Intelligence Reports From Our Agents In The Field

POSTED BY CONTROL

It is always a pleasure to hear from others who admire and appreciate these remarkable television series. In the last few months, I have been contacted by three correspondents who have provided some key intelligence which deserves to be shared.

We will begin this briefing with a location report from David Solomons, then Dr Joseph Oldham will share his meticulous research into a screenplay Arthur Hopcraft was working on about Kim Philby, before we wrap things up with details about the recovery of some rather important documentation. "Right, we shall start..."

Firstly, I'm very grateful to David Solomons who has found the location of the junction Smiley crosses on his way to see Connie in Smiley's People. David takes up the story...

I've just read the post '"A glorious day" - Norma West recalls working with Sir Alec Guinness and Beryl Reid' which outlines the filming of the scene at Connie Sach's dacha. As Smiley drives to the dacha we see him pass a location which was very near to where I grew up (and lived when the scene was shot). We see his Rover on the old A40 just after the village of Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire, very near to the Stokenchurch Tower. Compare this screen capture...

..to my photo.

Smiley then approaches the top of Aston Rowant hill (where the Oxfordshire county sign is), and as he does so, he turns right onto Kingston Hill. 

In my photo, you can see a small white van in almost the same position as the Rover in the screen capture.

My thanks to David for sharing this information. Just to complete the picture, I've included a satellite map of the Stokenchurch area below, and indicated this section of Smiley's journey with a dotted red line...

I was also delighted to hear, once again, from Dr Joseph Oldham. Jo sent me an article he published in the Journal of Cold War Studies, on Arthur Hopcraft's involvement in a proposed film biopic of Kim Philby (below), in the late 1970s. It is a fascinating and enthralling account of this project, something I knew very little about. Development of the screenplay for Philby took place in parallel with Hopcraft's work on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and I think Jo's research will be of great interest to visitors to this website.

Jo has uploaded a 'free to access' version of his article, which you can view by clicking on the highlighted link below:

Scripting the “Spy of the Century” - Arthur Hopcraft’s Unproduced Biopic of Kim Philby, 1975–1980

Finally, I want to pass on my thanks to Dee for providing us with complete versions of the Radio Times articles supporting the launch of both series.

The scans we originally published on this website were of quite poor quality and missing some of the pages. Dee owns mint copies of both issues, and as a result of his kindness, we can now easily read the content and appreciate the photographs, many of which have never been published since.

If you click on the links below, you can view the updated articles:

Radio Times - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Radio Times - Smiley's People

I wanted to slip one last piece of current intelligence into this briefing. Heywood Hill opened his eponymous Mayfair bookshop on 3 August 1936. Ninety years later, they are still going strong. It is in this bookshop that we are first introduced to Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley in episode one of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 

To celebrate their 90^th, Her Majesty The Queen visited Heywood Hill on 14 July, and you can read a report about her visit here.

Do you have any information about the making of these series that you think may be of interest to visitors to this website? We would love to hear from you - feel free to drop us a line at guinnessissmiley@icloud.com 

That brings us almost to the end of these dispatches. There is just time to look ahead to a busy couple of months on the 'Guinness is Smiley' website. In October, you can read our in-depth interview with the award-winning cinematographer, Tony Pierce-Roberts. Tony explains how he achieved the look of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and shares some amazing behind-the-scenes photographs. 

(left to right) Barbara Franc, Tony Pierce-Roberts and John Irvin filming on the streets of Glasgow - November 1978

Before then, we have two new articles coming up in the next ten days. Firstly, we will be publishing an account of our location visit to Overbury Court, Ann Smiley's country house in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Secondly, on the subject of Ann Smiley, we have an exclusive interview with the one person best qualified to discuss her...

Screen captures from Smiley's People (c) BBC 1982

Contemporary photos by David Solomons

Radio Times cover photos courtesy of Dee

Behind the scenes photo from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy courtesy of Tony Pierce-Roberts