avid John Moore Cornwell was born on October 19, 1931 to Richard Thomas Archibald Cornwell (1906-75) and Olive (Gassy) Cornwell. His formal schooling began at St Andrew's preparatory school near Pangbourne, Berkshire and at Sherborne School. Later (1948-49), he would study at the University of Berne, developing an affinity for foreign languages, and would go on to study at Lincoln College, Oxford. He graduated from Lincoln College with a B.A. (honours) in 1956. He then taught at Eton College for 2 years. Le Carré left Eton in 1959 and spent the next five years working for the British Foreign Service. He initially served as the Second Secretary in the British Embassy in Bonn, but was eventually moved to Hamburg where he served as a Political Consul. Ultimately, Le Carré was recruited into MI6. His first novel, Call For The Dead, was written in 1961, while he was still a member of the service.
In 1954, he married Alison Ann Veronica Sharp; they divorced in 1971. Together, they had three sons: Simon, Stephen and Timothy. In 1972, he married Valérie Jane Eustace, a book editor with Hodder and Stoughton; this marriage produced one son, Nicholas.
Le Carré's career as a secret agent was brought to an end by Kim Philby, a British double agent, who blew the cover of tens of British agents to the KGB. Years later, Le Carré carefully depicted and analysed Philby's weakness and deceit in the guise of "Gerald", the mole hunted by George Smiley in the central novel of Le Carré's oeuvre, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
early all of le Carré's novels fall in the spy-thriller genre, with a particular
emphasis on the Cold War. A notable exception is The Naïve and
Sentimental Lover. This novel has autobiographical elements, as it is
based on the author's relationship with James and Susan Kennaway
John Moore Cornwell published his first novel in 1961 ubder the pseudonym of John le Carré. Since then he has published 19 novels (with a 20th due this September), countless articles and had several works adapted for film and television
