|
Control (fictional Character)
__NOTOC__ Control is a fictional character created by John le Carré who is the head of the British overseas intelligence agency (nicknamed "The Circus" after its location in Cambridge Circus, London). He is a character in the novels '' The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' and '' The Looking Glass War'', and is referred to in '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and several others, usually by le Carré's recurring protagonist George Smiley, who served as Control's right-hand man. "Control" is a '' nom de guerre'', based on the real codename for the head of MI6. The character's real name is never given, and it is suggested that he successfully kept his true identity secret even from his inner circle of advisors. His wife believes him to be a minor civil servant in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. In the original screenplay for the film adaptation of ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'', Smiley muses that Control had once told him that Howard Staunton was the greatest chess master ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. A "sophisticated, morally ambiguous writer", he 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 Service (MI6). Near the end of his life, le Carré became an Irish citizen. Le Carré's third novel, ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' (1963), became an international best-seller, was adapted as an award-winning film, and remains one of his best-known works. This success allowed him to leave MI6 to become a full-time author. His other novels that have been adapted for film or television include '' The Looking Glass War'' (1965), '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' (1974), '' Smiley's People'' (1979), '' The Little Drummer Girl'' (1983), '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Legacy Of Spies
''A Legacy of Spies'' is a 2017 spy novel by British writer John le Carré. Background ''A Legacy of Spies'' is both a prequel and a sequel to John le Carré's ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' and '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy''. In ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'', Alec Leamas, an agent of the British overseas intelligence agency called " The Circus", who is motivated by the death of his operative Karl Riemeck while crossing from East Berlin to West Berlin, agrees to undertake one final mission to get revenge on the man he believes to be Riemeck's murderer, a high-ranking member of the Stasi named Hans-Dieter Mundt. In the course of Leamas's mission, which finds him unexpectedly extracted to East Berlin, he – along with his lover, a young British Communist sympathiser named Liz Gold – is shot dead at the Berlin Wall, on orders of Mundt. The men responsible for dispatching Leamas – intelligence chief Control, Control's right-hand-man George Smiley, and Smiley's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mansfield Smith-Cumming
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming (1 April 1859 – 14 June 1923) was a British naval officer who served as the first Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Origins He was a great-great-grandson of the prominent merchant John Smith, a director of both the South Sea Company and the East India Company, the second son of Abel Smith (1717–1788), Abel Smith (d. 1756), the Nottingham banker who founded a banking dynasty and whose business much later became National Westminster Bank, now one of the largest banks in the United Kingdom.J. Leighton Boyce, ''Smith's the Bankers 1658–1958'' (1958). His father was Colonel John Thomas Smith of the Madras Royal Engineers who became Master of the Madras and India Government Mint, Kolkata, Calcutta Mints and designed a machine for minting coins that was displayed at the Great Exhibition in 1851.A. Judd, ''The Quest for C'' (1999). Early naval career Smith join ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Captain (Royal Navy)
Captain (Capt.) is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above commander and below commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a colonel in the British Army and Royal Marines, and to a group captain in the Royal Air Force. There are similarly named equivalent ranks in the navies of many other countries. Seagoing captains In the Royal Navy, the officer in command of any warship of the rank of commander and below is informally referred to as "the captain" on board, even though holding a junior rank, but formally is titled "the commanding officer" (or CO). Until the nineteenth century Royal Navy officers who were captains by rank and in command of a naval vessel were referred to as post-captains. Captain (D) or Captain Destroyers, afloat, was an operational appointment commanding a destroyer flotilla or squadron, and there was a corresponding administrative appointment ashore, until at least a decade after the Second World War. The t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human intelligence (intelligence gathering), human intelligence on foreign nationals in support of its Five Eyes partners. SIS is one of the British intelligence agencies and the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service ("C") is directly accountable to the Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom), Foreign Secretary. Formed in 1909 as the foreign section of the Secret Service Bureau, the section grew greatly during the World War I, First World War, officially adopting its current name around 1920. The name "MI6" originated as a convenient label during the World War II, Second World War, when SIS was known by many names. It is still commonly used today. The existence of SIS was not officially acknowledged until 1994. That year the Intelligence Services A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Of The Secret Intelligence Service
The Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service serves as the head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also commonly known as MI6), which is part of the United Kingdom intelligence community. The chief is appointed by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, foreign secretary, to whom they report directly. Annual reports are also made to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister. The chief of the Secret Intelligence Service typically signs letters with a "C" in green ink. This originates from the initial used by Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, when he signed a letter "C" in green ink. Since then the chief has been known as "C". History From 1782 until 1909, British intelligence at the government level was handled directly by the Foreign Office, with the Army and Navy also maintaining their own intelligence branches. By 1909, growing tensions with Germany led the Committee of Imperial Defence to recommend the creatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Bit Of Fry & Laurie
''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'' is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, broadcast on both BBC1 and BBC2 between 1989 and 1995. It ran for four series with 26 episodes, including a 36-minute pilot episode in 1987. As in ''The Two Ronnies'', elaborate wordplay and innuendo were staples. It frequently broke the fourth wall; characters would revert to their real-life actors mid-sketch, or the camera would often pan off set into the studio. The show was punctuated with non sequitur vox pops in a similar style to those of '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', often making irrelevant statements and wordplay. Laurie was also seen playing piano and other instruments and singing comical numbers. Broadcast details The 36-minute pilot was broadcast on BBC1 at 11:55pm on Boxing Day 1987, although it was later edited to 29 minutes for repeat transmissions (including broadcasts on the Paramount ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Fry
Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'' (1989–1995) and ''Jeeves and Wooster'' (1990–1993). He also starred in the sketch series ''Alfresco (TV series), Alfresco'' (1983–1984) with Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Robbie Coltrane, and in ''Blackadder'' (1986–1989) alongside Rowan Atkinson. Since 2011 he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind (charity), Mind. In 2025, he was Knight Bachelor, knighted for services to mental health awareness, the environment and charity. Fry's film acting roles include playing Oscar Wilde in the film ''Wilde (film), Wilde'' (1997), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor; Inspector Thompson in Robert Altman's murder mystery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (TV Series)
''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1979 British seven-part spy drama by the BBC. John Irvin directed and Jonathan Powell produced this adaptation of John le Carré's novel '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' (1974). The serial, which stars Alec Guinness, Alexander Knox, Ian Richardson, Michael Jayston, Bernard Hepton, Anthony Bate, Ian Bannen, George Sewell and Michael Aldridge, was shown in the United Kingdom from 10 September to 22 October 1979, and in the United States beginning on 29 September 1980. The US version was from the original seven episodes to fit into six episodes. The series, which received widespread acclaim, was followed by '' Smiley's People'' in 1982. Plot George Smiley, deputy to the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, has been forced into retirement in the wake of Operation Testify, a failed spy mission in Czechoslovakia. The Chief of the Circus, known only as Control, had sent veteran agent Jim Prideaux to meet a Czechoslovak general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox (16 January 1907 – 25 April 1995) was a Canadian actor and writer. He appeared in over 100 film, television, and theatrical productions over a career spanning from the 1920s until the late 1980s. He was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for his performance as American President Woodrow Wilson in the 1944 film '' Wilson''. However, his career in the United States was hampered by McCarthyism, and he spent the rest of his career in the United Kingdom. Knox portrayed Control in the 1979 BBC miniseries adaptation of John le Carre's '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy''. He acted in such films as '' Europe '51'', '' The Vikings'', '' The Longest Day'', '' The Damned'', and ''Modesty Blaise''. He often worked with director Joseph Losey, a fellow American blacklistee living in the UK. Aside from his acting career, Knox was also an author, writing adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century as well as plays and detective novels. Life a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigadier (United Kingdom)
Brigadier (Brig) is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines. Brigadier is the superior rank to colonel, and subordinate to major-general. It corresponds to the rank of brigadier general in many other nations. The rank has a NATO rank code of OF-6, placing it equivalent to the Royal Navy commodore and the Royal Air Force air commodore ranks and the brigadier general (1-star general) rank of the United States military and numerous other NATO nations. Insignia The rank insignia for a brigadier is a St Edward's Crown over three "pips" ( "Bath" stars). The rank insignia for a brigadier-general was crossed sword and baton. Usage Brigadier was originally an appointment conferred on colonels (as commodore was an appointment conferred on naval captains) rather than a substantive rank. However, from 1 November 1947 it became a substantive rank in the British Army. The Royal Marines, however, retained it as an acting rank until 1997, when both commodore and brigadier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hurt
Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Lynch as "simply the greatest actor in the world". In a List of John Hurt performances, career spanning over five decades, he received numerous accolades including four British Academy Film Awards, BAFTAs and a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. He was Knight Bachelor, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2015 for his services to drama. A graduate of RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), he Breakthrough role, came to prominence playing Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich, Richard Rich in the film ''A Man for All Seasons (1966 film), A Man for All Seasons'' (1966) and won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for ''The Naked Civil Servant (film), The Naked Civil Servant'' (1975). He played ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
