In the public imagination he remains an elderly, slightly stooped figure, who rooted out traitors in the British secret service. George Smiley was of course the creation of the spy novelist, John Le Carré.
But now a new book, The Clandestine Lives of Colonel David Smiley: Code Name ‘Grin’ by Durham University academic, Clive Jones, reveals the remarkable career of a real ‘Smiley,’ whose exploits on behalf of British intelligence were in marked contrast to the more sedate actions of his fictional namesake.