Podcast appearances and mentions of adam sisman

‘David at his worst was a liar but John le Carré at his best was a truth teller.' These were the intriguing words with which his biographer Adam Sisman concluded the conversation when he joined the Slightly Foxed Podcast team at the kitchen table to discuss the life and work of the writer who was born David Cornwell but who is better known to the world as John le Carré. Graham Greene, whom le Carré greatly admired, once said that ‘an unhappy childhood is an asset for a writer', and this young David had in spades. He was only 5 when he and his older brother were abandoned by their mother, to be brought up by their father, a domineering, larger-than-life conman, wife-beater and sexual tyrant, whose overwhelming personality would haunt David for the rest of his life and was the inspiration for his novel A Perfect Spy. These ‘hugless' childhood years, as David called them, were ones of stark contrasts. At one moment the family would be living like princes, the next bailiffs were in the house and their father might even be in jail. The boys were taught early on to lie convincingly in order to bail their father out, so the scene was set for the kind of double life that David would later lead when he worked for the secret service, and for the shadowy worlds of violence and betrayal that he created in his novels. It also produced a man who sought out danger, both in doing his meticulous research, and in his multiple affairs with women, a subject Adam explored in a second biography, The Secret Life of John Le Carré, published after le Carré's death. Adam speaks fascinatingly about his often tense relationship with this complex, brilliant and seductively charming man whose great Cold War novels such as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, with their brilliant dialogue and scene-setting and their unforgettable central character George Smiley, are felt by many to far transcend the genre of spy fiction. To finish, there's the usual round-up of reading recommendations including a personal and passionate account of Putin's Russia through the eyes of a BBC journalist, Goodbye to Russia by Sarah Rainsford, and A Voyage around the Queen by Craig Brown, an exceptionally researched and hilarious biography of sorts of our late Queen Elizabeth II. For episode show notes, please see the Slightly Foxed website. Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major by Bach Hosted by Rosie Goldsmith Produced by Philippa Goodrich

This week, host June Thomas talks to writer Adam Sisman about his two biographies of the late spy novelist John le Carré. In the interview, Adam discusses how he managed to land such an exciting project and how he was granted so much access to le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell. He also talks about his friendly but complicated relationship with le Carre and some surprising findings that almost derailed the whole project.  After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler share research tips for nonfiction book projects.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Adam explains the importance of in-person interviewing.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host June Thomas talks to writer Adam Sisman about his two biographies of the late spy novelist John le Carré. In the interview, Adam discusses how he managed to land such an exciting project and how he was granted so much access to le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell. He also talks about his friendly but complicated relationship with le Carre and some surprising findings that almost derailed the whole project.  After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler share research tips for nonfiction book projects.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Adam explains the importance of in-person interviewing.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host June Thomas talks to writer Adam Sisman about his two biographies of the late spy novelist John le Carré. In the interview, Adam discusses how he managed to land such an exciting project and how he was granted so much access to le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell. He also talks about his friendly but complicated relationship with le Carre and some surprising findings that almost derailed the whole project.  After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler share research tips for nonfiction book projects.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Adam explains the importance of in-person interviewing.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host June Thomas talks to writer Adam Sisman about his two biographies of the late spy novelist John le Carré. In the interview, Adam discusses how he managed to land such an exciting project and how he was granted so much access to le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell. He also talks about his friendly but complicated relationship with le Carre and some surprising findings that almost derailed the whole project.  After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler share research tips for nonfiction book projects.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Adam explains the importance of in-person interviewing.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host June Thomas talks to writer Adam Sisman about his two biographies of the late spy novelist John le Carré. In the interview, Adam discusses how he managed to land such an exciting project and how he was granted so much access to le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell. He also talks about his friendly but complicated relationship with le Carre and some surprising findings that almost derailed the whole project.  After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler share research tips for nonfiction book projects.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Adam explains the importance of in-person interviewing.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, host June Thomas talks to writer Adam Sisman about his two biographies of the late spy novelist John le Carré. In the interview, Adam discusses how he managed to land such an exciting project and how he was granted so much access to le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell. He also talks about his friendly but complicated relationship with le Carre and some surprising findings that almost derailed the whole project.  After the interview, June and co-host Isaac Butler share research tips for nonfiction book projects.  In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Adam explains the importance of in-person interviewing.  Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675. Podcast production by Cameron Drews. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you'll also be supporting the work we do here on Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam Sisman is a writer specialising in biography, living in Bristol, England. He is the author of Boswell's Presumptuous Task, winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award, and the biographer of John le Carré, A. J. P. Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper. Among his other works are two volumes of letters by Patrick Leigh Fermor. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. "Mr. Sisman has an ideal biographical style: inquisitive and open, serious yet not severe," Dwight Garner wrote of Sisman's life of Hugh Trevor-Roper in the New York Times: "I'd read him on anyone.” With thanks for your support for 5x15 online! Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

