Died: December 12, 2020 JOHN le Carré, the pen name of David Cornwell, who has died aged 89, had the kind of upbringing most writers dream of but few would want to experience. From an early age he learned to keep secrets which, when he turned to producing novels in which spying and deceit, lies and betrayal were ubiquitous, served him bountifully for the best part of six decades. His mother left when he was young and he was brought up – if that’s the right phrase – by his father. Ronnie Cornwell was a character whom le Carré himself might hesitate to create, so bizarre and unpre...