Our Man in Havana may have been compromised during the making of this episode.

Partially inspired by his time in MI6 and set in late 1950’s (pre-revolution) Cuba, Graham Greene’s classic novel follows the daily maneuverings of vacuum salesman/secret agent Wormold, shortly after his unwitting recruitment in the men’s room of the Wonder Bar. He initially invents his sources (taking names from a country club roster) as well as the information they provide to satisfy his superiors in London. But when he sends them sketches of vacuum cleaner parts suggested to be military installations in the mountains, he is pulled into a dangerous web of very real intrigue.

Part spy novel, part comedic satire, this Graham Greene classic easily fits in the company of “The Big Lebowski” and “The Long Goodbye” and comes highly recommended for your Sunday read.

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Show Notes & Links

Episode photo – detailed from the cover of Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene ©1958 Viking Press New York.

 

• In Like Flint (1967 film) starring James Coburn
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• MI6
• Ian Flemming
• The Big Lebowski (1998 film)
• The Long Goodbye (1973 film) [not The Long Goodnight]
• Inherent Vice (2014 film)
• book cipher (book code)
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Nikolai Gogol
• E. M. Forster
• Evelyn Waugh
• Kingsley Amis
• The Third Man (1949 film)