The English cottage where John le Carré wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | Hacker News Reader

The English cottage where John le Carré wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

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86 pointsbookofjoe64 comments

It's not very highly rated but I loved the 2011 movie of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" starring Gary Oldman and a cast of other well known actors.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tinker_tailor_soldier_spy

After I saw it I said to friends that its "the best movie I've seen in which pretty much nothing happens". That's how good the movie was - no action, nothing stated explicitly, lots left for the viewer to figure out, and still awesome. Definitely not for everyone but I loved it. Gary Oldman of course being one of the greatest actors of all time.

One of my favorite films! Agreed that it's not for everyone, but if you're on its wavelength it's really something special. Just incredibly well made with terrific performances. That ending sequence with La Mer...

Then you should watch the OG - 1979 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Alec Guinness and Ian Richardson

The first two minutes -- two minutes -- is a masterclass in "show don't tell". All the suspects are introduced, one after the other, their characters clear as day, with not a line of dialogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq61jstTApk

Genuinely stunning.

Indeed and thanks for link! It's been a while since I watched it.

84% is pretty high. I remember it being very well received, deservedly so.

If you liked that you should try the 1979 BBC series of it [1], Alec Guiness also being one of the greatest actors of all time.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy_(T...

BBC made adaptation of Smiley's People[1] too, the third part of the Karla Trilogy.

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083480/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

I found this to be much better than the remake. The seventies grittiness suited the story. Available on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyNzc9cbF4EWeXnVOQhXG6_wG...

I remember seeing it in theaters with my father, who is a massive le Carré fan. He enjoyed it (though obviously he had many issues in comparison with the novel), and I (15 at the time) remember being very bored. Still, I could appreciate that is had beautiful mood and subtle, well-written dialogue. It felt a much closer approximation of actual espionage than anything else I've seen.

Yep, totally wrong movie for a 15 year old. There's no action at all.

I saw the 1979 BBC version when I was young and really enjoyed it, even given the lack of action. I think it was the first 'spy' thriller I'd seen which wasn't some sort of James Bond equivalent and I loved it for that. I still have the notes that I took while trying to figure out what was going on (we had to wait 6 weeks for the story to unfold back in the day)

I still dream of seeing this version of Smiley's People one day.

The movie captures the feeling of being a rockstar detective. The way everyone is dressed and the cold logic games they play. The movie raises an interesting question: what happens when the spy controls the environment? They could make anything appear any such way. The strength of your logic then becomes your undoing because an adversary can use your own logic against you. This is probably why rule-breaking is not only the norm for intelligence agencies, but practically mandatory.

I've been enjoying Slow Horses, which in my head-canon is a sequel, with "Smiley" (the character played by Gary Oldman, natch) put out to irascible pasture at Slough House. It's not truly on the same level, but it's good fun.

Herron's "Slow Horses" series, a total of eight books, is wonderful bedtime reading.

I enjoy this version, but can’t help feeling that Gary Oldman is miscast and the wardrobe wrong.

After le Carré and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy came up here earlier this week[1], I came across a $1.95 copy at a used bookstore. I'm sure I was primed to notice it after having just seen it discussed online, but it still felt like a neat bit of serendipity because a) I never would have bought a le Carré book otherwise (lumped them with Danielle Steele/John Grisham/Dean Koontz, older "beach books" I hadn't read that I didn't think I'd like) and b) I've been getting way more than $1.95 of value from it (at the beach).

So, to the shadowy cabal promoting John le Carré books on HN this week, thanks.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37375585

He was also heavily referenced in Deadly Premonition 2, a sadly subpar follow up to the cult classic PS3-era game that is Deadly Premonition. The closest to authentic Twin Peaks you will ever see outside of Twin Peaks itself.

Random tangent: John Le Carre's son Nick Harkaway is a fantastic writer (whose works I prefer to his father's).

He also wrote some pretty good books as Aidan Truhen.

That's a beautiful house. I wonder if the space you inhabit changes what you create. If that is the case offices need to be better thought about.

I'd never get any work done there, I'd spend all my time taking in the views.

Its a sad thought that so many of us can never realistically hope to occupy such a space and be able to truly have that kind of setting to breathe and heal oneself

Nature is luckily free most of the time

yes but capitalism bad!

In many countries, by law.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam

> Its a sad thought that so many of us can never realistically hope to occupy such a space and be able to truly have that kind of setting to breathe and heal oneself

I disagree with that...

For the price of a studio in basically any "big" city (any big american city or any capital city in an european country), you can buy a big house in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature.

People want to be surrounded by concrete: they don't want to live surrounded by nature (because "the arts" or "because social life" or whatever other reason). So for those who want to be surrounded by nature, prices can be extremely cheap.

Heck, for the price of a normal house in many cities, you can have a castle in France (as long as its in the middle of nowhere).

"People want to be surrounded by concrete"

People want to be surrounded by people.

Yeah they were really missing the obvious implication of their comment there.

Sarcasm?

To me the comment feels genuine but slightly unclear. I think when they say “people want to live by concrete” they meant “people ultimately will choose to live by concrete” but I see that as less of a direct want and more of the result of a calculation of multiple wants. And I think they failed to address that distinction.