This week on Whale Hunting, Tom Wright and Bradley Hope dive into the life and works of legendary spy novelist John le Carré. After le Carré's death in 2020, a new documentary and biography were released this autumn, revealing previously hidden elements of the author's personal life. Was he really the spy he claimed to be – or were his stories of deceit and duplicity inspired by his other secrets? Tom and Bradley discuss le Carré's life, how recent revelations might affect the legacy of his books, and whether biographies of powerful people can ever really tell the full story.  Mentioned in this episode: John le Carré, a 2015 biography by Adam Sisman: bloomsbury.com/uk/john-le-carré-9781408849446  The Secret Life of John le Carré, a biography by Adam Sisman: profilebooks.com/work/the-secret-life-of-john-le-carr The Pigeon Tunnel, a new documentary by Errol Morris: imdb.com/title/tt28486633 The Secret Life of John le Carré by Adam Sisman review, from The Guardian: theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/15/the-secret-life-of-john-le-carre-by-adam-sisman-review  How John le Carré's serial adultery shaped his spy novels, from The Washington Post: washingtonpost.com/books/2023/10/23/secret-life-john-le-carre-adam-sisman-review/ For more information and to subscribe to the Whale Hunting newsletter, visit whalehunting.projectbrazen.com.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simon and Rachel speak with the biographer Adam Sisman. After an initial career in publishing, Adam's first book, a biography of historian A.J.P. Taylor, appeared in 1994. His second, "Boswell's Presumptuous Task" (2000), won the US National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, and he has subsequently written biographies of another historian, Hugh Trevor-Roper, and the espionage novelist John le Carré. A coda to his original biography of Le Carré, published in 2015, came out this year; it contains information he was unable to publish in the novelist's lifetime. Among Adam's other works are two volumes of letters by travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. We spoke to Adam about his new book - "The Secret Life of John le Carré" - his early career in publishing, and his move into writing biographies.  “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World's Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via ⁠Amazon⁠, ⁠Bookshop.org⁠, ⁠Hatchards⁠ or ⁠Waterstones⁠. You can find us online at ⁠⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠⁠⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

This episode I return with Phil Tinline and Bernard Hughes. We continue discussing Phil’s article in the New Statesman on the London of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré and how it’s different from the London of today. Topics include the le Carré and conspiracies, a discussion of Adam Sisman’s latest book, and […]

Adam Sisman in conversation with Richard Whatmore. Recorded on 8 November 2023. 

In another ‘double-bill' episode we first hear back from former Chief Royal Protection Officer Dai Davies. He has a few things to say about the episode we made recently on the alleged assassination of Diana, Princess of Wales.Then we speak to the author Adam Sisman, who has recently published a ‘warts and all' biography of acclaimed British spy writer John Le Carre. In a life and career characterised by what Le Carre himself called ‘the profession of lying', Andy discovers that deception and betrayal was a central part of his private life, and perhaps even an essential fuel for his writing.Exposing numerous affairs and seductions - and their consequences for those around Le Carre - Adam offers a unique insight into a much loved writer, and lifts the lid on the complex relationship between biographer and subject.You can buy Adam's books - and thousands more - at our own bookstore. https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-secret-life-of-john-le-carre-adam-sisman/7414638?aid=12054&ean=9781800817784Andrew Lownie.twitter.com/andrewlowniePhil Craig.twitter.com/philmcraigThe Scandal Mongers is also available to watch on YoutubeYou can also get in touch with the show hosts via...team@podcastworld.org (place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading please)This show is part of the PodcastWorld.org network. For your own show please get in contact via the email address above.Production byTheo XKerem Isik Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After publishing his John le Carré biography in 2015, Adam Sisman has returned to the subject. One of the greatest novelists of the 20th century, John le Carré - who's real name is David Cornwell - died in 2020. The former spy, turned author, did not want his many love affairs in the 2015 biography, which Adam Sisman calls the truth, 'but not the whole truth'. Adam Sisman's new book The Secret Life of John le Carré identifies 11 women le Carré had affairs with, in the first 30 years of his marriage with wife Jane Cornwell. He writes that le Carré's pursuit of women 'was a key to unlock his fiction'.

