Author: Goylake Publishing

Categories
Novels Television

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Although considered a spy story, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is also a detective story with oodles of class.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was broadcast on the BBC in 1979. The series was adapted from the 1974 novel of the same name, written by John le Carré, and it starred Alec Guinness, Michael Jayston, Anthony Bate, George Sewell, Bernard Hepton, Ian Richardson, Ian Bannen, Hywel Bennett and Beryl Reid. Critically acclaimed, Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy won a number of awards, including a Best Actor BAFTA for Alec Guinness.

The plot of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy centres on George Smiley (Alec Guinness) and his search for a ‘mole’ at the heart of the Secret Intelligence Service, the ‘Circus’. As the story unfolds we learn that Smiley was forced to retire as deputy head of the S.I.S. because of a bungled operation in Czechoslovakia and that he is estranged from his wife, Ann, played by Siân Phillips. World-weary, but determined, Smiley embarks on a secret investigation, trawling through the murky waters of Cold War espionage and his past.

Because the theme of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy is one of betrayal the identity of the ‘mole’ is no great surprise. However, a fine ensemble cast hold your interest throughout and Alec Guinness, in his first major television role, makes the character of George Smiley his own.

While researching the role of George Smiley, Alec Guinness asked author John le Carré to introduce him to a real spy – forgetting that John le Carré had himself worked for MI5 and MI6 during the 1950s and 1960s – and a meeting with Sir Maurice Oldfield, the Chief of the British Intelligence Service from 1973-78, was arranged. At the meeting, in a Chelsea restaurant, Alec Guinness studied Sir Maurice Oldfield intently, from the way he walked, to the way he carried his umbrella, to his mannerisms when he picked up and drank from a wineglass. And it was that attention to detail from the writer, actors and producers that made Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy such a special series.

Categories
Novels Television

Van der Valk

Van der Valk 

Van der Valk first appeared on British television in 1972. The series was based on the novels written by Nicolas Freeling, although individual episodes were created by other authors. In the books Nicolas Freeling allows Van der Valk to talk and think in untranslated French, which can be a challenge for non-French speakers, and his views can come across as bombastic and opinionated at times. Sceptical and cynical about bureaucracy and officialdom, Van der Valk also has compassion, especially for the young who find themselves in trouble.

In the television series Barry Foster took the lead role as Commissaris “Piet” van der Valk and he was supported by Michael Latimer, who played Inspecteur Johnny Kroon. Regular characters also appeared in the series; however, these characters were played by a variety of actors because Van der Valk had three incarnations: the first series, of six episodes, was aired in the autumn of 1972 and a second series of seven episodes followed in 1973. The second incarnation was produced four years later when twelve episodes were broadcast in the autumn of 1977. A break of nearly fourteen years then ensued before Van der Valk was revived once more, this time in the form of four two-hour episodes, broadcast in January and February 1991, and three two-hour episodes, aired in February 1992. Personally, I think the first series and the last two films are the highpoints of Van der Valk’s run.

Van der Valk highlights a perennial problem for authors – what do you do with the detective’s spouse. Quite often the detective is male and the spouse is female and she is left with the role of cooking dinners for the detective that he has no time to eat because he is too busy crime-busting. A solution to this problem is to ensure that the detective-spouse relationship develops over the series and that the non-detective character has a strong part to play in the emotional and/ or criminal aspect of the story. This engages the character in the series and the readers with the character. To its credit at least Van der Valk gave its detective a family background, which is after all closer to reality than many of the detectives portrayed in film and literature.

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Hannah's Diary Sam Smith Mystery Series

Family Honour Pre-Order

Available now at the special pre-order price of £0.99/$0.99, Family Honour, the latest Sam Smith Mystery, an intense psychological tale wrapped in a moral dilemma.

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When the biggest villain in the country makes you an offer you can’t refuse, what should you do? In my case, I decided to accept that offer, made by Mr Vincent Vanzetti. Vanzetti hired me to find his missing daughter, Vittoria, while threatening reprisals should I fail in my task. While searching for Vittoria, I had to deal with the other members of the Vanzetti clan: Sherri, Vanzetti’s second wife, at twenty-two the same age as Vittoria. Sherri was an ‘actress’, a porn star with ambitions to appear on Reality TV; Catrin, Vanzetti’s granite-hard ex-wife, the power behind his criminal empire; and V.J. Parks, Vittoria’s boyfriend, a boxer, a young man in his prime, in training for a shot at the world title.

Meanwhile, closer to home, it was decision time for yours truly and my lover, Dr Alan Storey. Alan was keen on marriage while I was still coming to terms with my past and years of physical abuse. Could I find the courage to finally lay the ghosts of my past and pledge my future to Alan?

Family Honour, the story of a villain and his family, the story of a moral dilemma. Should I kill in the name of justice, or should I allow a villain to walk free? In answering that question I discovered a lot about myself and the person I longed to be.

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Categories
Hannah's Diary

Happy St David’s Day

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Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Da! Happy St David’s Day!

Categories
Book Reviews

The Miracle Stork

The Miracle Stork by Ronesa Aveela

Ronesa Aveela’s The Christmas Thief was one of my favourite books of 2015, so I was keen to get my hands on The Miracle Stork, an illustrated story about traditions and customs, though the delights of the book extend well beyond its initial premise.

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The Miracle Stork is about the spring time tradition of the martenitsi, a tradition that is very popular in Bulgaria and with Bulgarians to this day. But you don’t have to be Bulgarian to enjoy this book and it’s story. Indeed, The Miracle Stork covers the wider concept of celebrating your own customs and embracing who you are.

As well as a delightful story, the book also contains a series of beautiful, colourful illustrations, a section on making the martenitsi and penda, and an activity section for younger readers. This is truly a magical book containing a subtle but important message; more than that it is a book of quality brimming with joy.

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