I have listened to this a few times and never tire of it. Excellent. Thanks Chesterton Radio.

1962. John le Carre's second novel (his third was his breakout work - THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD) In the earlier books (starting in 1961) George Smiley had a biography suggesting he'd been born in 1906, but in TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, 1974, the character was retconned to suggest 1915 as his year of birth. It would have been easier to abandon the name/character of Smiley but he'd been so well formed in the four novels to precede TINKER, TAILOR that tinkering around with the details of his biography/age was a far more acceptable compromise. Imagine the KARLA TRILOGY without George Smiley - sacrilege!

Thoroughly enjoyed this play. The actors were superb indeed. Highly recommend!

Just in case anyone is interested, this was broadcast on 5 October 1968

Manchester Hippodrome Ardwick Green …Gaumont Theatre ..Oxford Theatre, and Odeon Theatre ,Oxford Road .Manchester I worked in them all in late 50s and 1960s. Those were the days…….loved every minute of it……this photo reminded me of those days.xxxxx

Thank you. Excellent drama. Much better than modern BBC radio plays.

@voxpopuval

2 ай бұрын

It's the writing, I think. Masterful.

I'm addicted to the elocution of the time. When did the English lose this wonderful clipped accent. I love it.

@Adeleisha

Жыл бұрын

The clipped accent, or “Received Pronunciation”, was artificially developed for clarity when speaking over the emerging telephone and wireless technology of the time. As with all accents, it changed over time - it fell out of favour as technology advanced and clarity improved. There was also a societal backlash against RP, as regional dialects were hardly ever portrayed on spoken media, which left a huge section of society feeling they weren’t represented and therefore were treated as ‘less worthy’ in employment, job interviews etc.

@jenniferholden9397

9 ай бұрын

We never spoke like this, it’s just the BBCs projection of how we speak. I have a Lancashire accent of which I’m extremely proud, my family came from Ireland and settled in a village called Arkholme that is on the river Lune, we were given the name of Ireland (of which I am extremely proud) because the locals either struggled or couldn’t be bothered to use our name, but that was pre 1630s so I’m over it now. Lol.

@janieromer2907

8 ай бұрын

My grandparents did speak like this and my father like Jacob Reese Mogg. I like to occasionally slip into it for fun or emphasis. Otherwise it sounds ridiculous nowadays which is rather a shame.

@katehobbs2008

7 ай бұрын

We can understand every word. With contemporary films, particularly American, they are so fixed on speaking realistically that I can never make sense of the rapid slurred mumbled audio.

@docastrov9013

6 ай бұрын

You can still hear that public school accent. Try going to The Proms and sit in the more expensive seats.

A play of quality...a cast of quality... most entertaining

Good BBC Radio rendering of this le Carre' story..Perfect for bedtime..

Dear Chesterton Radio, Thank you for downloading a Murder Of Quality; I enjoyed listening to it immensely and will definitely listen to it again. I am a recent subscriber to your channel and look forward to listening to many more excellent plays like this. Tfs and Best Wishes from Australia

@ChestertonRadio

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for listening! There are more in our playlist: Plays.ChestertonRadio.com

Great stuff! Am enjoying these dramas too much!

Once again thank you so much for downloading this wonderful drama. Thoughly enjoyed it. Sat and listened to it in one go. Love from South Africa 😘😘

Love this one, can listen to any production. Thank you for this one. I so enjoy these dramas now I've finally found them.

@davidgladstone5261

Ай бұрын

Has anyone heard the terrific dramtization of Smiley's People? I listened to it maybe 5 times in a week and then suddenly it was taken down and I haven't had sight nor sound of it since.

Thank you for the synopsis. But listeners, don't read past the second paragraph unless you want to know the whole story.

@euniceprobert9060

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, there's a difference between giving a synopsis and giving away spoilers!

@janegriffiths7733

3 жыл бұрын

yeah you give the right amount of info I always go to comments first to see if you have posted a synopsis Thank you

@tottiemae2258

3 жыл бұрын

@@janegriffiths7733 You're so kind!

@davidsandz2186

3 жыл бұрын

@@euniceprobert9060 Indeed there is...I hadn't read your and tottie mae's comments so i read on and found out "who dunnit"....not happy at all! Mostly Chesterton gives us nothing, why he decided to tell all this time I've no idea...but totally bad form.

@gordonshewan9892

3 жыл бұрын

So true

Excellent I LOVED listening to this. Many thanks for sharing 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks for the synopsis

So grateful for these works from 'Chesterton Radio ' . Although I think, in the interests of more listeners , who may perhaps be put off putting in the effort to listen, against the background sound interferences which this broadcaster can't or doesn't prioritize perfection of sound over facility of output and content .... It should be pointed out that there are better recordings /or more cleaned up ' recordings , perhaps, of this, and some other plays .