Adam Sisman – The Secret Life of John Le Carré...with TRE's Giles Brown

This episode I’m excited to welcome John le Carré’s biographer Adam Sisman to the show. We discuss his latest book The Secret Life of John le Carré which looks at le Carré affairs which Sisman left out of his previous biography. Topics include why Sisman felt he needed to write this new book, the push […]

With The Secret Life of John le Carré (Harper), Adam Sisman reveals the secrets he couldn't publish in 2015's John le Carré: The Biography, and explores how serial deception & betrayals — through the multiple affairs le Carré (a.k.a. David Cornwell) conducted during both of his marriages — can provide a key to understanding the late, great spy novelist. We get into how Adam became a combo detective-psychoanalyst-confessor during his work on the biography, how he learned of le Carré's messy private life, why he decided to wait until after the author and his wife had died before publishing this new book, and whether he felt le Carré was manipulating him during their interviews. We talk about le Carré's monumental achievements chronicling the Cold War and Britain's decline (& his top 3 le Carré novels), the man's undeniable charm & his self-mythologizing, the times when he thought the biography might not happen, how he felt when le Carré published a memoir after Adam's biography came out, and the ways in which le Carré's upbringing — abandoned by his mother, reared by a con man father he struggled to escape from — may have contributed to his devotion to duplicity & seduction. We also discuss the moment Adam realized that biography is a human process, his thoughts on the new Errol Morris documentary with le Carré, the limits of interviews in general (NO!), what it means to put le Carré behind him with this new book, and plenty more. • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal and via our Substack

Madonna is still in the spotlight 45 years after bursting onto the pop scene in the 1980s, inspiring fashion, dance and youth culture, as well as being the world's best-selling female artist of all time. Author of the biography Madonna: A Rebel Life, Mary Gabriel explores what's behind her enduring influence and music critic Pete Paphides assesses last night's Celebration tour performance, rescheduled after her recent serious health scare. The latest film from director Martin Scorcese focuses on the Osage Nation community, who back in the 1920s had become rich overnight when oil was discovered beneath their land in Oklahoma. Based on a true story, Killers of the Flower Moon sees an improbable romance develop between Leonardo DiCaprio's Ernest and Lily Gladstone's indigenous Mollie, as members of her Osage tribe are murdered under mysterious circumstances, killings which are investigated by what was to become the FBI. Published in 2015, Adam Sisman wrote what is considered to be the definitive biography of John le Carré. What he left out about the author befits a Cold War spy novel: he was secretive, self-mythologizing and even deceptive. Sisman's new book, The Secret life of John le Carré, reveals for the first time the frustrating process of writing a biography about the writer who hid his infidelities and inconsistencies. The Forward Prizes are among UK and Ireland's most coveted poetry awards. These include best poetry collection, first collection, single poem - written and, new for this year, best single poem – performed. Tonight in Leeds the judges will announce the winners as Front Row is on-air - and we should know who has won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem – Written, and be able broadcast the poet reading it.

In 1963, a British spy writing under the pen name John le Carré published a novel that shot to the top of best-seller lists worldwide. After the success of “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold,” le Carré became known as the king of the modern spy thriller, and his gritty, political books helped define the genre until his death, in 2020. On this episode of Critics at Large, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz dive deep into the le Carré œuvre, delighting in the “glorious confusion” of works like “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Constant Gardener,” and “A Perfect Spy.” They also discuss le Carré's life in light of two retrospectives out this month: “The Pigeon Tunnel,” an Errol Morris documentary on Apple TV+; and “The Secret Life of John le Carré,” an addendum to Adam Sisman's definitive biography that exposes decades of affairs in which the novelist ran women like agents. With these details as a jumping-off point, the hosts explore the themes of intimacy and romance across the spy genre, including the Martini-soaked romps of Ian Fleming's James Bond and the FX show “The Americans,” where romance functions as a metaphor for spycraft. “One question I'm asking is, Why are sex and love so much part of the archetype of the spy?” Schwartz says. “When you're pretending and playing at being so many different things, love is usually one place where the truth must out.” New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donate to Room to Read here or share the link – http://tinyurl.com/spiesread We are back with a look at some of John le Carré’s unused book titles. These have been gathered from Adam Sisman’s biography, John le Carré: A Life, as well as a few from A Private Spy: The letters of John le Carré. […]

