism of The Night Manager
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: The story behind the spy stories: show reveals secrets of John le Carré’s craft
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: John le Carré: the constant researcher | Brief letters
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: ‘Like an academic’: private papers reveal John le Carré’s attention to detail
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Ukraine war has reignited ‘cold war strategies’, says John le Carré’s son
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Matthew Macfadyen to play George Smiley in new John le Carré TV show
- #news
- #headline
2024· 4 entries
The Guardian: Karla’s Choice: A John le Carré Novel by Nick Harkaway review – the Circus is back in town
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Exclusive extract from Karla’s Choice: A John le Carré Novel by Nick Harkaway
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: ‘There was eye-watering fear’: John le Carré’s son on writing a new George Smiley novel
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold review – first staging of le Carré classic is a hot ticket
- #news
- #headline
2023· 4 entries
The Guardian: John le Carré’s son to write new George Smiley novel
- #news
- #headline
New York Post: John le Carré’s life was as betrayal-filled as his spy novels
- #news
- #headline
Biographer Adam Sisman in The Secret Life of John le Carré identified 11 women with whom le Carré had affairs during his second marriage
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
In 2023, biographer Adam Sisman in The Secret Life of John le Carré identified 11 women with whom le Carré had affairs during his second marriage.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
2022· 1 entry
Released album “L'espion qui aimait les livres”.
- #musicbrainz
- #release
- #work
2021· 1 entry
Le Carré's son Nicholas revealed that his father's disillusionment with modern Britain, and Brexit in particular, had driven him to embrace his Irish heritage and become an Irish citizen
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2020· 17 entries
Yahoo: John le Carré Remembered as ‘Superb’ Writer With Style and Substance
- #news
- #headline
The Hollywood Reporter: John le Carré, British Master of Espionage Novels, Dies at 89
- #news
- #headline
Died 2020-12-12.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
“Heidelberg to miasto, w którym Ameryka romansuje z Niemcami.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Where I kick myself is where I think I actually contributed to the myth of the intelligence services being very good.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
“In every war zone that I've been in, there has been a reality and then there has been the public perception of why the war was being fought. In every crisis, in every confrontation that has come my way, the issues have been far more complex than the public has been allowed to know.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
“Postać: dr Markus Lorbeer”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Every writer wants to be believed. But every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
“Do nikogo chyba nie dociera, że nie da się zbudować społeczeństwa z dnia na dzień. Trzeba stuleci, żeby ukształtować dżentelmena.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Nie można eksperymentować z tradycją.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Nonkonformizm to najbardziej konserwatywna z ludzkich postaw (…)”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Czerwony Wół znajduje się w pięknym mieście Halle. To filia Hohenschönhausen.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Oni chcą wrzucić nas wszystkich do jednego worka: liberałów, socjalistów, trockistów, komunistów, anarchistów, antyglobalistów, pacyfistów. Dla nich wszyscy jesteśmy sympis, różowi. Wszyscy nienawidzimy Żydów i Ameryki i wszyscy w skrytości ducha podziwiamy Osamę. Wiesz, o czym marzą?”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“U-Boot to otoczony szczególnym kultem element naszego wschodnioniemieckiego gułagu. Trzej spośród moich współtowarzyszy z Białego Hotelu wyrażali się o nim z entuzjazmem. Oficjalna nazwa U-Boota to Zakład Karny Hohenschönhausen w Berlinie Wschodnim. Został zbudowany w czterdziestym piątym roku przez zapobiegliwą tajną policję radziecką.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Jeśli ktoś nie ma się na baczności, bardzo łatwo może się nabawić w Libanie nienawiści do państwa Izrael. Ja też przeszedłem tę chorobę. Brnąc przez błoto i odór zniszczonych obozów, kucając w ruderach okrytych workami z piaskiem, doszedłem do przekonania, że izraelska żądza zemsty nie zostanie nasycona, dopóki oczy ostatniego palestyńskiego dziecka nie zamkną się na zawsze.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Zdrajca potrzebuje dwóch rzeczy, wyznał mi gorzko Smiley w okresie, kiedy na jaw wyszła zdrada Haydona: musi kogoś nienawidzić i kogoś kochać.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
“Dzięki temu ona wie, że on wie, i on wie, że sam wie, i ja wiem, że oni wiedzą, i że nie ma żadnych niedomówień.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
2019· 2 entries
Awarded Olof Palme Prize (2019).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Commented: "I've always believed, though ironically it's not the way I've voted, that it's compassionate conservatism that in the end could, for example, integrate the private schooling system
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2018· 1 entry
Awarded German Crime Fiction Award for A Legacy of Spies (2018).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2017· 1 entry
Le Carré expressed concerns over the future of liberal democracy, saying: "I think of all things that were happening across Europe in the 1930s, in Spain, in Japan, obviously in Germany
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2015· 1 entry
SFGate: ‘John le Carré: The Biography,’ by Adam Sisman
- #news
- #headline
2011· 3 entries
Won Goethe Medal (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
They had three sons: film producers Simon and Stephen Cornwell (who in 2011 jointly founded production company The Ink Factory, which has produced several TV series based on Cornwell's novels), and journalist Tim Cornwell (1962-2022) They divorced in 1971.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
Jointly founded production company The Ink Factory, which has produced several TV series based on Cornwell's novels), and journalist Tim Cornwell (1962-2022) They divorced in 1971
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2010· 1 entry
Le Carré donated his literary archive to the Bodleian Library, Oxford
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2008· 3 entries
Awarded Honorary doctor at the University of Bern (2008).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
The Times ranked le Carré 22nd on its list of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
The Times named le Carré one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2005· 1 entry
Awarded Dagger of Daggers for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (2005).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2003· 1 entry
Le Carré criticised how neo-conservative influences and the Israel lobby shaped U
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1990· 1 entry
Awarded Helmerich Award (1990).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1989· 1 entry
Le Carré's writing shifted to the portrayal of the new multilateral world
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1988· 1 entry
Awarded Cartier Diamond Dagger (1988).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1986· 1 entry
Awarded Best Crime Novel in Swedish Translation for A Perfect Spy (1986).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1984· 1 entry
Awarded The Grand Master (1984).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1977· 1 entry
Awarded James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Honourable Schoolboy (1977).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1975· 1 entry
Cornwell paid for a memorial funeral service but did not attend, a plot point repeated in A Perfect Spy
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1972· 1 entry
Cornwell married Jane Eustace, a book editor with Hodder & Stoughton who collaborated with him behind the scenes
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1965· 1 entry
Awarded Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1964· 2 entries
Awarded Somerset Maugham Award for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1964).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Le Carré's career as an intelligence officer came to an end as the result of the betrayal of British agents' covers to the KGB by Kim Philby, the infamous British double agent, one of the Cambridge Five
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1960· 1 entry
Cornwell transferred to MI6, the foreign-intelligence service, and worked under the cover of Second Secretary at the British Embassy in Bonn
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1954· 2 entries
Cornwell left Oxford to teach at Millfield Preparatory School; however, a year later, he returned to Oxford, and graduated in 1956 with a first-class degree in modern languages with a German literature concentration
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Cornwell married childhood friend Alison Ann Veronica Sharp
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1952· 1 entry
Returned to England to study at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he worked covertly for the Security Service, MI5, spying on far-left groups for information about possible Soviet agents
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1950· 1 entry
Was called up for National Service in the British Army, and was commissioned in the Intelligence Corps as a second lieutenant on 21 October 1950
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1949· 1 entry
Studied at University of Bern (1948–1949).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #education
1931· 1 entry
Born 1931-10-19.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth