George Smiley timeline & maps w/spoilers

George Smiley timeline and maps w/spoilers

Jorn Barger December 2002 (updated Jan2003)

"It's necessary to understand what real intelligence work is. It will never cease. It's absolutely essential that we have it. At its best, it is simply the left arm of healthy governmental curiosity. It brings to a strong government what it needs to know. It's the collection of information, a journalistic job, if you will, but done in secret.
All the rest of it-- intervention, destabilization, assassination, all that junk-- is in my view not only anti-constitutional but unproductive and silly. You can never foresee the consequences. But it's a good job as long as intelligence services collect sensible information and report it to their governments, and as long as that intelligence is properly used, thought about and evaluated."
--David Cornwell [cite]

Smiley novels:
cfd = Call for the Dead (1961)
mq = A Murder of Quality (1962)
scc = Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963)
lgw = Looking Glass War (1965)
ttss = Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)
ths = The Honourable Schoolboy (1977)
sp = Smiley's People (1979)
tsp = The Secret Pilgrim (1991)

related but Smiley-less:
rh = The Russia House (1989)

the real deal (bold dates below): personae

Circus = Cambridge Circus = MI6 (foreign Military Intelligence: info) [history]

Moscow Centre = GRU? [info]

Guy Burgess, Donald MacLean, Kim Philby [info]

John Bingham (Lord Clanmorris)
Maxwell Knight

timeline

1909-1923: Capt. Sir Mansfield Cumming ('C') head of MI6 (SIS: Secret Intelligence Service) [cite]

1909-1940: Maj. Gen. Sir Vernon Kell head of MI5 [cite]

c1910: Karla born? [ttss100]

1923-1939: Adm. Sir Hugh Sinclair head of MI6 [cite]

1925: Drake Ko born [ths138]

c1925: 13yo Kim Philby undergoes Bedouin rite of passage [cite]

1928: Nelson Ko born in Swatow [ths304]

1928: Jul: Smiley recruited at Oxford by Jebedee [cfd4]

no-date: Smiley undergoes training, probation in South America, Central Europe [cfd74]

1931: David Cornwell (John le Carre) born

1931: 31yo Maxwell Knight joins MI5 (inspires Ian Fleming's M) [bio]

1933: 26yo Anthony Blunt recruited by NKVD on visit to Russia

1930s: Philby, Burgess, and MacLean recruited at Cambrdge

1930s: Karla uses name Martin Brandt [ttss99]

1935-1938? Smiley in Germany teaching and recruiting [cfd5]

1936: Karla recruiting in Spain [ttss191]

1936: Drake and Nelson Ko to Shanghai from Swatow, adopted by Hibberts [ths237]

1936? Fennan joins Communist Party at Oxford [cfd19]

1936/1941: Karla in UK for 6 months? [ttss192]

1937: 03Feb: Haydon recommends Prideaux to Fanshawe [ttss251]

1938: Jun? Smiley meets 19yo Dieter Frey [cfd74]

1938: Dec? Smiley recalled to London, then deployed to Germany to run network [cfd77]

1939: Circus recruits Haydon [ttss150]

1939: 31yo Ian Fleming joins Naval Intelligence [bio]

1939: 34yo Roger Hollis joins MI5 [bio]

1939-1952: Maj. Gen. Sir Stewart Menzies head of MI6 [cite]

1939-1943: Smiley undercover in Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany [cfd6]

1940-1946: Sir David Petrie head of MI5 [cite]

1941: autumn: Karla running agents in Germany [ttss191]

Karla 'adopts' German girl? [sp209]

1943: Smiley recalled to England, proposes to Steed-Asprey's secretary Ann [cfd7, 78]

1944: 'bureaucratic knifing' of SIS's Felix Cargill by Kim Philby and Guy Liddell [cite]

1945? Westerby hears Smiley lecture at Sarratt on courier lines [ths447]

1945? Smiley marries Lady Ann Sercombe [cfd3] leaves service, returns to Oxford [cfd7]

1945? James Jesus Angleton ('Mother') involved in origins of CIA [info]

1945: Sep: Russian cypher-clerk Gouzenko in Ottawa betrays spygame [cfd7]

1946-1953: Sir Percy Silitoe head of MI5 [cite]

1946-1951: Viktor Abakumov head of MGB [cite]

1947: Ann leaves Smiley for Cuban racing driver [cfd3] Service rehires Smiley [cfd7] Maston as 'Head Eunuch' [cfd8]

1947? Alleline at Cambridge joins Circus [ttss125] subsequent postings to Argentina, India, Cairo, Sarratt

1948? Karla in prison/Siberia, wife commits suicide? [ttss192, 206]

1948: Jul: Poland network taken over by Control (Circus) [lgw86]

1948: 01Sep: Ostrakova marries Ostrakov [sp7]

1949: spring: demonstrators smash Hibberts' Shanghai mission [ths246]

1949: Harold 'Kim' Philby is top British intelligence officer in Washington DC [cite]

1950: Ostrakov defects [sp7] Ostrakova imprisoned until 1953

1950: Gerald begins 'gifts' to Karla [ttss346]

c1950: Cornwell/LeCarre at Oxford, meets Vivian Green (model for Smiley)

1951: early: Smiley moves to Counterintelligence [scc85] for 10yrs?

