Smiley et al.

George Smiley is one of the fictional characters whom I've always wanted to meet. He was the protagonist of John LeCarre's first novel, Call for the Dead (1961). This was one of the paper-back novels that I probably read all to pieces, because I can't find it any more in the shelves.

The movie versions of Smiley never match my picture of him. If I met the "real" Smiley on the street, I think I would recognize him, also his friends Dieter Frey and Alec Leamas. Leamas was the hero of another Le Carre novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

Other fictional characters I would like to meet are Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin, and Sherlock Holmes. "Special shoes, Watson!"