Sensational new biography claims the celebrated novelist conducted a series of 'assignations' in real life
- In 1954 David Cornwell married Ann Sharp, the daughter of an air vice-marshal, with whom he had three sons
- For a time they lived happily, David progressing from schoolmaster at Eton to MI5, then MI6
- But their relationship began to turn stale, not helped by Cornwell’s burgeoning career as a novelist – using the pen name John le Carré
- Despite his fame, he stopped short of full-blown affairs, until he met the glamorous Susan Kennaway, wife of his friend James
David Cornwell grew up in a world devoid of female affection. When he was five his mother walked out of the family home for good, leaving him and his older brother to be brought up by their controlling, conman father, and at a series of all-boy prep and public schools.