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Spies and Stars: MI5, Showbusiness and Me
'Wickedly funny' Country Life'Hilarious and candid' Observer_____________________________London in the 1950s. Lottie is a reluctant typist at MI5 and the even more reluctant daughter of the organisation's most illustrious spy. Now she has had the bad luck to fall in love with Harry, a handsome if frustrated young actor, who has also been press-ganged into the family business, acting as one of her father's undercover agents in the Communist hotbed of British theatre. Together the two young lovers embark on a star-studded adventure through the glittering world of theatre - but, between missing files, disapproving parents, and their own burgeoning creative endeavours, life is about to become very complicated indeed...
273 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 7, 2019
4 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Bingham
75 books74 followersThe Honourable Charlotte Mary Thérèse Bingham was born on 29 June 1942 in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England, UK. Her father, John Bingham, the 7th Baron Clanmorris, wrote detective stories and was a secret member of MI5. Her mother, Madeleine Bingham, née Madeleine Mary Ebel, was a playwright. Charlotte first attended a school in London, but from the age of seven to 16, she went to the Priory of Our Lady's Good Counsel school in Haywards Heath. After she left school, she went to stay in Paris with some French aristocrats with the intention of learning French. She had written since she was 10 years old and her first piece of work was a thriller called Death's Ticket. She wrote her humorous autobiography, called Coronet Among the Weeds, when she was 19, and not long before her twentieth birthday a literary agent discovered her celebrating at the Ritz. He was a friend of her parents and he took off the finished manuscript of her autobiography. In 1963, this was published by Heinemanns and was a best seller.
In 1966, Charlotte Bingham's first novel, called Lucinda, was published. This was later adapted into a TV screenplay. In 1972, Coronet Among the Grass, her second autobiography, was published. This talked about the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. They couple, who have two children, later adapted Coronet Among the Grass and Coronet Among the Weeds, into the TV sitcom No, Honestly. She and her husband, Terence Brady, wrote three early episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs together, Board Wages, I Dies from Love and Out of the Everywhere. They later wrote an accompanying book called Rose's Story. They also wrote the episodes of Take Three Girls featuring Victoria (Liza Goddard). In the 1970s Brady and Bingham wrote episodes for the TV series Play for Today, Three Comedies of Marriage, Yes, Honestly and Robin's Nest. During the 1980s and 1990s they continued to write for the occasional TV series, and in 1993 adapted Jilly Cooper's novel Riders for the small screen. Since the 1980s she has become a romance novelist. In 1996 she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.
In 1966, Charlotte Bingham's first novel, called Lucinda, was published. This was later adapted into a TV screenplay. In 1972, Coronet Among the Grass, her second autobiography, was published. This talked about the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. They couple, who have two children, later adapted Coronet Among the Grass and Coronet Among the Weeds, into the TV sitcom No, Honestly. She and her husband, Terence Brady, wrote three early episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs together, Board Wages, I Dies from Love and Out of the Everywhere. They later wrote an accompanying book called Rose's Story. They also wrote the episodes of Take Three Girls featuring Victoria (Liza Goddard). In the 1970s Brady and Bingham wrote episodes for the TV series Play for Today, Three Comedies of Marriage, Yes, Honestly and Robin's Nest. During the 1980s and 1990s they continued to write for the occasional TV series, and in 1993 adapted Jilly Cooper's novel Riders for the small screen. Since the 1980s she has become a romance novelist. In 1996 she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 13, 2019
Q: ‘Ghastly, too ghastly.’ (c) Yep. Very ghastly. DNF.
Q:
I knew you must never betray your sources, so I went on shrugging my shoulders and looking dumb, which was not difficult for me. (c)
Q:
My father seemed completely unaware of this self-imposed embargo among nice people. (c) Eh?
Q:
At MI5 the next day Arabella gave me one of her sphinx-like looks. (c)
Q:
‘Perhaps MI5 don’t like commercials?’
‘They should do – personally, I think they’ll bring down the Iron Curtain.’ (c)
Q:
My father and I had long disagreed on this. He could not see that heavenly white washing could brainwash people in a good way. (c) Whoa?
Q:
‘When things happen to people, Lottie, they are usually the first to know.’
I thought about it for a minute.
‘Not everyone,’ I said, thinking of myself. ‘Sometimes things happen to people and they don’t really realise.’
‘As soon as you start eating I will tell you.’ (c)
Q:
I knew you must never betray your sources, so I went on shrugging my shoulders and looking dumb, which was not difficult for me. (c)
Q:
My father seemed completely unaware of this self-imposed embargo among nice people. (c) Eh?
