Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a spy novel by John le Carré, published in 1974. It tells the story of how protagonist George Smiley is brought out of retirement from his job working for the British Secret Intelligence Service (referred to as "The Circus", for its location at London's Cambridge Circus) to help find a mole that has infiltrated the deepest levels of the organization.

The novel takes its name from the children's rhyme "Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, richman, poorman, beggarman, thief." Some of the names from the rhyme are codenames given to the four suspects: current head of the Circus, Percy Alleline (Tinker), chief of the London branch, Bill Haydon (Tailor), another high ranking operative, Roy Bland (Soldier), and head of internal security, Toby Esterhase (Poorman).

The novel was dramatized as a highly-acclaimed 6-hour mini-series for the BBC in 1979, starring Alec Guinness as Smiley.