Can anyone help with the location of the tin pavillion on Hampstead Heath? Vladimir goes there shortly before he is murdered and adds a yellow chalk line to the single drawing pin that Mostyn has placed on the upright support. It is described as being a five minute walk from East Heath Road. I walk on the Heath every day, but have not found it yet.
shareI think it's a set. I went to have a look for it years ago and couldn't find anything like it either.
shareWell actually, I think I have now found it; just a few days after my initial post, too. The tin walls have rotted away, but nonetheless the shape, dimensions, construction (four vertical supports at the front etc.) and setting seem correct, as does the worn concrete base. Interestingly, there are two drawing pins in the front timber!!
shareInterestingly, there are two drawing pins in the front timber!!I hope you had your yellow chalk with you . . share
Actually no, but I did add a new drawing pin in the correct spot (the existing two were old, rusty and virtually invisible) Now, if next time I go there there is a yellow chalk line underneath my pin...
shareIt has to be Moscow Rules !!!
Or nothing !!!
CmdrCody
Now, if next time I go there there is a yellow chalk line underneath my pin...Give me the Google Earth co-ordinates and get the sausage and vodka in. I haven't had a Gitane in 20 years but I'll make an exception for you. share
Not quite ready for Google Earth yet. However, if you leave the block containing the safe flat by the same gate Smiley does, walk along the tree lined path away from East Heath Road for four minutes you come to an intersection of a number of paths. At the back of the small meadow on the right is the pavillion. Of course, having placed my drawing pin in the timber, I would need the appropriate response in order to know a meet was safe.
share=----=-=====----------
shareI will inspect the location on 17th January @ 10.00hrs.. Moscow rules, of course. Vladimir insisted on that.
shareMoscow rules, old friend.
Sadly I will be further away than Moscow, tomorrow, though still in what Smiley would call Russia. I have to make a call on a client in Kishinev.
Duty-free Gitanes, perhaps?
shareAnd a Kodak envelope.
Oh dear, all this has led to me getting the DVDs out again. I'm going into the TV room. I may be some time.
Having visited the pavillion this morning, we then spent time examining nearby beech trees for likely looking ledges on which a discarded Galloise packet might be found. The concern when engaged on this task, of course, is the risk of being accosted by a passing representative of the Hare Krishna movement with the cry, 'If I may assist my brother in his task.' Happy viewing.
shareBe discrete when walking the Heath...Karla's men are watching !
CmdrCody
Well, I did see a young couple walking together under a see-through umbrella, but thought nothing of it at the time. Perhaps a disguise is called for? I thought: trilby, blue overcoat, dark red scarf, brown suede shoes, horn-rimmed spectacles and an umbrella might enable me to blend with the surroundings.
shareYour umbrella is essential for "fishing-out" cigarette packs from high tree branch notches.
shareWe use at least 8, probably 12 for a lace curtains tail job.
shareWell, there were two girls wearing rucksacks in the bank the other day. The odd thing was, even though they were in the next queue, they kept their back to me all the time...
shareDid you, at least, have your wife outside in the Mercedes with the motor running and your bike on the roof ?
shareHallo all,
I visited Hampstead Heath this past weekend to see if I could find the pavillion as well. By luck and with muddy feet due to good old London rain, I did. I took a couple of photographs which I have put on my blog. They aren't great, but if you would like to see them, the link is:
http://callyskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/george-smiley.html
I do apologise if links are not actually allowed and for not being able to link over a keyword.
Malcolm
Nice photographs and good to see the pin in it's place, but still no yellow chalk! What does this mean?
shareIt's not safe . . .
shareYes indeed, and in the boot, carefully folded, the uniform of a colonel in the British Army.
sharestephandunbar: Watch out for those "Swiss banking officials !"
share"You are spies, British spies! And who are you, Al Capone? He knows everything, your commissar."
share"We are simply 'officials' and we haven't much time. Please kindly review the series of photographs before you. They are to be observed from left to right."
shareFinding this morning that, worryingly, the tin pavillion still lacks the necessary 'safe' sign, I naturally avoided the safe flat. Going instead to the public telephone box on South End Green, I called Straight and Steady Minicabs and asked to speak to one of their drivers, Mr Lamb. I explained that this was not a private call but that I wanted Mr Lamb to drive me, adding 'No one else will do.' Their reply was that they have no driver of that name. What can this mean?
sharePerhaps you should make inquiries to Mr. Barracloft.
shareAh yes, that may indeed be where I went wrong. I said my name was Sampson - with a 'p'.
shareThe cabbie's changed his name. He got fed up with people calling him out for jobs which involved him going nowhere.
shareWell that's all very well, but I have to get to Battle of the Nile Street in Charlton, South-East London. I would drive, but I think I am being followed by someone on a motorcycle. I don't think I am imagining it.
shareHis name really is Ferguson.
