George Smiley's "Circus" on Cambridge Circus, London!

[Calife]

Greetings!

Having just re-read John Le Carre's Smiley novels (Tinker, Taylor...,
Smiley's People,...), I wonder:
Was British Intelligence (MI6 ????) in fact located at one time on
Cambridge Circus?
And if it was, where was it?
Was it the building located between Charing Cross Road and Shaftsbury
Avenue, or the one between Shaftsbury and Earlham Street, or between
Earlham and Tower Street, or between Shaftsbury and West, or between
West and Charing Cross, or....where...?????
Any insight on that bit of secret London geography would be appreciated! :-)
Thanks!! :-)

[William Black]

Post by Calife
Greetings!
Having just re-read John Le Carre's Smiley novels (Tinker, Taylor...,
Was British Intelligence (MI6 ????) in fact located at one time on
Cambridge Circus?

No it wasn't.

Post by Calife
And if it was, where was it?

Originally they were on the top floor of 'Admiralty Buildings' next door to
the Houses of Parliament. Admiralty Buildings is actually a huge block of
flats and Mansfield Cummings, the first head of the SIS, had an apartment
on the top floor there

Then I believe they were in a number of buildings in Whitehall, but who was
where is another matter, certainly the code breaking operation in WWI was
in Room 40 OB, OB meaning 'The Old Admiralty Building'.

However lots of this is speculative.

For example there is a theory that the names 'MI5' and 'MI6' came from room
numbers

Then they moved to an office black called 'Century House'.

They now have a new building...

[a.spencer3]

Post by William Black

Post by Calife
Greetings!
Having just re-read John Le Carre's Smiley novels (Tinker, Taylor...,
Was British Intelligence (MI6 ????) in fact located at one time on
Cambridge Circus?

No it wasn't.

Post by Calife
And if it was, where was it?

Originally they were on the top floor of 'Admiralty Buildings' next door to
the Houses of Parliament. Admiralty Buildings is actually a huge block of
flats and Mansfield Cummings, the first head of the SIS, had an apartment
on the top floor there
Then I believe they were in a number of buildings in Whitehall, but who was
where is another matter, certainly the code breaking operation in WWI was
in Room 40 OB, OB meaning 'The Old Admiralty Building'.
However lots of this is speculative.
For example there is a theory that the names 'MI5' and 'MI6' came from room
numbers
Then they moved to an office black called 'Century House'.

Yep, just behind Waterloo station, and known to all what it was!

Surreyman

[Martin Reboul]

Post by William Black

Post by William Black

Post by Calife
Greetings!
Having just re-read John Le Carre's Smiley novels (Tinker, Taylor...,
Was British Intelligence (MI6 ????) in fact located at one time on
Cambridge Circus?

No it wasn't.

Post by Calife
And if it was, where was it?

Originally they were on the top floor of 'Admiralty Buildings' next door

to

Post by William Black
the Houses of Parliament. Admiralty Buildings is actually a huge block

of

Post by William Black
flats and Mansfield Cummings, the first head of the SIS, had an

apartment

Post by William Black
on the top floor there
Then I believe they were in a number of buildings in Whitehall, but who

was

Post by William Black
where is another matter, certainly the code breaking operation in WWI was
in Room 40 OB, OB meaning 'The Old Admiralty Building'.
However lots of this is speculative.
For example there is a theory that the names 'MI5' and 'MI6' came from

room

Post by William Black
numbers
Then they moved to an office black called 'Century House'.

Yep, just behind Waterloo station, and known to all what it was!

Surely not 'The Black Cap'?

[Calife]

Post by William Black

Post by Calife
Greetings!
Having just re-read John Le Carre's Smiley novels (Tinker, Taylor...,
Was British Intelligence (MI6 ????) in fact located at one time on
Cambridge Circus?

No it wasn't.

Post by Calife
And if it was, where was it?

Originally they were on the top floor of 'Admiralty Buildings' next door to
the Houses of Parliament. Admiralty Buildings is actually a huge block of
flats and Mansfield Cummings, the first head of the SIS, had an apartment
on the top floor there
Then I believe they were in a number of buildings in Whitehall, but who was
where is another matter, certainly the code breaking operation in WWI was
in Room 40 OB, OB meaning 'The Old Admiralty Building'.
However lots of this is speculative.
For example there is a theory that the names 'MI5' and 'MI6' came from room
numbers

You mean MI doesn't stand for "military intelligence"????
Egad, and I thought I knew about that stuff...!!! :-)





Thank you William for your reply.
If I read you correctly, you speak of a long gone era.
How about the period LeCarre refers to, the 60s and 70s (a little less
long-gone)?
Could they have been on Cambridge Circus then??
What I'm trying to say is how come would LeCarre, who strives mightily
for credibility and proper "background", fail to locate MI6 in the
correct historical place, choosing instead the theatre and music shops
district in the West End???!! Not for "security" reasons...!!!!
Especially with all the minute description of place, offices,
elevators... he goes through. And when Mandel is staking out the head
office from across Cambridge Circus to warn Smiley that the mole has
left and is on its way to the safe-house in Camden,... was all this
artistic licence on LeCarre's part???
I mean, here I am a Philadelphia 'merkin living in Paris who loves
LeCarre's style and has read almost all he's put out (and saw the movies
and TV series as well!!! :-) ), in effect making up his ideal
readership: I would have no esthetic problem with Control and Smiley
running the "service" out of Whitehall or the Admiralty Building or
"Century House"?
Everybody knows CIA is in Langley, VA. I can't imagine Robert Ludlum or
some such writer locating CIA in Georgetown, Arlington, Bethesda or
Takoma Park!!! A safe house, for sure, but not the service's HQ!
So why Cambridge Circus??

Post by William Black
Then they moved to an office black called 'Century House'.
They now have a new building...

Somewhere on the Thames south bank, if I'm not mistaken...???

[a.spencer3]

Post by Calife

Post by William Black

Post by Calife
Greetings!
Having just re-read John Le Carre's Smiley novels (Tinker, Taylor...,
Was British Intelligence (MI6 ????) in fact located at one time on
Cambridge Circus?

No it wasn't.

Post by Calife
And if it was, where was it?

Originally they were on the top floor of 'Admiralty Buildings' next door to
the Houses of Parliament. Admiralty Buildings is actually a huge block of
flats and Mansfield Cummings, the first head of the SIS, had an apartment
on the top floor there
Then I believe they were in a number of buildings in Whitehall, but who was
where is another matter, certainly the code breaking operation in WWI was
in Room 40 OB, OB meaning 'The Old Admiralty Building'.
However lots of this is speculative.
For example there is a theory that the names 'MI5' and 'MI6' came from room
numbers

You mean MI doesn't stand for "military intelligence"????
Egad, and I thought I knew about that stuff...!!! :-)
Thank you William for your reply.
If I read you correctly, you speak of a long gone era.
How about the period LeCarre refers to, the 60s and 70s (a little less
long-gone)?
Could they have been on Cambridge Circus then??
What I'm trying to say is how come would LeCarre, who strives mightily
for credibility and proper "background", fail to locate MI6 in the
correct historical place, choosing instead the theatre and music shops
district in the West End???!! Not for "security" reasons...!!!!
Especially with all the minute description of place, offices,
elevators... he goes through. And when Mandel is staking out the head
office from across Cambridge Circus to warn Smiley that the mole has
left and is on its way to the safe-house in Camden,... was all this
artistic licence on LeCarre's part???
I mean, here I am a Philadelphia 'merkin living in Paris who loves
LeCarre's style and has read almost all he's put out (and saw the movies
and TV series as well!!! :-) ), in effect making up his ideal
readership: I would have no esthetic problem with Control and Smiley
running the "service" out of Whitehall or the Admiralty Building or
"Century House"?
Everybody knows CIA is in Langley, VA. I can't imagine Robert Ludlum or
some such writer locating CIA in Georgetown, Arlington, Bethesda or
Takoma Park!!! A safe house, for sure, but not the service's HQ!
So why Cambridge Circus??

Post by William Black
Then they moved to an office black called 'Century House'.
They now have a new building...

Somewhere on the Thames south bank, if I'm not mistaken...???

Yep, a bloody fortress overlooking Westminster (I think) Bridge.
And quite early in its career the IRA managed to put a rocket through one of
its windows!

Surreyman

[William Black]

Post by Calife
Thank you William for your reply.
If I read you correctly, you speak of a long gone era.
How about the period LeCarre refers to, the 60s and 70s (a little less
long-gone)?

LeCarre worked, as far as anyone knows, after they moved to Century House.

Post by Calife
Could they have been on Cambridge Circus then??

Who knows?

I don't...

Post by Calife
What I'm trying to say is how come would LeCarre, who strives mightily
for credibility and proper "background", fail to locate MI6 in the
correct historical place, choosing instead the theatre and music shops
district in the West End???!! Not for "security" reasons...!!!!

His version of SIS is more than a little odd and his odd nick names for the
various specialists are products of his imagination.

For example (and all this is based on newspaper stories) his 'hoods' are
really called 'sandbaggers', 'lamplighters' are really 'watchers' and so
on.

Post by Calife
Especially with all the minute description of place, offices,
elevators... he goes through. And when Mandel is staking out the head
office from across Cambridge Circus to warn Smiley that the mole has
left and is on its way to the safe-house in Camden,... was all this
artistic licence on LeCarre's part???

Almost certainly it's based on a real place, but I would doubt that it's
anything to do with the real SIS.

Post by Calife
Everybody knows CIA is in Langley, VA. I can't imagine Robert Ludlum or
some such writer locating CIA in Georgetown, Arlington, Bethesda or
Takoma Park!!! A safe house, for sure, but not the service's HQ!
So why Cambridge Circus??

Because Cambridge, Smiley's old university, produced a series of high
level traitors, at least one of which served within SIS.