On this week's episode, Katy Balls warns Boris what a pattern of delay could mean for his Premiership. (01:08) After, Laura Freeman takes us on a guided tour of politicians' chosen paintings (07:05) and finally Adam Sisman lays out the landscape of Berlin directly following the end of world war two. (15:13)

Anthony Wells worked at The Wiener Holocaust Library in London for a decade. In this episode he leads the Slightly Foxed editors into the history of the library, which holds one of the most extensive archives on the Holocaust and the Nazi era. We travel to Germany, Amsterdam, New York and Tel Aviv, but it is people rather than places that the library remembers with its annals of personal stories. Dr Alfred Wiener, a German Jew who fought in the First World War, was one of the first to note the rise of the Nazi Party, and he began to assemble an archive of information in order to undermine their activities. From downfall by documentation in the Nuremberg Trial to a tracing service made up of millions of records, we learn how The Wiener Library ensures that those who disappeared are not forgotten. With thanks to The Wiener Library for the image used for this episode’s cover artwork: Member of staff, Mrs Walter at The Wiener Library in 1952 Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 37 minutes; 6 seconds) Books Mentioned We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch (mailto:jess@foxedquarterly.com) with Jess in the Slightly Foxed office for more information. The Ratline (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/philippe-sands-the-ratline/) , Philippe Sands (11:39) An Englishman in Auschwitz, Leon Greenman is out of print (14:25) Dinner of Herbs: Village Life in 1960s Turkey (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/carla-grissman-dinner-of-herbs/) , Carla Grissman (28:00) Hope against Hope (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/nadezhda-mandelstam-hope-against-hope/) , Nadezhda Mandelstam (29:42) Defying Hitler (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/sebastian-haffner-defying-hitler/) , Sebastian Haffner (31:04) An Officer and a Spy (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/robert-harris-an-officer-and-a-spy/) , Robert Harris (33:53) Related Slightly Foxed Articles Comfortable Words, (https://foxedquarterly.com/anthony-wells-1662-book-of-common-prayer-literary-review/) Anthony Wells on the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, Issue 36 174517 (https://foxedquarterly.com/david-spiller-primo-levi-literary-review/) , David Spiller on Primo Levi, If This Is a Man and The Truce, Issue 43  Casting Out Fear (https://foxedquarterly.com/viktor-e-frankl-mans-search-for-meaning/) , Gary Mead on Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, Issue 50 The Hunt for Hitler (https://foxedquarterly.com/hugh-trevor-roper-adam-sisman-literary-review/) , Adam Sisman on Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler, Issue 61 Other Links The Wiener Holocaust Library  (https://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/) One Tree Books (https://onetreebooks.com/) , Petersfield (23:52) The Petersfield Bookshop (https://www.petersfieldbookshop.com/) (24:45) Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable (https://www.podcastable.co.uk/)

In this episode I provide an introduction to the world's most famous spy writer. John le Carré began writing novels as a way to relieve the boredom of his duties as an upper-class raised British diplomat. That was what the world was told. The reality was that he wrote under a pseudonym; in truth he was a spy for MI6. His ability to live two lives at once was what made him both a successful spy as well as one of the most famous espionage novelists of all time. Much of the research came from Adam Sisman's essential biography of le Carré.
James Olson's book Fair Play was also quite helpful along with the collection of le Carré interviews called Conversations with John le Carré edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Judith S. Baughman.


In this episode I provide an introduction to the world's most famous spy writer. John le Carré began writing novels as a way to relieve the boredom of his duties as an upper-class raised British diplomat. That was what the world was told. The reality was that he wrote under a pseudonym; in truth he was a spy for MI6. His ability to live two lives at once was what made him both a successful spy as well as one of the most famous espionage novelists of all time. Much of the research came from Adam Sisman's essential biography of le Carré.
James Olson's book Fair Play was also quite helpful along with the collection of le Carré interviews called Conversations with John le Carré edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Judith S. Baughman.
 The post His Secret Sharer: The Hidden Truths of John le Carré – Episode 1 appeared first on Spy Write.