1951-1958: MGB/MVD headed by Sergey Ogolcov, Semyon Ignatyev, Lavrentiy Beriya, Sergei Kruglov, Ivan Serov [cite]

1951-1963: Graham Mitchell possible mole in MI5 [info]

1951: 25May: Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean disappear before being captured, apparently warned by Philby (reappear in Moscow in 1956) [analysis] Yuri Modin was their controller

1951: penniless 26yo Drake Ko travels from Shanghai to Hong Kong by junk [ths146]

1952: John Bingham publishes 'My Name is Michael Sibley' [list]

1953: Ian Fleming bases 1st James Bond novel on Rosenblum/Reilly [cite]

1953-1956: Sir John Sinclair head of MI6 [cite]

1953-1956: Sir Dick White head of MI5 [cite]

1953-1961: Allen Dulles head of CIA

1953: Nelson Ko starts at Leningrad University [ths249] recruited by Bretlev [ths304]

1953? Tatiana born to Karla's mistress [sp210, 274]

1955: Jan: Fennans meet Dieter [cfd85]

1955: Philby dismissed from MI6

1955-1976: Peter Wright chases moles in MI5/MI6 [cite]

1955? Alexandra born to Ostrakova and Glikman [sp9]

1955: summer: Smiley meets Karla ('Gerstmann') in Delhi jail after California radio leak [ttss192]

Karla's superior Rudnev shot one month later [ttss206]

Karla reactivates 'Gerald' et al

1956: Jan: Ostrakova defects, abandoning Alexandra [sp9]

1956-1965: Sir Roger 'Mr Inertia' Hollis head of MI5 [cite] investigated in 60s as possible mole [bio]

1956-1968: Sir Dick White head of MI6 [cite]

1956: Suez affair sways Gerald's loyalty [ttss346]

1957: Nelson Ko returns to Shanghai [ths305]

1957: Westerby's daughter Cat born [ths107]

1958-1961: Alexandr Schelyepin head of KGB [cite]

1958? birth of little Nelson Ko [ths164]

1959-1964: Cornwell/LeCarre in British foreign service, five years in Bonn and Hamburg, translates for five different British prime ministers (Harold Wilson, Douglas-Home, Macmillan, Eden, Churchill?), works with novelist John Bingham (one model for Smiley)

"I was first in MI5 (the security service) and then in MI6 (espionage)." [cite]
"By the time I went into the secret world, as I now know, Philby had passed my name to his Russian controllers." [cite]

1959: Sino-Soviet split starts [ths305]

no-date: Bland does 8yrs undercover behind Iron Curtain [ttss146]

1960: 16Mar (Wed): Stella Rode murdered [mq31]

1960-1963: Cornwell 2nd secretary at British Embassy in Bonn

1961: 03Jan: Fennan suicide [cfd10]

1961 or 1956? 04Jan (Wed): start of 'Call for the Dead' [cfd8]

Smiley in hospital for month [cfd81]

1961: 15Feb: Smiley springs trap [cfd125]

1961: Gerald awarded Soviet citizenship [ttss346]

1961: Penkovsky betrays London spy-ring as double-agent [cite]

1961-1965: John McCone head of CIA [cite]

1961-1967: Vladimir Semichastniy head of KGB [cite]

1961? death of Control's wife [ths219]

1961? Control takes over Circus from 'advisor' Maston [scc25]

1961: 13Aug: Cornwell/LeCarre sees Berlin Wall built; inspired to (eventually) write Spy/Cold in five weeks [cite]

"I was chronicling my time, from a position of knowledge and sympathy. I lived the passion of my time." [cite]

1961: Dec: defector Golytsin tells CIA there are moles in MI5 and CIA [bio] [cite]

1962: WJ Vassall convicted of being mole in Admiralty

1962? 18yo Ricki Tarr recruited [ttss33]

1962? Smiley retired? [scc25] Leamas 3months prison [scc53] released in spring

1963: Mar: 'Stanley' defects [ttss97]

1963: Philby defects to Moscow

1963: Penkovsky caught and executed [cite]

1963: 22Nov: JFK shot (CIA involvement?)

pre-1964: Smiley runs Vladimir (while Gerald stationed abroad) [sp56]

1963? Ben Arno Cavendish blows Berlin network [tsp13]

1964? Ned assigned to Zurich [tsp71]

1964: Cornwell is Consul in Hamburg

1964: Tarr fiasco in Brazil [ttss35]

1964? Westerby's marriage fails [ths35]

1964? Haydon returns to London from overseas postings [ttss346]

1964? 42yo Polyakov arrives in London [ttss102]

1964? Smiley runs North European desk at Circus [lgw45]

1965-1972: Sir Martin Furnival Jones head of MI5 [cite]

1965: Tarr fiasco in Spain [ttss35]

1965? Guillam's North African network blown [ttss75]

1965: Drake Ko in trading scandal [ths146]

1965-1966: Adm. William Raborn head of CIA [cite]

1966-1972: Richard Helms head of CIA [cite]

1966? Ned to Hamburg, affair with Bella and Brandt [tsp71]

1966? Hansen's daughter born [tsp225]

1966: Karla's Japanese mole caught [ttss99]

1966: Drake Ko gets OBE [ths138]

1967? Nelson Ko purged during Cultural Revolution [ths307]

1967: Apr: Drake Ko applies to London lawschool, claims Nelson is dead [ths251]

1967-1982: Yuriy Andropov head of KGB [cite]

1968: death of little Nelson Ko [ths144]

1968: Aug: Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (16yo Katya meets 30yo Goethe: rh162)

1968-1973: Sir John Rennie head of MI6 [cite]

c1969: Gerald supports Alleline against Sam Collins for promotion [ths62]

1971? 11Nov: Hankie photographs Polyakov's medals [ttss104]

1972: [calendar]

1972-1979: Sir Michael Hanley head of MI5 [cite]

1972: winter? start of Merlin/Witchcraft [ttss136, 144]

1972: Apr-May: Control has Smiley interview Merlin-group [ttss139]

no-date: Gerald squelches Sam's goldseam report [ths60]

1972: Oct? Connie Sachs fired [ttss107]

Smiley in Berlin [ttss224]

1972: 21Oct (Sat 11pm): Prideaux betrayed [ttss220]

1972: Oct? Smiley appeals to Lacon [ttss66]

no-date: Smiley exiled to 'Pool' [tsp248]

1972: Nov? Alleline replaces Control [ttss145]

1972? Lizzie Worthington abandons husband and son [ths216]

1972: 24Dec: Control's funeral [ttss21]

Ann runs wild; Smiley and Ann visit Cornwall [ttss140]

no-date: Hansen joins Circus [tsp210]

1973: [calendar]

1973-1978: Sir Maurice Oldfield head of MI6 [cite]

1973: James Schlesinger head of CIA [cite]

1973-1976: William Colby head of CIA [cite] (Wm F Buckley's novel 'Spytime' claims Colby was a mole)

1973: Nelson Ko rehabilitated

1973: Jan: secret payments to Drake Ko begin [ths308]

1973: 27Feb: London house for Merlin requested [ttss158]

1973: 11Apr: Wed: Tarr requests asylum for Irina [ttss47]

1973? late May: Fri: Prideaux hired by Thursgood's [ttss3]

1973: mid: payments to Drake Ko increase [ths308]

1973: Jul: Nelson Ko promoted to Central Committee [ths308]

1973: early Jul: Tiu visits Shanghai [ths274]

1973: Jul: Irina-et-al executed [ttss189]

1973: 20Jul: Tiu buys Beechcraft [ths275]

1973: 21Aug: supposed death of Tiny Ricardo in planecrash [ths261, 425]

Lizzie meets Ko [ths495]

1973: 02Sep: Ricardo offers opium deal to US agent [ths263]

1973: Fri: Circus logbooks 'filleted' [ttss110]

1973: Oct? Smiley summoned to Lacon's [ttss29]

Smiley studies at Hotel Islay [ttss119]

Mon: Guillam photographs Circus records [ttss77]

Tues: Guillam steals Testify file, confronted about Tarr [ttss162]

Ned spying at Vatican [tsp112]

Smiley and Ann reconcile [ttss354]

1973: late-Nov: Smiley appointed chief [ths3]

Smiley throws out Ann [ths40]

1973: Westerby to Tuscany [ths27]

no-date: unexplained death of Steve Mackelvore [ths60, cf ttss337]

1974: [calendar]

1974? Ned handles Teodor-Latzi show [tsp123] Guillam in Wash DC? [tsp117, 157]

1974: spring: 'orphan' joins Westerby [ths30]

1974: mid: Sat: Luke learns of Thesinger's departure [ths5]

1974: 01Jun: Kirov assigned to Paris [sp187]

1974: summer: Craw retires [ths24]

1974: 08Aug: Nixon resigns

1974: Beth Sanders seeks out Westerby [ths31]

1974: Westerby gets telegram [ths26]

1974: autumn: Westerby returns to Honk Kong [ths25]

1974: Sat: Westerby burns Frost [ths111]

"Every frame is a bold and disturbing masterpiece."