We can't afford the petrol these days so he'll only be able to follow you as far as the Elephant & Castle.
What on earth is the point of old Ferguson following me part of the way only? Puts me in mind of that great triumph for British intelligence when, despite being under surveillance, one Donald McLean was able to scuttle off to Moscow on a Friday evening, because, to avoid clocking up overtime, the Five boys didn't work weekends.
shareNow at last, it is safe to come in from the cold.
shareNow at last, it is safe to come in from the cold.
shareSpeaking as I do as the “new boy on the block,” I have ploughed through all 35 of your posts and looked at the photos of the pavilion on Callyskitchen blog. My first sortie over Hampstead Heath, courtesy of Google’s satellite images proved unsuccessful, but indicated that the northern end was far too built-up to fit the description of the location. Today’s effort, I believe, has been more successful and I feel reasonably certain that I have scaled the summit of the tin pavilion. The image that I have secured appears smaller than I had imagined the structure to be, when measured against the scale provided in the picture. However, I have copied it as a PDF file if anybody is interested to email me at [email protected] As I am many hundreds of miles from Hampstead Heath, perhaps someone (Callyskitchen ?) could advise me if I have the correct location. Obviously Karla’s agents are streets ahead of me when it comes to identifying drop points, dead letter boxes and the rest........
shareI have pm'd you my address
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So there I was conducting my usual daily patrol of the Heath @ 10.00hrs this day when who should I come across? None other than young Peter Gwillam. What does this mean? Why was he there? I certainly found his 'Good morning' very suspicious.
shareI suspect his pretty young French wife has thrown him out. After all, working for Saul "bloody" Enderby must put a huge strain on any relationship. Who knows, he may even be reduced to dossing down in the tin pavilion? Check it out, but be very discreet...
shareFollowing what I think I must now term 'the encounter', remembering my training, I followed from a suitable distance, but unfortunately lost young Peter somewhere in the mist surrounding the Kenwood lake. Imagine my shock when reaching the place of my last sighting of him I discovered that the bridge which would have been his only obvious escape route turned out to be 'faux'! Not as it appears, a stone construction dating from the eighteenth century, but a two dimentional wooden cut-out.
I may also say that Peter's companion, a surly looking Weimaraner, looked at me in a way I can only describe as suspicious.
In deference to I believe, the late Stefan Dunbar, I add this final note to an all-time longest series of exchanges (and the best) on the whereabouts of the Tin Pavilion. I might add that with his invaluable help and familiarity with Hampstead Heath where he walked daily, I was able eventually to identify the tin pavilion using Google's EarthSat images - not an easy task because the roof of the pavilion is overshadowed by mature trees, and I am located several hundred miles away.
Mostyn speaking at the safe house where George Smiley, Lauder Strickland and Oliver Lacon are gathered following General Vladimir's assassination.
"There's a tin pavilion on Hampstead Heath, ten minutes' walk from East Heath Road, overlooking some games field on the south side of the avenue, sir. The safety signal was one new drawing-pin shoved high in the first wood support on the left as you entered."
"And the counter-signal? Smiley asked.
But he knew the answer already.
"A yellow chalk line," said Mostyn. "I gather yellow was the sort of Group trade mark from the old days." He had adopted a tone of ending. "I put up the pin and came back here and waited. When he didn't show up, I thought, "Well, if he's secrecy-mad I'll have to go up to the hut again and check out his counter-signal, then I'll know whether he's around and proposes to try the fallback."
"Which was what?"
"A car pick-up near Swiss Cottage underground at eleven-forty, sir. I was about to go out and take a look when Mr Strickland rang through and ordered me to sit tight until further orders." Smiley assumed he had finished, but this was not quite true. Seeming to forget everyone but himself, Mostyn slowly shook his handsome head. "I never met him," he said, in amazement. "He was my first agent, I will never know what he was trying to tell me," he said. "My first agent, and he's dead. It's incredible. I feel like a complete Jonah."
