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John Le Carré (born October 19, 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England). He began his formal schooling at Sherborne School in England. Later, he studied at the University of Berne, developing a fascination in foreign languages, and Lincoln College, Oxford. He then taught at Eton College for 2 years. Subsequently, he joined the British Foreign Service (ultimately MI6), where he served mostly in West Germany. Le Carré is the author of many Cold War thrillers, notably those recounting the exploits of George Smiley. Two novels of the Karla trilogy series,

Kim Philby, the British double agent, blew le Carré (and many others besides) to the Russians. Le Carré's response was characteristically that of a deep thinker: he carefully depicted and analysed Philby in the guise of Bill Haydon, the opponent of Smiley in the most central of Le Carré's . As the mole, 'Gerald', Bill Haydon, Le Carré makes hay with the opportunity to detail the deceit and weaknesses of Philby. A further element of psychological revenge is exacted by having one of the (fictional) agents profoundly affected by Haydon's treachery, Jim Prideaux, silently execute Haydon in the wake of Haydon's unmasking and public humiliation.

Le Carré's work is in many ways a critical and reasoned response to the lurid sensationalism of the James Bond genre of spy writing - his heroes are three-dimensional, their engagement with the world altogether more realistic and their circumstances markedly unglamorous. He is widely hailed as writing some both the most literary and philosophically oriented of spy novels of the 20th century.

His works also differ from the Bond books in that they are morally relative; there are constant reminders of the fallibility of the western espionage systems and western countries in general, often with the implication that the Soviet bloc and the NATO bloc are essentially two sides of the same coin. The over-simplicity of the good-versus-SPECTRE world of Fleming has no place in Le Carré's work, where the spies seem to serve espionage more than any ideology. Further, Le Carré is more interested in the uncertainty inherent in spycraft -- the most unimpeachable information from the enemy might always prove to be bait or a trap, a logic that tends to render the information obtained far less useful.

In short, his books leave behind an unmistakable air of skepticism.

Le Carré published an essay entitled "The United States has gone mad" in in January 2003, protesting the war in Iraq, saying: "How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America's anger from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history." He has turned down a number of awards, including knighthood.

Le Carré married twice. With his first wife, Ann Martin, he has three children: Simon, Stephen, Timothy. With his second wife Valerie, another son Nicholas. He resides in Cornwall, England.

In 2005, the film was released, based on his novel. The story is set in slums in Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The situation affected the crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages. Le Carré is a patron of the charity.