Le Carre dies aged 90

Le Carre born David Cornwell in 1931, entered a career in undercover intelligence after studying at Oxford and then joined the Foreign Office, initially based at the British Embassy in Bonn, where he worked in the intelligence records department, a role which gave an insight into the workings of the secret service.

He published his first novel Call For The Dead in 1961. His career as a spy came to an end in 1964 after his name was one of the many given to the Soviet Union by a double agent, which inspired him to write Thinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,