Pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell. He was born in Poole, Dorset and educated at Sherborne School before going to Oxford. In 1956, he taught French and German at Eton and then spent five years in the Foreign Office. From 1960 until 1963, he was second secretary in the British Embassy in Bonn. In 1964, he served as a Consul in Hamburg and then, after the success of 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold', gave up the Foreign Office to devote himself to writing. He is the creator of 'George Smiley', an intelligence officer working for MI6.
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