In describing the enduring cultural impact of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – published fifty years ago and often nominated as the best spy novel ever written – a good place to start, strange though it may sound, is James Bond. John le Carré’s squalid yet subtle world of Cold War spies may appear antithetical to the glamorous fantasy of Bond. But it is clear from the last three Bond films, and especially the latest, Skyfall (2012), which of the two visions of espionage, Fleming’s or le Carré’s, is the more mature and compelling.

The middle-aged, double-crossed, burnt-out Bond seen in Skyfall could well be the Ian Fleming character edited by John le Carré. As portrayed on screen by Daniel Craig, Bond is the blockbuster counterpart to Alec Leamas, the seedy, world-weary yet still-capable hero of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.