1974: Sat: Westerby approaches Ko at races [ths150]

1974: Dec: Smiley interviews Peter Worthington [ths209] and the Pellings [ths220]

1975: [calendar]

1975? winter: Ned's Gdansk adventure with Colonel Jerzy [tsp157]

1975: mid-Jan: Mon: Sam Collins inducted back into Circus [ths232]

1975: mid-Jan: Connie and di Salis interview Hibberts [ths234]

1975: early Feb: meeting with Martello [ths232]

1975: 15Feb: Smiley instructs Craw about Sam [ths301]

1975: Westerby approaches Lizzie [ths290]

Westerby spots Sam [ths301]

Tiu kills Frost [ths315]

Westerby to Bangkok in search of Charlie Marshall [ths324]

Westerby to Phnom Penh [ths328] close call with Khmer Rouge [ths346] dinner party [inspiration]

Wed: Westerby to Battambang [ths358] finds Charlie [ths366] back to Phnom Penh [ths375] interrogates Charlie [ths381

Westerby to Saigon [ths390] spends a few weeks

Westerby to Thailand [ths399] finds Ricardo [ths409]

1975: 25Apr (Fri): Nelson leaves Swatow on junk [ths455]

1975: 30Apr: fall of Saigon [ths435]

1975: 04May: Nelson lands [ths455, 518] moon is full [ths518] or last quarter? [ths455]

no-date: Smiley exiled to 'Pool' again, anecdote of cufflinks [tsp248]

1976-1977: George HW Bush head of CIA [cite]

1977: [calendar]

1977? 04Aug: Kirov approaches Ostrakova [sp1]

1977: early Sep: Ostrakova writes Vladimir [sp127]

Otto visits Ostrakova

Otto burns Kirov [sp227]

1977: Sep: Karla recruits Grigoriev [ts342]

Ostrakova's 2nd letter to Vlad

1977: Oct: Vlad killed

attempt on Ostrakova's life [sp75]

1977: Sun: Smiley burns Grigoriev [sp328]

1977: Fri: Smiley interviews Tatiana [sp369]

1977: Dec: Smiley wins

no-date: Hansen's ordeal [tsp226]

1980? Ned's 5yr link to Jerzy ends [tsp168]

no-date: Ned interviews Britta in Israel [tsp178] then Hansen in Bangkok [tsp207]

1985? Frewin's 1st Xmas in Salzburg [tsp270]

1987: Cornwell refuses invitation to dine with Philby in Moscow [cite]

1987: Gorbachev is Time's man of the year (glasnost, perestroika)

1988? Sep? Russia House adventure

no-date: Smiley buys cottage in North Cornwall (Ann mostly lives away); sinecure at Exeter University [tsp4] pet dog [tsp6]

1989: winter: Toby leads delegation to Moscow Centre with Guillam, sees Brandt [tsp109] Smiley chairs Fishing Rights Committee [tsp5]

1990? autumn: Ned busts Frewin [tsp279]

no-date: Smiley speaks at Sarratt [tsp6ff]

1990? Ned visits Bradshaw, retires [tsp325]

maps

GS = Smiley's house in Bywater Street [ttss25]
Circus = Cambridge Circus

Max = St John's Wood Road [ttss230] Islay (Hotel)= Sussex Gardens [ttss119]
Vladimir = Westbourne Terrace [sp78]

Haydon = Kentish Town [ttss343]
Merlin = Lock Gardens safehouse [ttss312]
Worthington = Lizzie's husband, Islington [ths209]
Mikhel = Free Baltic Library [sp120]

club = Manchester Square [ttss20]
Sam (Collins) = Grosvenor Square club [ttss216]
bookshop = Hill's of Curzon street [ttss18]
Alias = Alias Club [lgw]
Pool = Northumberland Avenue [tsp248]

Guillam = Eaton Place [ttss77]
Pet = Westerby's stepmother, Thurloe Square [ths92]
Taylor = [lgw]
Avery = [lgw]
Ned1 = flat in Battersea [tsp30]

[S. England map]

Tarr = safehouse near Bures Green [ttss182]
Polyakov = Highgate [ttss102]
Hampstead = death of Vladimir [sp]

Fennan = [cfd]
Charlton = Villem [sp102]
Frewin = Sutton [tsp260]

Thursgood's = Prideaux's school [ths]
Exeter = Smiley's sinecure [tsp4]
Ann = Cornish retreat [ttss140]

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