Characters
The Circus
- The Hon. Jerry Westerby — a reporter, and occasional SIS secret agent.
- George Smiley — (temporary) Chief of the Circus.
- Peter Guillam — Circus “cupbearer” to Smiley.
- Fawn - Smiley's factotum
- Connie Sachs — chief Moscow-gazer.
- Doc di Salis — head China-watcher.
- Molly Meakin — skilful, junior staff; a pretty Circus girl who catches Peter Guillam’s eye.
- Sam Collins — an "old Circus" field officer, formerly based in Vientiane, Laos. Codename: "Mellon."
- Stubbs — Westerby’s managing editor at the newspaper.
The Steering Committee (authorising further operations after the Ko bank account papers are obtained)
- Oliver Lacon — Circus watchdog from the Cabinet Office
- Roddy Martindale — of the Foreign Office, the scourge of the Circus.
- Saul Enderby — of the Foreign Office, was ambassador to Indonesia; the chief pundit on South East Asia; future chief of the Circus.
- Wilbraham — of the Colonial Office.
- Pretorius — of the Security Service.
- The Welsh Hammer — a Treasury banker.
Other characters
- Ann — Smiley’s unfaithful wife.
- Peter Worthington — the husband Elizabeth Worthington abandoned.
- Mr. and Mrs. Pelling - Elizabeth Worthington's parents
- Mrs. Matthews - unofficial widow of Control
- Mr. Hibbert - as a missionary in Shanghai, knew Drake Ko and his brother Nelson
- Martello - head of CIA London office
- Murphy - Martello's assistant
- Tiny Ricardo - Mexican frontman for Indocharter Vientiane S.A.
- Elizabeth Worthington, alias Lizzie, alias Lizzie Ricardo, alias Liese Worth - first, common-law wife of Tiny Ricardo; then, mistress of Drake Ko
- Charlie Marshall - sometime business partner of Tiny Ricardo
- Luke - Californian journalist in Hong Kong
- Big Moo - local journalistic jargon for the governor of Hong Kong
- Rockhurst ("The Rocker") - Superintendent of Police in Hong Kong
- William Craw - an aging journalist, working for British Intelligence
- Jake Chiu - Luke's landlord, a real-estate entrepreneur
- Major Tufty Thesinger - Erstwhile SIS Head of Station, Hong Kong
- Frost - works at a Hong Kong bank, is used by Westerby
- Drake Ko - Hong Kong Fat Cat, receiving US$25K a month from the Soviets
- Nelson Ko - Drake's brother; also the name of Drake's deceased son
- Tiu - Ko's assistant
- Arpego - wealthy Filipino, friend of Ko
- Phoebe Wayfarer - half-English, half-Chinese agent for Brit Intel
- Sally Cale - art faker, illicit bullion dealer, occasional heroin trafficker, business partner or employee of Ko, introduced Liese to him
- Keller - veteran journalist whom Westerby meets in Phnom Penh
- Lorraine - American journalist in Phnom Penh
Read more about this topic: The Honourable Schoolboy
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
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—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
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which stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it.”
—Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)