The Honourable Schoolboy - Radio Adaptation - Starring Peter Vaughan as George Smiley (1983)

George Smiley: Peter Vaughan
The Hon. Jerry Westerby: Martin Jarvis
Peter Guillam: John Rowe
Connie Sachs: Mary Wimbush
Doc di Salis: Cyril Shaps
Craw/Drake Ko: Henry Stamper
Molly Meakin: Heather Barrett
Frost/Murphy: Terry Molloy
Mr Pelling/Mr Tiu: Roger Hume
Sam Collins: Alexander John
The Rev Hibbert: Colin Douglas
Doris Hibbert: Shirley Stelfox
Martello: Paul Maxwell
Saul Enderby: Ronald Baddiley
Oliver Lacon: Edward Cast
Mrs Pelling: Freda Dowie
Roddy Martindale: Stephen Hancock
Wilbraham: Christopher Banks
Miss Green: Patricia Gibson
Lizzie Worthington: Natasha Pyne
Tiny Ricardo: Peter Marinker
American Major: David Vann

[@Happyheart146]

Rain ridden Tuesday afternoon, perfect! Thank you.

[@mrsapplez2007]

Love that you have a black screen. Makes all the difference when trying to sleep. I've not heard or read this so will be a treat.

[@ripsumrall8018]

Minimize the browser, easy. Works on any story :) Or better yet, turn off the monitor!

[@mrsapplez2007]

@@ripsumrall8018 yea I do that on my phone and turn down the brightness. I still get a lite luggage though. 🙃

[@voodoorael]

Good shout!

[@voodoorael]

Definitely read the book, mrs applez… this is a nice production but very rushed :)

[@mrsapplez2007]

@@voodoorael new glasses coming soon. Will add it to my reading list 👍🏾

[@davidgladstone6588]

Peter Vaughan was one of my favorite character actors!

[@1960imp]

I first heard this when it was originally transmitted. I have been looking for it for years.

[@DavidThomas-lt4pj]

Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3, a sunday evening, if I can recall. a wonderful cast. Peter Vaughan plays a wonderful George Smiley.

[@davidgladstone5261]

In The Pallisers, episode 19 Peter Vaughan plays a QC defending Phineas Finn, he is incredible. I highly reccomend you to watch it. He is also in Fall of Eagles, episode 9!

[@jiji1946]

thank you much Nerdsworth, for this....

[@minto7699]

Cant believe how much information lizzies parents gave away. And the information given freely by everyone. Lol

[@shdas123]

thanks very much

[@billbligh4547]

My favorite Le Carre. Richard Hughes was the inspiration for Old Craw. Worth looking up his autobiography Richard Hughes, Foreign Devil: Thirty Years of Reporting from the Far East (Deutsch, 1972)

[@stevebailey5591]

It's very overblown and feels extremely self indulgent. Minor characters are evoked in baroque detail. The character of Lizzie Worthington, conversely, is very underdeveloped. However, I've always had a soft spot for it - I think because Jerry seems so vulnerable (he's very much a precursor of Pym in Le Carre's best non-Circus offering 'A Perfect Spy').

[@timmacwhinney569]

@@stevebailey5591 graham Greene to

[@RobtheArtTeacher]

Great listening on a snowy evening ❄👍🏼 Thanks a lot for uploading this!

[@rickonnye2001]

Brilliant

[@marieeaton-smith5168]

Joss Ackland was brilliant as Jerry Westerby in the BBC series of Tinker Tailor; I keep hearing his voice in this portrayal by Martin Jarvis. Really enjoyable listening to this.

[@marieeaton-smith5168]

@Sagres d'Amor I disagree. All of the main characters in the BBC Tinker, Tailor drama are played by older men; it would have been very odd having a young actor playing Westerby; Peter Gwillam/Guillam played by Michael Jayston (I think), is younger than the main actors, and the Rikki Tarr actor/role is younger still - as they should be. Martin Jarvis is excellent as Westerby in this adaptation of 'The Hon Schoolboy', and has all of the mannerisms and speech, as did Joss Ackland in the role. I do know that Tinker, Tailor is set before The Hon Schoolboy.

[@davidgladstone5261]

I've been watching a bunch of Joss Ackland lately, but as you say his performance in Tinker Tailor, "Linda, my proud beauty!" is fanatstic I have watched it many times.

[@thatguycmk7548]

very very nice

[@martincopeland8153]

Ah the nostalgic sound of a dial telephone. 👴🏻

[@myriaddsystems]

Love this

[@theworldasiknowit.5751]

wonderful story. So realistic.

[@emjackson2289]

Checkable 10 year work history on CV. . . . [yadda, yadda, yadda] "High class tart".

[@donwardell4605]

John le Carre is really David Cornwall a former British secret agent who still shows his manuscripts to MI6 before they are published. Sad to say he died last year, he captured the loneliness and snobbery of the Upper Classes. Characters like Connie appear and re-appear. If you are new to his work you would be well advised to read his material in order.

[@TheGedByrne]

His name was David Cornwell, not David Cornwall. He lived in Cornwall.

[@kindnessfirst9670]

He wrote two dozen novels and some were outstanding. Most critics suggest The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Smiley's People, and A Perfect Spy. I would add A Legacy of Spies to that list. Most think his best book was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, A Perfect Spy or Tinker Tailor but my favorite is Smiley's People.

[@williamvorkosigan5151]

He worked for MI5. He does not enjoy a warm relationship with them. His jaundiced view of the agency is not appreciated.

[@kindnessfirst9670]

@@williamvorkosigan5151 He worked for both MI5 and MI6.

[@williamvorkosigan5151]

@@kindnessfirst9670 I don't know about MI6. I do know that in an interview with the former head of MI (5 or 6, I think on a Spectator Podcast) Le Carre was raised and the response was sniffy to say the least.

[@DeSilsky]

This version is better than the late one by Simon Russel Beale, which is a great actor but his versions were too flat. This one is brilliant. And difficult to find. Thank you so much for sharing!!!!

[@annchristine47]

The true pleasure of Le Carre's work is derived from reading the books as well as the audios narrated by Le Carre or Michael Jayston.The tv series were excellent-- all the rest is third rate.

[@myriaddsystems]

I thought so too - I found the recent film unengaging...

[@jeremyfriend4296]

Smiley is always going to be Alec Guinness. Whenever I read the books I see Sir Alec. Even Bernard Hepton sounds like him.

[@jaceny3077]

Michael Jayston’s voice is the best

[@prettytse7762]

The Mole!

[@jimb9063]

Thanks for this. Only wish they'd filmed a TV series.

[@jenniferholden9397]

There was Tinker, Taylor... It was a long time ago.

[@markcynic808]

@@jenniferholden9397 And Smiley's People. They missed out this middle book in the Karla trilogy due to costs of filming in SE Asia.

[@peterfreeman6677]

@@jenniferholden9397 The BBC production of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was outstanding, a masterpiece of television. I watched it when it was broadcast - essential viewing, and enthralling. The radio version was good, but not in the same league. This radio adaptation was never filmed, so I won't have any benchmark to compare it to ...

[@peterfreeman6677]

@@markcynic808 Goold old Wikipedia :) "Jonathan Powell, producer of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), said the BBC considered producing The Honourable Schoolboy but a production in South East Asia was considered prohibitively expensive and therefore the BBC instead adapted the third novel of the Karla Trilogy, Smiley's People (1979), which was transmitted in 1982. In 1983 the BBC adapted The Honourable Schoolboy to radio. Martin Jarvis played Jerry Westerby and Peter Vaughan played George Smiley. A subsequent BBC radio adaptation, first broadcast in 2010 in the Classic Serial slot, featured Simon Russell Beale as George Smiley and Hugh Bonneville as Jerry Westerby, as part of Radio 4's year-long project to adapt all eight Smiley novels." I wish I could find the 2010 version, I'm sure Simon Russell Beale would have been an excellent Smiley.

[@markcynic808]

@@peterfreeman6677 I have the Simon Russell Beale radio dramas. If you want to listen to this Complete Smiley for free, visit archive.....org. Use just one dot. Search books from the drop down menu, then all books. Search for a known BBC drama, when one appears, click on it but scroll down to the page bottom. Click on the BBC Radio Shows. Look through the results until you find the Complete Smiley. Usually it's one of the first to appear. Sounds complicated, but it isn't.

[@MrRichievee]

Why no bbc telly series for Honorable Schoolboy? or a movie?

[@jeanettesdaughter]

The Chinese accents! Oh my. I know Chinese people who speak English as a first and a second language. They sound nothing like these Charlie Chan like facsimiles.

[@wdpbgpkjwdfbvpkjl1550]

Nelson's accent sounds very British to me. Come to think of it, maybe the chinese esl speakers in the uk that these actors got their notioins from sound more British than the chinese esl speakers in america that I get my notions from. Of corse now a days it's completely tacky for a white person to do the voice of any non white character. It's much more fair to give those opertunities to people of color.

[@arabellacox]

​@wdpbgpkjwdfbvpkjl1550 I don't think it's got anything to do with POC, I've heard dreadful fake German, Irish & Eastern European accents before now in various dramas. It's more about giving out of work actors from the countries they're trying to portray. Poor fake accents really let a well written play down.

[@jordsupp]

Fabulous, other than the bizarrely aggressive accents of Koh, Koh and Chiu. Too late for Alec Guinness, but how we'd love to see this sequel with Gary Newman.

[@trishahopkins8199]

Do you mean Gary Oldman (Smiley in the film)?

[@wordsculpt]

​@@trishahopkins8199There has been more than 1 film. The definative version starred Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley.

