Tim Cornwell (Editor)

To anyone who ever knew him, one of the great sadnesses about Tim Cornwell’s life is that, when his first book is published in October, he will not be around to see it. He had been working hard on A Private Spy, a collection of letters from his father, John Le Carré, since September last year, and the few who have seen it – including his father’s agent, publisher and three sons – are unanimous in their praise.

Tim loved his father’s novels – Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and a few others were up there with Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop and a huge chunk of PG Wodehouse’s work among the books he often reread – and was fiercely proud of him. Yet his father’s fame cast a shadow on his own mental health. In 2005, a combination of overwork, travel and difficult times at The Scotsman brought about a psychotic breakdown, when he was sectioned for his own safety and diagnosed as bipolar. Given his complicated relationship with his father, the fact that Edinburgh buses were then advertising the film of his father’s book, The Constant Gardener – featuring his name prominently – might also have been a factor.

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