MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949

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Although the events in this book happened over a century ago now, this is a page-turning book, much of it following events in different countries, hotting up in the world wars.

The tailpiece of the book looks at the moles in the SIS as well as some who were checked for having similar profiles and cleared. The next forty years saw MI6 taking an increasingly important-and, until now, largely hidden-role in shaping the history of Europe and the world.But for me, Smiley’s People is the true pinnacle of le Carré’s work with Smiley completely developed and totally in charge while the plot is based on a single, very credible intelligence operation that brings the Tinker Tailor trilogy to a riveting end.

From the defining period of the early Cold War through to the modern day, MI6 has undergone a dramatic transformation from a gung-ho, amateurish organisation to its modern, no less controversial, incarnation. The British Secret Service has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created a hundred years ago.

The operations and structure of MI6, Britain's overseas intelligence-gathering organization, from its modest beginnings in 1909 through World War II. On the other hand, one of the reasons he was in the Service was because he spoke Russian like a native, as well as other languages, which was definitely something you needed – and still do – and something James Bond never seemed to be able to do. The Zinoviev letter played a key role in the defeat of the minority Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald and the victory of the Conservatives under Stanley Baldwin in the general election of 29 October 1924.