You can buy a castle in France, or elsewhere in Europe, but it comes with a renovation bill attached that is more than what you paid in the first place.

In this part of West Cornwall most local people cannot afford to buy a house of any kind.

https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbtrrstrs210037

Yeah but be aware before you move in that the Tater Du Lighthouse is very nearby (IIRC just round the point you see in Side Garden photo)

Tater Du has an automatic fog horn..

Decommissioned, (un)fortunately.

Not any more:

>Fog signal

The fog signal was originally a series (72 in total) of Tannoy units built into the lighthouse tower; they were powered by an alternator coupled to a 2-cylinder Ruston diesel engine. This was later replaced by a short-range Pharos Marine Omnidirectional electric emitter sounding the same characteristic of two one-second blasts every 30 seconds during fog. The fog signal was decommissioned in 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tater_Du_Lighthouse

Might be a good idea for a website. Collect real estate photos of house where famous people worked. Perhaps side by side with any photos of them actually working there!

I find this building's title of cottage preposterous, this is a mere hovel if I've ever seen one.

I wonder what it looked like inside when John le Carré wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in ca. 1974.

$3.7 million though? Does it include a farm? I thought house prices in California were crazy.

Huh? It's 5,000 extremely well-designed and appointed sq ft on 3+ gorgeous acres. Maybe not a bargain, but far from outrageous IMHO. Hell, Redfin says my house is worth 1.7 and it's not in the same league.

It's a 5,000 square foot house on 3 acres overlooking the ocean. You're not going to ever find that for cheap, especially with its beautifully maintained condition.

Is this really a selling point?

>How celebrity names impact property values

https://www.luxuryportfolio.com/blog/how-celebrity-names-imp...

I wonder how much the maintenance cost is.

That's a lot of rugs. Dogs?

so so beautiful. Now that's a dream house.

In England, "cottage" must mean something else . . .

It's a word with multiple meanings and one of them is a type of dwelling. Which other meaning do you think is more appropriate given the context?

There’s no confusion about it referring to a dwelling. The confusion is about the _type_ of dwelling.

To quote Wikipedia:

> In American English, "cottage" is one term for such holiday homes, although they may also be called a "cabin", "chalet", or even "camp".

In other words, calling a multi-million pound property a “cottage” would rankle an American ear.

5000 square ft... That's a mansion.

> In other words, calling a multi-million pound property a “cottage” would rankle an American ear

To this British ear.....

Plenty cottages sell for multi-millions (including many in my village, unfortunately). Please take your semantics elsewhere.

I don't know why "American ear" was brought into this, even the OED has definitions that agree a cottage is small and this is... very not small.

In other words, calling a multi-million pound property a “cottage” would rankle an American ear.

I don't think so. There's tons of multi-million-dollar lakefront properties all over North America. People generally refer to these as cottages since they're:

1. seasonal

2. not the primary residence

3. often located near a body of water and/or away from big cities

4. intended for vacations with families and friends (or short-term rental for the same purpose)

Indeed... This usage reaches across the pond - check out how the Vanderbilts used the term here:

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/guide-to-vanderbil...

Le Carré's cottage is a splendid place, but it's not the Breakers.

>> In American English, "cottage" is one term for such holiday homes, although they may also be called a "cabin", "chalet", or even "camp".

> In other words, calling a multi-million pound property a “cottage” would rankle an American ear.

It might rankle an American ear but this isn't America, it's Cornwall (Kernow as one of my 11th great grandmas, off of Padstow, would have called it). Cottage hereabouts does not mean a holiday home - they are called holiday homes.

I'll also note that here in en_GB land, the word camp also has multiple meanings and cottaging (the verb) does too. Be careful what you search for. Also please note that Kernow has its own language, which predates English, which is seeing a resurgence. It's one of the old Brythonic languages and Cornwall was once known as West Wales, but I digress.

I spend a great deal of time trying to keep up with the various en_* vagaries. The split of en_US from en_GB (very simplistic depiction) is still quite young and you probably speak a closer variety and with a more "authentic" accent of English than I do, when compared to say that which was spoken in C18 when it started to brachiolate.

To my "American ear" it just sounds like your typical limey understatement. It's the upper class twit equivalent of the American "humblebrag."

The word "cottage" originally derives from "cot", which was a small hut or shack in which feudal serfs lived.

And the term “computer” originally described a person who made calculations, not a machine. Etymology can be informative and revealing, but is hardly dispositive.

Well put. You used inward facing quotes and deployed: "dispositive".

Why not try out these two: “ ”. My English teacher, back in the day, described quotation marks as 66 and 99. Back then we used ink pens because the best effort that IT could manage was sodding expensive and not really a thing. We had Biros and those new fangled fibre tips ...

I used to be able to wield an edged pen and write gothic black letter quite well and my italic was almost as good as my granddad's.

Whoops, mind wanders off piste ...

Haha, I thought the same thing. That's a rich man's idea of what a cottage is.

From the look of it was once a terrace of individual cottages that have been knocked through into one dwelling.

I love le Carre's work, so I'd say he deserved it.

From the first photo it looks like three cottages joined together

Ironically the several cottages in the picture which have now been converted into a single country house would have been very humble dwellings when they were built.

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