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All successful spies need to be good actors

18 December 2021

9:00 AM

18 December 2021

9:00 AM

Stars and Spies: Intelligence Operations and the Entertainment Business Christopher Andrew and Julius Green

The Bodley Head, pp.512, 20

On 2 October last year, when he became chief of the UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6, if you prefer), Richard Moore tweeted (tweeted!): ‘#Bond or #Smiley need not apply. They’re (splendid) fiction but actually we’re #secretlyjustlikeyou.’ The gesture’s novelty disguised, at the time, its appalling real-world implications. Bond was, after all, competent and Smiley had integrity.

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