The Spy, The Detective And Patrick Rayner
A man from the circus takes off his glasses and cleans them on his tie. Another man picks up his calabash pipe and fills it with the tobacco he keeps in a Persian slipper. Can you name these two fictional characters? Yes, two points if you answered George Smiley and Sherlock Holmes. I'll give you a bonus point if you can tell me the current connection between Holmes, Smiley and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland.
Well done if you mentioned Patrick Rayner our Head of Radio Drama. Patrick and his team have been behind most of the Holmes dramatisations you will have heard on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 or ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 7. He also directed Vote for Conan Doyle - a specially commissioned play for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Scotland which we aired on Friday. It was part of short season of programmes devoted to the Scots-born creator of the world's most famous fictional sleuth. It's still available on the iPlayer, by the way.
George Smiley, meanwhile, is the central character in John Le Carre's series of cold war and counter-espionage novels. Some time ago Patrick suggested to Radio 4 that they begin to dramatise those novels for radio and, after a lengthy period of negotiation over rights, the drama team at Pacific Quay went in to the studio to begin work. The serialisation- starring Simon Russell Beale - began on Saturday and you can read more about the background to the production on the Radio 4 Blog.
Meanwhile, I'll end where I started.. with a little quiz. No winners or prizes, this is just for fun.
Which American TV series features medical detective who lives in apartment 221B?
What's the connection between James Bond and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
Which was the first Le Carre novel to feature George Smiley?
Which Star Wars actor played Smiley in the ´óÏó´«Ã½ TV series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy?
Name the Glasgow-born detective who foiled a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
I'll add the answers in a few days.
Comments
or to comment.