1976: John le Carr茅 explains spycraft language
In a 1976 成人快手 interview, spy author John Le Carr茅 told Melvyn Bragg that he mixed real spy terms with his own inventions for his books.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold author said he did use words such as 'mole' which was "genuine KGB term for someone who burrows into the fabric of bourgeois society" but others like 'lamp-lighters' he created for his novels.
Many of his phrases would become common currency in language - including apparently among spies themselves. Le Carr茅 said he was "pleased to see that one or two" of the terms that he had coined, had gone on to be used by others.
Le Carr茅 had entered a career in undercover intelligence after studying at Oxford. He joined the Foreign Office, initially based at the British Embassy in Bonn, where he worked in the intelligence records department, giving him an insight into the workings of the secret service.
The writer was born David Cornwell in 1931, but used a pseudonym because Foreign Office officials were not allowed to publish books under their own name.
His first novel, Call For The Dead, which was the first of 25 works, was published in 1961. But it was his third novel, 1963's The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, that brought him worldwide acclaim.
His career as a spy came to an end in 1964 after his name was one of many given to the Soviet Union by a double agent.
The incident inspired a plot line for his 1974 novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
This clip is from Read All About It, originally broadcast on .
Watch more about John Le Carr茅 and his fiction on the 成人快手 iPlayer.