Gail, Hazel, Jennie and host Philippa are joined at the table by eminent biographer Adam Sisman to discuss the delicate business of delving into the lives of others – warts and all or, sometimes, all warts no all. The actor Nigel Anthony lends his voice to Edward Lear’s surreal verbal contortions, unearthing the deep sorrow that hid beneath the nonsense. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 38 minutes; 6 seconds) **Books Mentioned** * Eric Newby, [Love and War in the Apennines](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/eric-newby-love-and-war/) will be published as a Slightly Foxed Edition in clothbound hardback on 1 June. Now available to pre-order (1:50)  * Adam Sisman, Hugh Trevor-Roper: The Biography, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please [get in touch](https://foxedquarterly.com/help/) for details (8:30) * Hugh Trevor-Roper, [The Last Days of Hitler](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/hugh-trevor-roper-last-days-of-hitler/) (8:42) * Adam Sisman, [John le Carré: The Biography](https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/john-le-carre-9781408849460/) is available from Bloomsbury (9:32) * Adam Sisman, The Professor and the Parson is published on 9 May, and will be available to order in the Summer 2019 Readers’ Catalogue and on the Slightly Foxed website (12:32) * Adam Sisman, Boswell’s Presumptuous Task, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please [get in touch](https://foxedquarterly.com/help/) for details (14:16)  * Richard Hillary, [The Last Enemy](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/the-last-enemy-richard-hillary-slightly-foxed-edition/). This Slightly Foxed Edition is also available in a bundle with Sebastian Faulks, [The Fatal Englishman](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/fatal-englishman-last-enemy/) (17:11) * Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please get in touch for details (19:24) * Kingsley Amis, [The Green Man](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/kingsley-amis-the-green-man/), on which an article by William Palmer appears in [Slightly Foxed Issue 20](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-20/) (27:58) * [My Grandfather & Father, Dear Father](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/my-grandfather-father-dear-father/), by Denis Constanduros are available in a single edition or in a [special Last Call Bundle](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/last-call-bundle/) together with the last copies of our earliest available limited-edition, The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley (28.25) * Bart van Es, [The Cut Out Girl](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/bart-van-es-cut-out-girl/) (29:30)  * Tim Pears, The West Country Trilogy: [The Horseman](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/tim-pears-horseman/), [The Wanderers](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/tim-pears-wanderers/) and [The Redeemed](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/tim-pears-redeemed/) (31:00) **Related Slightly Foxed Articles & Illustrations** * [Adam Sisman’s article](https://foxedquarterly.com/hugh-trevor-roper-adam-sisman-literary-review/) on Hugh Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler is published in [Slightly Foxed Issue 61](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-61-1-march-2019/) (8:44) * [William Palmer’s article](https://foxedquarterly.com/edward-lear-william-palmer-literary-review/) on Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer was published in [Slightly Foxed Issue 56](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-56-great-present-for-someone-who-likes-books/) (19:24) * [Read an extract](https://foxedquarterly.com/denis-constanduros-memoir-my-grandfather-extract/) from Chapter VIII of My Grandfather & Father, Dear Father by Denis Constanduros (28:41) **Other Links** * Bart van Es won the [2018 Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize](https://foxedquarterly.com/...

