Charles Cumming on espionage, M16 and UK crime

In 1995 Charles Cumming was approached to work for the MI6. Although he didn't end up working for them, it did inspire Charles to write about crime. Today, Charles is one of the world's leading authors specialising in espionage novels. 'Typhoon', his most recent book, was labelled by The Times as one of the top ten thrillers of 2008.

Crimestoppers spoke to Charles about his inspirations for writing and about what crimes he thinks present the biggest danger in the UK today.

In 1995 you were approached by the SIS to be employed by the MI6; why did they approach you?

It's a good question and I really don't know the answer. I don't think MI6 are looking for any particular ‘type'. I think they tap up a lot of people who they think might have potential as SIS officers and call them in for an interview. Most of those people then don't go any further in the recruitment process. Historically the Foreign Office has employed a lot of old Etonians, which may explain why they approached me.

You've said that a career in the secret service wouldn't be for you – why?

I'm not much of a team player and I might have been asked to do things with which I was either ethically or politically uncomfortable. I also don't have a particularly thick skin, or a ruthless streak, both of which would have been necessary from time to time.

What crimes do you think present the biggest danger to UK society today?

As a parent, you worry a lot about crimes against children. I also think we've become a lot more aggressive as a society.

I saw an incident on the Edgware Road [in London] the other day where a man had parked his car in a bus lane and was blocking traffic. A woman in the car behind tooted her horn politely. He got out of the car, completely incensed and consumed by rage, grabbed a hammer from his glove box and was about to smash her window and attack her when she managed to drive off. There were about 100 people watching at the intersection and every one of us was frozen in disbelief.

Have you ever experienced crime directly? If so, what did you do about it?

I've been lucky in that nothing serious has ever happened to me or to any of my family or close friends. Of course, I've had stuff stolen. My flat at university was broken into. My wife's car had a back window smashed while it was parked near Hyde Park. And on my first visit to New York I had every piece of luggage for my trip stolen from the back of an Isuzu Trooper. I'm aware that these are very minor incidents compared to what can and does happen every day.

If someone you knew had committed a crime, would you contact Crimestoppers?

If a close friend or family member had committed a serious crime, I would urge them to give themselves up to the police. Living with the guilt of a serious crime is no way to live. In the long term, people benefit from coming clean. If they refused to give themselves up, and if I felt that they were a serious danger to society, I would contact Crimestoppers.

The Times labelled 'Typhoon' as one of the top ten thrillers of 2008 - are you working on anything new at the moment?

Hopefully the top ten thriller of 2010! My new novel is about the Cambridge spies. It's a contemporary story which takes place in 21st century London, Berlin, Moscow and Vienna. The working title is ‘The Trinity Six' but I think that may change in the next few months.

Your novels are known for their accurate details; how do you research your locations, characters and plot lines?

With 'Typhoon', I made three trips to China, each of which lasted about a week. I spent a lot of time walking around Hong Kong and Shanghai, talking to the locals, finding out how things worked. I then read a lot of books and magazine articles and researched information on the Internet. Over the years, one or two people in the espionage world have also been kind enough to help me out with inside information about the workings of MI5 and MI6.

Author note:
Charles Cumming has written four espionage novels - A Spy By Nature, The Hidden Man, The Spanish Game and Typhoon. The film rights to A Spy By Nature have been bought by Kudos, producers of the BBC's Spooks. Visit Charles Cumming's website for more information.

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