The strange history of plastic Paddies
Jun 02, 2021
3 minutes
Just before he died, John le Carré, an embodiment of Englishness in his writing, took Irish citizenship. In one of the last photographs of the spy author, he was wrapped in an Irish flag.
Le Carré – real name David Cornwell – joins a tradition of Englishmen who became, or claimed to be, Irish. Patrick O’Brian, author of the Aubrey–Maturin stories, lived a private life but let it be supposed he was Irish. Actually, he was Richard Patrick Russ from
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