Hallo Finnegansword,
I'm very sorry I never saw your previous post on the location of the Hampstead pavilion.
Touch of bother with Moscow. Resolved now.
I am very happy to see that with Stegan Dunbar's assistance you have now ID'd the location of the pavilion. An agent of my acquintance passed the pvailion just a day or two ago. It is still there and still looking a bit ropey. I wonder if Camden Council will ever consider placing a plaque there to honour its heritage. Perhaps written with yellow 'chalk'!
Malcolm
For the benefit of those of you who have not found "callyskitchen" blog, or read and viewed the pictures displayed there a year ago, I post what was written. If you want to see the photographs, use the link quoted. So much for the silly games grown-up boys play in idle moments....
(well, it keeps us out of mischief).
finnegansword
*******
http://callyskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/george-smiley.html
27 January 2009
On the trail of George Smiley
A while ago, at the suggestion of Our Man of the Antonii, I read John Le Carre's George Smiley trilogy: Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. Tinker, Tailor and Smiley's People are really excellent books that I heartily recommend to all and sundry. I did not enjoy Schoolboy quite as much but it was still very good.
By way of a short precis, Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy is about George Smiley's hunt for a mole within the secret service. The book is full of great espionage jargon. M from the James Bond books has become Control; MI6 is the Circus (because the offices are just off Cambridge Circus in London); there are lamplighters and scalphunters. I will explain what they are as soon as I remember! The Honourable Schoolboy focuses on Jerry Westerby, one of the minor characters from Tinker, Taylor as he travels to Hong Kong to try and force a businessman in the employ of the Chinese to come over to the British. Finally, Smiley's People tells the story of how George Smiley finally traps his arch enemy (the man behind the mole in Tinker, Taylor), Karla.
At the beginning of Smiley's People, Vladimir, a former Lithuanian secret agent for the British, arranges to meet a Circus agent on Hampstead Heath. So that they can be sure that the meeting will be safe, it is agreed that the Circus man will leave a golden pin and yellow chalk mark on the wall of a pavillion there. Unfortunately, Vladimir is killed by Soviet agents before the meeting can take place.
Reading one of the forum entry's for Smiley's People at IMDB.com the other week, I found a conversation relating to the hut. Was it still there? Someone thought not. Another said, yes, he had seen it, and even left a new pin there. So, I thought, let's see if I can find it!
On a rainy afternoon last Sunday, I set off. To be honest, although I knew roughly where the pavillion was, I did not really expect to find it. Hampstead Heath is a big place, after all. However, after one or two wrong turns and a bit of slipping and sliding on muddy inclines, I happened to look up to my right and saw this: I had previously watched the Hampstead scenes from Smiley's People and so thought to myself, that looks familiar! So, I tramped across the muddy grass to take a closer look.
In the programme, the pavillion is enclosed by corrugated walls. As you can see, they have gone now, but otherwise, not much has changed about the site. Most intriguingly, there is also this: It doesn't come out very well in the photograph, but that is a golden pin - placed there, I think, by one or the contributers to the IMDB discussion referred to above. The pin, by the way, has been inserted just above the right hand metal post (as you look at it) in the photograph above.
After staying a few minutes to soak in the scene (I didn't stay too long as there was no chalk mark to prove that the place was safe), I left the hut to rejoin the path. As I took the long range picture featured above, I saw a man in a long, black coat and hat. If the cold war was still on, I would definitely have stayed clear of his umbrella. As it was, as I packed my camera away, he had a knowing smile on his face..!
Here is the long path where I saw the black hat man and where Vladimir met his end.
(quoted without permission!)
Finnigansworld,
As the erstwhile writer of 'Cally's Kitchen' I am more than happy for this post to be 'quoted without permission'! It's great to see John Le Carre appreciated so much. Think I might set up a group on Facebook to support the poor cabbie who was forced to change his name!
Malcolm
Hi there callyskitchen,
it is unfortunately impossible to access your blog, as it seems that
you set your blog to only accept invited readers.
Could you make your blog public (and accessible to all) again?
Too late, I noticed the following excursion to the site of General Vladimir's assassination on Hampstead Heath. Perhaps someone attended this literary excursion and can send us a report? The link below gives further info:-
http://www.tartaruspress.com/adventure.html#top
If I can find it, I will attach a picture of the fabled tin pavillion, but don't hold your breath.
*****
Picture of the Tin Pavilion, Hampstead Heath:-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/finnegansword/5621597056/
load the above into your browser.