@mikewellwood1412

2 жыл бұрын

I think I have heard a different, probably more recent version. There is also a 1991 TV movie version, starring Denholm Elliot as Smiley, Joss Ackland as the headmaster, and Glenda Jackson as the charity woman who gets Smiley involved. Now, Denholm Elliot was a brilliant actor, who stole every scene, but I'm not convinced he was well cast as George Smiley. (It's hard to think of anyone but Alec Guiness in the role, TBH). The actor playing Smiley in this version is more in Guinness's mould than Elliot's, so it works well in that sense. I haven't listened fully to this version yet (at least, not recently - I may have ages ago), but in the TV version, and I think in the radio version that I do remember, there was a distinct suggestion that the headmaster may have had an "unnatural" interest in some of the boys (although he hotly denies it). I don't think that was in the book, so I can't help feeling that the TV adapters, and the radio adapters of the version I seem to remember just put that in to "spice it up" a bit. It's interesting that in the story, Smiley is acting more like a police detective than a spy. Maybe it's a direction that Le Carre was thinking of taking him in at the time, although in subsequent novels he was back in the espionage world, although he did need some detecting skills in that. EDIT: Maybe I didn't mean the headmaster: I think I meant Fielding, who is apparently a housemaster, not the headmaster.

Thank you so much for doing this and I appreciate it SO much. I feel bad even suggesting this because it feels super entitled but, still, it would be super cool if you put the year in the description when it was available. I always wonder about when they’re from. Not that I want you to go out of your way, but if it was readily available where you get them. ❤️

@skeleczar

2 жыл бұрын

Oh! This one is from 1981, I think! I just found a Wikipedia page.

@greentambourine2323

Жыл бұрын

Hello, it was broadcast on 5 October 1968

@elleryeggen9678

Жыл бұрын

@@greentambourine2323 thank you.

Very ingenious and enjoyable. The twists in the plot are particularly original as they involve the different lights that are shone on the murder victim's character - kindly woman misjudged or... (I'll say no more for fear of creating spoilers). Thank you for uploading.

A few familiar voices in this . Much enjoyed , on a chill night - almost perfect for a who dun it .

Thank you

Enjoyed this drama. Thank you.

Wonderful radio play of the Le Carre’s second novel. Also a biting commentary of the British elite public school system.

@kathleensmith644

2 жыл бұрын

Oh yes darling they are ever so…. I’m surprised they can even bare to speak to each other….snooty, and terribly pompous.

@alexburke1899

Жыл бұрын

@@kathleensmith644 tell us you are American without telling us you’re American lol. If you listen to American tv or radio during this era you’ll hear the mid-Atlantic “American” accent is very similar to a British accent and not really pompous just how people spoke.

excellent. thank you so much 🌱🥀

Thank you I 'm bit of a le carre fan and especially of george smiley. Keep up the good work

@richardspratley786

3 жыл бұрын

I love George Smiley!

Thanks for the description and synopsis of this 📻 RADIO4 drama storey it helps to follow the storey better. Some radio dramas and audiobooks 📖 📚 books storeys which have been streamed on to you tube dont have a breif synopsis or discription of what the drama or Audiobook is about.

Love this. ❤️ Third time listening to it

Been a long admirer of the late, great Joan Sanderson, from tv (Please Sir and Fawlty Towers), film (Prick Up Your Ears) and radio (After Henry). She remained in demand throughout her long career, a testement to her many talents.

Hey everyone, I look at this picture of the inside, of a movie theater, you know the first, thing i thought of ? Well, i stopped and remembered, the so old, small, but the best movie theater from my old childhood neighborhood where we all had so many good times. How many of the people out there actually went back to their neighborhood movie theater once they've grown up to see a movie ? Well, I would like to direct. : A thank-you to : Chesterton Esquire.. And Associates PCT... for another, great orchestrated play...

@suspendeddisbelief401

2 жыл бұрын

Sadly all my childhood cinemas, and there were many, are either knocked down or (one beautiful 1930's building) are now supermarkets. The large multi cinemas are just not the same, no 'soul'.

@zettiejoseph3616

2 жыл бұрын

@@suspendeddisbelief401 indeed..of the lyrics of Stevie Wonder, I wish those days would come back once more.

Excellent

Wonderful!

Brilliant 🤩

Don't you just love the way the English can say so much in code? "He's not the marrying kind." = Gay.

@DancingQueenie

2 жыл бұрын

“No sign of interference.”

@mikewellwood1412

2 жыл бұрын

"Confirmed bachelor" used to be another one.

@DancingQueenie

2 жыл бұрын

@@mikewellwood1412 😀 my mother said that the other day!

thanks

Great one. Although I prefer the ones made by Bernard Hepton, but this one is also fantastic. Thanks!!!!

@beebee4095

3 жыл бұрын

I knew Bernard Hepton, lovely man and that voice! I could make him laugh out loud when I could get him to say certain things in that Hepton way that he had with voice projection which made me go all gooey 🤗

@DeSilsky

3 жыл бұрын

@@beebee4095 I have been collecting his audio drama plays here and there, but it is so difficult... I would need a list of this works. I would like to have them all. And the list must be long (only audio dramas).

Listened to this for the entertainment (and it's excellent) but at the end it became surprisingly relevant to my current life. People like Stella Rodes actually do exist and they actually are evil.

@fionnualaization

2 жыл бұрын

Keep well away from them!! Don't engage, you can smell this kind.

I love these stories. Does anyone know of non murder stories like these? My mom is 97, doesn't care for thrillers.

@ChestertonRadio

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for listening! We have a wide variety of stories in our playlist: Plays.ChestertonRadio.com These are from Saturday Night Theatre as well as Lux Radio Theater and the best of stage plays

@ChestertonRadio

Жыл бұрын

We invite you to also listen to our 24/7 Live Stream at Listen.ChestertonRadio.com We stream classic shows from our channel all day!

@ChestertonRadio

Жыл бұрын

You might also explore the wide range of shows in our KZread playlist collection here: kzread.infoplaylists

John le Carre does not exist he is really David Cornwall who was in fact a member of the British "Secret World" Many of the characters here re-appear in his later work.. Smiley lived (in fiction) in Bywater Street (which exists) along the side of the Chelsea Classic movie theatre in London. I would walk down the street and for the fun of it pick out the fictional characters housel - Silly but true. Davis Cornwall would show an early version of each spy based novel to the London authorities to see that he had not released any sensitive material. These were the days of the Soviet Red Menace, China todays arch enemy was still serving rice to the populace in the 1960's and on and on and on!

I wish I couldn't hear the hissing sounds , but the it is a very old recording !

@fhills76

3 жыл бұрын

For heavens sake,,it's a free radio mystery,,and still you get complaints about hissing,some people are never satisfied

@Gillby47

3 жыл бұрын

Haha this made me laugh as I have tinnitus and until I read this I thought it was just that. I,don't think this was a complaint,just a comment.

@mrbazzabee4013

3 жыл бұрын

Originally Broadcast 10/5/1968.

@ruthmaxwell60

3 жыл бұрын

@@Gillby47 😆. Me too, glad Christine pointed it out. 👌. 🐢

Clever story

Very good

There are many who still speak with the proverbial “plum in the mouth” my sister in law speaks like this.

I've listened to many versions of this, and I'm still never sure whodunnit! Self doubt!!

I remember an Agatha Christie story where a parcel containing a clue to a murder was sent to a charity.I wonder which was first this or Agatha Christie.

@ragdolly22

3 жыл бұрын

I can’t remember which story it was

@karincelliers9128

2 жыл бұрын

Nemesis

💖

Love love this 3rd listening ❤

Remember headmistress joan sanderson in the hit comedy itv series please sir.

@kayi9236

4 ай бұрын

And in Fawlty Towers!

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼❤️

George Smiley .... David Bird Fielding ......... Patrick Barr Miss Brimley ..... Joan Sanderson Rigby ............ Peter Williams Rode ............. Michael Spice Miss Truebody .... Pauline Letts Perkins .......... Brian Hewlett D'Arcy ........... Denys Hawthorne Dorothy D’Arcy ... Delia Paton Mad Janie ........ Maureen Beck Jill ............. Elizabeth Cassie Shane Hecht ...... Claire Davenport Charles Hecht .... Edward Jewkesbury Ann Snow ......... Jill Cary Simon Snow ....... John Pullen Produced by David Geary. Adapted for radio by Frederick Bradnum.

> fair share program...

5

D

When the BBC was for we British 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧👍

@tottiemae2258

3 жыл бұрын

But many of we non-British folks enjoy these older radio plays as well! "Hands across the waters..." 😉😀

@eddiemunster2196

3 жыл бұрын

Now everyone is listening..? hahaha.......? Also I could be from Blackpool ? Or not.....? I meant that as a joke........ Have a good one......

First class

Full cast list and other details here.... genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/82c55960d1d2487eb8c502e74257775e

Thank you

Excellent

Thank you