Gail, Hazel and Jennie talk to the artist and illustrator (and master of pastiche) David Eccles about the craft of marrying image and text. The actress Petra Markham takes to the airwaves with Posy Simmonds, and the printmaker Angie Lewin recalls her experience of being commissioned for a Slightly Foxed cover. **Books Mentioned** * Hugh Trevor-Roper, [The Last Days of Hitler](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/hugh-trevor-roper-last-days-of-hitler/) * Richard Kennedy, [A Boy at the Hogarth Press & A Parcel of Time](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/hogarth-press-richard-kennedy-plain-foxed/)  * Gwen Raverat, [Period Piece](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/period-piece-plain-foxed-edition-published-1-sept/) * E. H. Shepard, [Drawn from Memory and Drawn from Life](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/drawn-from-memory-no-44-drawn-from-life-no-45/) * A. A. Milne, [Winnie-the-Pooh](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/a-a-milne-winnie-the-pooh/) * Christopher Matthew, [Now We are Sixty](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/christopher-matthew-david-eccles-now-we-are-sixty/), with decorations by David Eccles  * The Slightly Foxed Cubs edition of The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff will be published in September 2019 * Posy Simmond’s latest book, [Cassandra Darke](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/posy-simmonds-cassandra-darke/) * Flowers for Mrs Harris by Paul Gallico is also known as [Mrs Harris Goes to Paris](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/paul-gallico-mrs-harris-goes-to-paris/), and is available in a single volume together with [Mrs Harris Goes to New York](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/paul-gallico-mrs-harris-goes-to-paris/).  * Elizabeth Jenkins, [The Tortoise and the Hare](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/elizabeth-jenkins-tortoise-and-the-hare/) * Mathias Enard, [Compass](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/mathias-enard-compass-fitzcarraldo-editions/) * Kathleen Hale’s autobiography, A Slender Reputation, is out of print, but we may be able to get hold of second-hand copies. Please [get in touch](https://foxedquarterly.com/help/) for details **Related Slightly Foxed Articles & Illustrations** * A wood engraving by [Hilary Paynter](http://hilarypaynter.com/) illustrates Adam Sisman’s article on The Last Days of Hitler in Slightly Foxed Issue 61 * [Slightly Foxed Issue 60](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-60-published-1-december-2018/) features the illustration ‘Office Life’ by Posy Simmonds * Christopher Robbins’s article on [Finnegans Wake](https://foxedquarterly.com/james-joyce-finnegans-wake-literary-review/) was published in [Slightly Foxed Issue 22](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-22/) * Angie Lewin is a printmaker and was the cover artist for [Slightly Foxed Issue 27](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-27/) * James Nunn provided a pastiche of Eric Ravilious for the cover of [Slightly Foxed Issue 17](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-17/) * Maggie Fergusson’s article on [Flowers for Mrs Harris](https://foxedquarterly.com/paul-gallico-flowers-for-mrs-harris-literary-review/) was published in [Slightly Foxed Issue 20](https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-20/) * Nigel Andrew’s article on The Tortoise and the Hare was published in [Slightly Foxed Issue 60](https://foxedquarterly.com/elizabeth-jenkins-virago-hare-and-tortoise/) **Other Links** * The shortlist for the [2018 Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize](https://foxedquarterly.com/slightly-foxed-best-first-biography-prize-shortlist-2018/).The award party will be held at [Maggs Bros](https://www.maggs.com/) * A full list of Slightly Foxed stockists can be found on our website: [Stockists](https://foxedquarterly.com/category/stockists/) * For subscriptions to Slightly Foxed magazine, visit [www.foxedquarterly.com](https://foxedquarterly.com/) **Thanks to** Angie Le...

https://www.newstalk.com//podcasts/talking-books/chapter-250-39-more-dashing-39-with-adam-sisman3156Sat, 09 Feb 2019 08:30:15 +0000h

In this week's Spectator Books podcast, Sam Leith is talking to Adam Sisman about More Dashing -- his new selection from the remarkable correspondence of one of the 20th-century's most celebrated adventurers, spongers and men of letters, Paddy Leigh-Fermor. What did Paddy really feel about his most famous act of derring-do, when he kidnapped a Nazi general in occupied Crete? What really went on in his unconventional marriage? And were -- as Adam Sisman contends -- his letters really at the heart rather than the periphery of his literary achievement?

Adam Sisman talks at the renowned Oldie Literary Lunch about his biography about John Le Carre. Sponsored by Doro, number one in the senior mobile market

"This happy hour Andrew Marjoribanks, Wordsworth Books picks perfect summer reading, fiction and non-fiction. Lynda Gilfillan, down-the-line from down under reviews 'Flame in the Snow – The Love Letters of Andre Brink & Ingrid Jonker', of which she, Lynda, was the copy-editor for the English translation. Cindy Moritz gives us good reason to read Anne Tyler's gentle unwinding of 'A Spool of Blue Thread' with its deceptively small details of ordinary family life. Peter Soal wonders, with Ferial Haffajee and with some alarm 'What if there were no whites in South Africa?'. Beverley Roos Muller spies revelations in 'John le Carre – the biography by Adam Sisman', and Mike Fitzjames takes the thriller genre further with three cracking crime novels. Phillippa Cheifitz keeps her cool - and suggests we keep ours – with 'Ice Kitchen: 50 Lolly Recipes' by Cesar and Nadia Roden. Finally Vanessa Levenstein reviews Santa Montefiore's 'Songs of Love and War', an epic romance with strong archetypal themes of land, love and war."

Mariella Frostrup talks to Adam Sisman about his biography of John Le Carre