Hah! I took that in two meanings one of which is in the John le Carré sense, “The Circus” being the nickname for MI6. It always seemed to stick in my mind though that the whole Nation-State Intellgence Spycraft Game is a Circus, full of theater and dangerous clowns. He even said something akin to that in The Secret Pilgrim (1990) which although not as entertaining as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974) it is much more revealing about Spycraft…if any of it true.

He did say it was “Fiction from start to finish” but also he worked at MI5 and MI6 and you’d expect him to say that.

What Spies Really Think About John le Carré

The British novelist didn’t just write about the world of intelligence. He changed it forever.