[@jamesfowler415]

I wish they'd made a movie of this with Alec Guinness

[@joeenglert]

from what i heard, they had to choose either this or smiley's people due to finanaces so they chose smiley's people

[@jamesburke2094]

how about the piano piece? anybody aware of its name?

[@jamesburke2094]

@@platinum5798 it's by Hancock.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

The Birdie Song...?

[@jiji1946]

interesting that both Craw, and Drake Ko, were played by the same actor....

[@cilairodriguez9881]

Please enable KZbin's automatic English subtitles. Thank you.

[@ripsumrall8018]

That costs, you paying?

[@yutub6928]

@@ripsumrall8018 You do not need to be so aggressive. From his/her name, Cilaí seems as someone who’s English is not his/her first language. This could have been the reason for the request.

[@idontknowpreston3673]

Why was the decision made to make it so camp in parts? Than god for Peter vaughn as george.

[@moosey62]

It's way overdone. I turned off.

[@jamesburke2094]

rip Le Carré

[@bees0979]

I enjoy all the Smiley stories but feel that Peter Vaughan is the least impressive and whilst this story was enjoyable it didn’t feel up to the same standard as other recordings. Perhaps it’s just me and I have been spoilt with Other BBC productions

[@adriantwiss600]

The version starring Simon Russell Beale is very good. Hugh Bonneville played Westoby

[@davidcummings2190]

.16

[@theklrdudeoo9173]

this needs sub titles .

[@ripsumrall8018]

Jump in there and make it so.

[@advocate1563]

Why?

[@denisehatcher6623]

Wouldn’t that be like reading the book ?

[@maureenemerson2604]

Slightly over-acted by accompanying actors.

[@johnlawrence2757]

Ha ha ! Slightly

[@rosebud3971]

39:18

[@alcabane3125]

Part of my Operation No Time To Read, where I hear audiobooks on youtube since i dont have money to pay for audible, i dont have the time to read any books. I finished it, i though it was okay, but would have read the book instead the audio levels were, great but audio levels alone, having gone through it i wont read the book since this was hard enough, i like that its set in the jungle, and the characters are great i hope we can get a adaptation later down the line, here are some facts from the wiki, Jonathan Powell, producer of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), said the BBC considered producing The Honourable Schoolboy but a production in South East Asia was considered prohibitively expensive and therefore the BBC instead adapted the third novel of the Karla Trilogy, Smiley's People (1979), which was transmitted in 1982. I do think given the right hands can be an adaptation in movie form. I dont know if this is true since anyone can edit wiki nowadays, Following the success of the 2011 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy film, Gary Oldman, who plays George Smiley in the film, said "I think they're whispering now that they might do Smiley's People." The cinema series would skip The Honourable Schoolboy, just as the BBC did in its serialisation of the "Karla Trilogy" in the early 1980s.but they did do it isnt this it? In 1983 the BBC adapted The Honourable Schoolboy to radio. Martin Jarvis played Jerry Westerby and Peter Vaughan played George Smiley. A subsequent BBC radio adaptation, first broadcast in 2010 in the Classic Serial slot, featured Simon Russell Beale as George Smiley and Hugh Bonneville as Jerry Westerby, as part of Radio 4's year-long project to adapt all eight Smiley novels. Thanks for the upload ( somtimes the audio levels are a little rough goes in and out, buts its of the time, and why are you screaming like older people in the 50s?)

[@billpugh58]

OTT VOICE ACTING SORRY…….

[@andrewarthurmatthews6685]

Oh dear ! This is a very poor offering from all concerned. Whilst Peter Vaughn was a good actor I feel his George Smiley was no where as strong as Simon Russel Beal who gives the role gravitas, depth and conveys a wise and secretive man giving little away. Typified of course by Alec Guinness on screen and Gary Oldman on film. As to the American accents well they are just bad ! Very few English actors can give a convincing American accent as can be heard, or rather not heard , in any BBC Radio drama.

[@wagstaffe7]

Audio sucks!

[@davidduhaime1207]

Audio Sucks. Very annoying

[@tomonetruth]

@@davidduhaime1207 Just watch it muted.

[@philiphema2678]

Interesting how British racism, even in a novel, can't be hidden. The rich Chinese man's English is portrayed as rough an almost uneducated. In my experience Hong Kong people are generally well-educated and well-spoken. The boat people and the Hakka people may not be as educated but my comment, nevertheless, still applies. experience

[@emmeyefive7484]

there is no such thing. racism is in the eye of the accusers

[@thenoneckpeoplerepresentat8074]

🎻

[@moosey62]

You've completely missed the point. Well done.

[@andrewhunt1128]

Good that masses of blashpemy were removed.

[@bnipmnaa]

"blashpemy", lol.

[@gayleireland5813]

Do you mean cussin’?

[@kennydurkin]

Censorship. Excellent. The mark of great literature.

[@ripsumrall8018]

"blashpemy" ? I thought that went away with the end of the inquisition.

[@peterfreeman6677]

@@mvoulgaropoulos Or jusht inebriated?