Q:
At MI5 the next day Arabella gave me one of her sphinx-like looks. (c)
Q:
‘Perhaps MI5 don’t like commercials?’
‘They should do – personally, I think they’ll bring down the Iron Curtain.’ (c)
Q:
My father and I had long disagreed on this. He could not see that heavenly white washing could brainwash people in a good way. (c) Whoa?
Q:
‘When things happen to people, Lottie, they are usually the first to know.’
I thought about it for a minute.
‘Not everyone,’ I said, thinking of myself. ‘Sometimes things happen to people and they don’t really realise.’
‘As soon as you start eating I will tell you.’ (c)
October 22, 2021
This is actually a sequel, though I managed quite well without reading the first book. It's the second volume of a memoir set in 1950s London about the continuing escapades of Charlotte an M15 typist and daughter of a prominent spy and her boyfriend Harry, a struggling actor and uneasy new spy as they form a screenwriting partnership.
Firstly, Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy this is not. There is no grit or peril here. It is as light as the Victoria sponge the characters so regularly eat and there is not a single second where the protagonist takes herself at all seriously. If you are looking for a reasonably engaging read from another world and time, this may indeed be your slice of cake.
Firstly, Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy this is not. There is no grit or peril here. It is as light as the Victoria sponge the characters so regularly eat and there is not a single second where the protagonist takes herself at all seriously. If you are looking for a reasonably engaging read from another world and time, this may indeed be your slice of cake.
June 26, 2019
Not as amusing or interesting as her earlier fictionalized memoirs.
August 16, 2019
Definitely not my favorite book. Discrepancies between this book and the first of the Lottie M15 books. A bit boring and repetitive.
October 10, 2019
Utter drivel. Thought would be funny but was so hard to read
December 1, 2019
Pretty boring really, not interesting or funny :( u wanted to like it, but oh well.
June 7, 2022
Just an amusing reminiscence, the title tells you most of what it's about.
A fun read.
A fun read.
September 25, 2025
Charlotte Bingham is a successful novelist and screenwriter. She wrote a memoir of her life as a debutante, Coronet Among the Weeds, when she was 19, which became a bestseller and led to further memoirs of her life, including Spies and Stars. Her father, John Bingham, was a member of MI5 and an inspiration for John le Carré’s character George Smiley.
Bingham’s memoir is humorous and absurdist, recounting the strange world of British espionage in the 1950s and the paranoia surrounding the rise of communism in the West. Bingham and her boyfriend, Harry, are reluctantly called on to use their writing partnership to explore and infiltrate the entertainment world in the hopes of discovering communist agents. Instead, a lot of what they seem to find is disillusionment about the role of a writer, nearly all the spies appear to be working for MI5, and that the more they try to escape their jobs, perversely, the more they are wanted.
It is a slice-of-life book where nothing much can be said happens; a lot of her writing projects come to nought or are wholly transformed into other properties. However, Bingham presents the often comic scenes well; it is a crash course in trying to make it as a professional screenwriter, and the bizarre situations she often found herself in when trying to balance working as both a writer and a spy are entertaining.
It is a fun read, and I would be interested to read more about her life as it appears more than a little strange! As I hadn’t read her other memoirs before this, there are references to previous books and events, but the book can still be read as a standalone.
Bingham’s memoir is humorous and absurdist, recounting the strange world of British espionage in the 1950s and the paranoia surrounding the rise of communism in the West. Bingham and her boyfriend, Harry, are reluctantly called on to use their writing partnership to explore and infiltrate the entertainment world in the hopes of discovering communist agents. Instead, a lot of what they seem to find is disillusionment about the role of a writer, nearly all the spies appear to be working for MI5, and that the more they try to escape their jobs, perversely, the more they are wanted.
It is a slice-of-life book where nothing much can be said happens; a lot of her writing projects come to nought or are wholly transformed into other properties. However, Bingham presents the often comic scenes well; it is a crash course in trying to make it as a professional screenwriter, and the bizarre situations she often found herself in when trying to balance working as both a writer and a spy are entertaining.
It is a fun read, and I would be interested to read more about her life as it appears more than a little strange! As I hadn’t read her other memoirs before this, there are references to previous books and events, but the book can still be read as a standalone.
April 5, 2021
Very funny nostalgia
I recall reading Charlotte ‘s first book as a child. She has a rare gift for humour and I commend this book to all who want to be cheered up.
I recall reading Charlotte ‘s first book as a child. She has a rare gift for humour and I commend this book to all who want to be cheered up.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews