John le Carré died an Irishman after gaining citizenship, son says irishtimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from irishtimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BBC News
By Alan Haslam
image captionJohn Le Carré was English to the core but was disillusioned after Brexit, his son says
He served as a British diplomat and an MI5 secret agent, but espionage writer John le Carré died an Irishman, his youngest son has said.
Nicholas Cornwell said his father, best known for his intricately plotted Cold War thrillers, gained Irish citizenship before his death in December.
Mr Cornwell told the BBC Le Carré was furious and disillusioned after Brexit.
Towards the end of his life he began to research his Irish roots.
The author of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold discovered he was entitled to an Irish passport through his grandmother, Olive Wolfe, who was born in County Cork.
Acclaimed spy writer John Le Carré died an Irishman after gaining citizenship from the country where his grandmother was born because he was unhappy that the UK had voted for Brexit.
Le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell, died in December aged 89 after a short battle with pneumonia. His publisher confirmed he did not have Covid-19.
In a career that spanned nearly 50 years, he would become famed for works such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, both of which would become successful film adaptations and contain his renowned character, George Smiley.
The acclaimed spy writer John Le Carré died an Irishman, his youngest son has revealed in a new documentary set to air over the weekend. Nicholas Cornwell told the BBC that Le Carré applied for Irish citizenship before his death aged 89 last year. In the BBC Radio 4 documentary airing on Saturday, he says: “One of the last photographs I have of him is him sitting wrapped in an Irish flag, grinning his head off.” He added: “When the archivist who.